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Description
Integrate literacy and social studies with U.S. History Quote of the Week!
As students learn about U.S. history, they practice literacy skills like:
- making inferences
- researching & summarizing
- identifying the main idea, historical context, and author’s purpose
- and responding to prompts
U.S. History Quote of the Week is easy to use and requires little prep. From thorough instructions to answer keys, it’s all there.
Even better, I’ve made it engaging! Your students will enjoy dissecting and talking about the quotes.
Why U.S. History Quote of the Week?
When I was teaching 5th grade, my school prioritized ELA over social studies.
I spent hours looking for activities that beautifully integrated literacy and history.
After coming up short, I decided to create my own!
I carefully selected historical quotes highlighting important themes and events in American history.
This led me to create my U.S. History Quote of the Week resource in 2016. In 2024, I completely revised and expanded it.
Here’s why I think you’ll love it:
U.S. History Quote of the Week is:
✅ Easy to Implement
I want to make your workload more manageable. I’ve done the hard work of selecting the quotes, defining vocabulary words, making task cards, and writing thorough answer keys. As a result, QOTW is so easy to use that you could leave it with a substitute teacher.
✅ A system for routinely practicing ELA skills
Many social studies teachers are asked to reinforce literacy standards whenever possible. U.S. History Quote of the Week is an effective way to practice reading and writing skills every week.
✅ A system for covering U.S. History content
The carefully selected quotes chronologically take students through U.S. history. So, no matter what your curriculum covers, this resource fills in the gaps by giving students a big picture of American history.
✅ Designed by a teacher for student success
Do your students need help understanding historical quotes and primary sources? U.S. History Quote of the Week breaks down the quote analysis into bite-sized tasks. The manageable tasks build on each other each day, and students are given the needed vocabulary definitions and historical context to make sense of the quotes.
What’s included in this free sample?
⭐️1 Thomas Paine quote from Common Sense
⭐️4 student worksheets for the quote
- available as printables and Google slides
⭐️4 task cards for the quote
- available as printables and Google slides
⭐️1 quote poster
- can be displayed on the computer or printed
⭐️Detailed answer keys
⭐️Thorough teacher instructions & ideas for extension activities
⭐️List of Literacy standards covered
How to Use
This resource is designed to be used over four days (M – Th).
Day 1: Infer (10 minutes) Display the poster for the week’s quote. Read the quote aloud to the class.
Students study the quote. They use their background knowledge and context clues to answer the following questions:
- Author: Who wrote the quote? Who do you think this person was?
- Date: When was this quote written? What do you know about this time in history?
- Meaning: What do you think the author meant by this quote?
Day 2: Research & Summarize (20 minutes) Print the four task cards. You could give each student a set of cards or tape several sets of cards around the room.
Students read the task cards for more context about the quote.
Next, they identify essential ideas from each task card and write them in bullet points on the worksheet.
Day 3: Main Idea, Context, & Purpose (10 minutes) Students study the quote again and review the task cards from yesterday. Then, they use what they learned from the task cards to answer the following questions:
- Main Idea: What do you think the author meant by this quote?
- Historical Context: What was happening in history that may have influenced the author’s ideas?
- Purpose: What do you think the author’s purpose was?
Day 4: Respond (20 minutes) Finally, students read the quote one more time. Then, they respond to one of the following writing prompts:
- How does this quote relate to your own life? How does this quote relate to the modern world?
- What historical events were happening when this quote was written? How does the historical context help you understand the quote?
- What is the author’s perspective? What other perspectives could there be about this topic?
- What are three questions you have about this topic? How could you find out more?
Where does the U.S. History Quote of the Week fit in your busy day?
This resource is versatile and is easy to modify for different teachers’ schedules.
U.S. History Quote of the Week can be used:
- as a bell-ringer/morning work
- as an early finisher/enrichment activity
- in literacy rotations/centers
- in jigsaw groups
- to introduce a new unit
- to wrap up a unit
- for test prep
- as group work
- & more!
Furthermore, the Quote of the Week posters can be printed and added to your walls as visuals for students.
Need more Quotes?
Check out all my U.S. History Quote of the Week resources:
Free Sample Quote of the Week Lesson
U.S. History Quote of the Week: Part 1 (1492–1871)
U.S. History Quote of the Week: Part 2 (1877–1964)
Money-saving Bundle: U.S. History Quote of the Week (Parts 1 and 2) – 10% off!
Important Customer Information
All of our products are digital and non-refundable. This is a digital file; a physical product will not be shipped. Please make sure you can open a zip file, PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, and a Word document before purchasing. I recommend opening the resource with Adobe reader (free). Please take a look at the preview and read the product description carefully.
This product is not editable.
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