Last week, we discussed illustrations and images in informational texts. This week we’re switching back over to fiction texts, but we’re still looking at how illustrations help us understand the text. Use these tips to help your students use illustrations in literature.
Tips for Teaching How to Use Illustrations in Literature
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The first thing we need to do is to break down the standard at the different grade levels. It is really helpful to know what your students are expected to do in the grade level before yours and the grade level after yours. This allows you to differentiate your lessons and meet the needs of all your students.
First Grade
Important Skills to Teach:
- Review what characters, setting, and events are
- How to use illustrations in the story to describe the characters, setting, and events
- How to use details in a story to describe the characters, setting, and events
I Can Statements:
- I can use the illustrations and details in a story to describe the characters.
- I can use the illustrations and details in a story to describe the setting.
- I can use the illustrations and details in a story to describe the events.
Download a week of 1st grade lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Second Grade
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7 – Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
Important Skills to Teach:
- Review the definitions of the terms character, setting, and plot
- How to use illustrations in a print or digital text to describe the characters, setting, or plot
- How to use the words in a print or digital text to describe the characters, setting, or plot
I Can Statements:
- I can use the illustrations and words in a text to describe the characters.
- I can use the illustrations and words in a text to describe the setting.
- I can use the illustrations and words in a text to describe the plot.
Download a week of 2nd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Third Grade
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7 – Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)
Important Skills to Teach:
- What mood is
- How the author uses illustrations to create mood
- How the illustrations give information about the characters and setting
I Can Statements:
- I can explain how illustrations and words help to create the mood of a story.
- I can explain how the illustrations and words give information about the characters in a story.
- I can explain how the illustrations and words give information about the setting of a story.
Download a week of 3rd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Fourth Grade
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.7 – Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.
Important Skills to Teach:
- How to identify important information in a visual or oral presentation
- How to identify similarities and differences between the written version of a story or drama and the visual or oral presentation of it
- How to look for specific descriptions and directions from the text in the visual or oral presentations
I Can Statements:
- I can gather important information from a visual or oral presentation.
- I can identify ways the text of a story or drama is the same as and different from a visual or oral presentation of it.
- I can explain how descriptions and directions from the text are shown in the visual or oral presentation.
Download a week of 4th grade lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Fifth Grade
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7 – Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).
Important Skills to Teach
- How to describe the meaning, tone, and beauty of a text
- How to gather information by reading a graphic novel or by watching a multimedia presentation of fiction, a folktale, myth, or poem
- How to use the pictures and multimedia elements to describe the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text
I Can Statements:
- I can explain how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning of a text.
- I can explain how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the tone of a text.
- I can explain how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the beauty of a text.
Download a week of lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Suggested Books
For first, second, and third grade, it’s important to find books with great illustrations. They should clearly show the different story elements, like the characters and the setting. For fourth and fifth grade, you need to find texts that have more than one version. Books that have been made into movies are great for this. You can also have your students read a drama and show them the play where it is acted out.
Tips for Teaching Illustrations in Literature
- Do Picture Walks. When your students start a new book, have them take a picture walk through it before reading any of the words. Have them write down what they can learn about the characters, setting, events, and mood just by looking at the pictures. Then, have them go back and read the book to see if the pictures did a good job of telling the story. Discuss how the pictures add even more information that we don’t find in the words of the book.
- Act It Out. In fourth and fifth grade, this standard provides the perfect opportunity to do some plays with your students. Divide your class into groups, and give each group a drama to act out. They should use the stage directions to plan their movements and create props. Then, have the other students read the drama and watch it being performed. They can discuss how the visual presentation shows descriptions and directions from the text. They can also share ways it contributes to the meaning, tone, and beauty of the drama.
- Design Your Own Illustrations. Remove the illustrations from a picture book or passage. Have your students read it and use the descriptions to create their own illustrations. Tell them to show the characters, setting, and events through their illustrations. When they are finished, show them the pictures the illustrator drew to go with the book. Discuss how their illustrations were the same as and different from the ones in the book.
Other Helpful Resources
If you have students who are struggling with this standard, strategy groups and one-on-one conferences are a great way to differentiate and help all your students master it. These assessments will show you which students have mastered the standards and which students need extra practice.
1st Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
1st Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
2nd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
2nd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
3rd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
3rd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
4th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
4th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
5th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
5th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
Get all the lesson plans you need to teach every Common Core Reading Standard for your grade level.
1st Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
2nd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
3rd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
4th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
5th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
For more tips on teaching the reading standards, join the Rock the Reading Workshop Facebook Group.
What Do You Think?
What are your best tips for teaching your students to use illustrations in literature?
Let us know in the comments.
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