You Can Use Pictures to Become a Better Reader!

You can become a better reader when you look at pictures in your books! Pictures and illustrations give you special clues about what the words are telling you. When you see a picture of a jumping kangaroo, it helps you understand what "jumping" means. You will learn how to use pictures as reading clues to make reading more fun and easier.

Pictures in books are like helpers for your eyes and brain. When you see a picture of a big red barn with horses, you learn about farm animals and where they live. The pictures show you what the words are talking about.

You can look at pictures to understand new words you don't know yet. If you see the word "fluffy" and there's a picture of a soft, puffy sheep, the picture teaches you what "fluffy" means. This helps you predict from pictures what might happen next in your story.

Pictures give you clues like a detective game! When you see a picture of dark clouds with bright lightning, you can understand that storms have flashing lights in the sky. The picture matches what the words tell you.

You can use pictures to see how things move and change. If you see pictures of a tiny seed, then a small green sprout, then a tall flower, the pictures show you how plants grow step by step. This helps you with relating illustrations to story moments.

Picture: A drawing or photo you see in a book that shows you what something looks like

Clues: Little hints that help you figure something out - pictures give you clues about what words mean

Story: Words that tell you what happens to characters and what they do

Illustration: A special picture in a book that goes with the words to help tell the story

Details: The little things you see in pictures - like what color something is or what someone is doing

Understanding: When you know what the words and pictures are telling you about

You can practice using pictures by looking at your favorite books. Point to pictures and tell someone what you see. Look for details like colors, shapes, and what characters are doing.

Try covering the words and just looking at pictures to guess what the story is about. Then read the words to see if you were right! This helps you learn how to describe text and picture relationships.

This topic connects to many other reading skills you will learn. You started by learning to use pictures as reading clues and predicting from pictures to guess what might happen next.

You will also learn about relating illustrations to story moments and describing text and picture relationships. These skills help you see how pictures and words work together.

Later, you will learn more advanced skills like using pictures to find key ideas and using pictures to describe stories. You will also discover how pictures help tell the story and learn about visual elements text illustration connect. All these skills build on what you learn about using illustrations to support your reading!

You are ready to learn about using pictures to help you read! You already know how to look at pictures and see what's in them. Now you will learn how pictures can be your reading helpers.