Using Illustrations to Understand Texts

I am incredibly excited about this resource!  I've been working on it for quite a while and I am thrilled to use it in the fall! Since third grade is the first year for testing, the third grade team set up a mock FSA to get the kids exposed to the type of environment they would be testing in when it came to the actual test.  I made this very pretty spreadsheet that broke down what the kids needed to work on and realized they struggled with RI and RL 3.7.  That standard has the kids using illustrations to help them understand the text, so it shocked me they struggled with it.  I know they did similar strategies in K-2 because I used to teach first.  My guess is either the kids were not used to the type of questions being asked or we rely so heavily on reading text that we don't pay much attention to the pictures anymore or a combination of both.

The data sent me on a journey to find a resource to help my students.  I needed something explicit so my kids could practice with just this skill.  Since I could not find the right resources, I decided to make my own.  I started first with my fictional resource, then with informational. 

Our district is pushing close reads and encouraging all teachers to use those strategies, so I created a close read aspect because the kids will have to make notes about the picture on the page.

The notes can be observations or inferences about the picture.  Then, they have to put their thoughts into complete sentences. I noticed my students struggled with that in general so I figured giving them a place to practice that would be beneficial. 

Then, the students will read the text about the picture and answer the questions.  I created 14 pages for fictional practice and 14 for informational practice.  I plan to use it in a mini lesson and there are enough pages that I can put the others in a center.  

There are a few things I did with this resource.  I made FREEBIE versions of both.  Those can be grabbed HERE and HERE.  If you like those, you can purchase the full sets HERE and HERE. 

I also bundled them to save teachers a couple of bucks!  You can find that HERE.

Happy Teaching!

♡Chrissie