Kindergarten - ELA
1: Letters
Unit 1: A - A Is for Musk Ox
Lesson 3
Day 3
The reading directions ask the child to find the picture of each marked word in the accompanying illustration and to point to letters as they locate the pictured item. The example given — "on the page 'C is for clown,' there is a clown in the window who is shivering" — links a specific illustration detail to the text. The instructions also prompt discussion of the vocabulary word "herd," asking the child what it means and discussing why it is the right word for the context of the book.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 asks students to spend time exploring the illustrations in the A is for Musk Ox book and to interact with the book independently. Activity 3 asks students to draw a picture to accompany a story they dictated and explicitly tells them that their picture should relate to the story "in the same way that an illustrator's pictures enhance the author's words."
Unit 2: H - Hondo and Fabian
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson asks the child to consider the illustration on the front cover and to explain how the picture might relate to the title. The lesson also asks the child to find the name of the author and illustrator and to discuss what the illustrator did, which calls attention to the role of illustrations in the book.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Question #1 asks the child to retell the story and explicitly encourages using the pictures to guide the retelling, which requires attending to illustrations while recounting events. During reading the child is asked to locate words on pages and point to them, which has the child interacting with page illustrations and text. Activity 4 has the child identify and describe characters using die-cuts and words or phrases, engaging the child in describing visual representations of characters.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Activity 1 asks the child to "page through the book together to see if Hondo or Fabian moved in any other ways," which has students observe illustrations for characters' actions and movement. Activity 2 directs students to "look at some of the pictures in the book of Hondo and Fabian together" and to discuss shared activities, prompting students to relate images to characters' interactions. Students are also asked to paint a picture of an activity with a friend and dictate a sentence about it, connecting their own illustration to a described action or event.
Unit 3: I - The Little Island
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson explicitly lists the target skill: "With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear." It directs students to look at the cover illustration, ask what they notice, and predict what the book will be about based on the picture. In Activity 1 students create an island picture that matches descriptive text (counting and placing rocks, trees, fireflies), which requires connecting text details to an illustration.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students page through The Little Island book and note how the pictures progress through the seasons. They are asked what season a pictured page shows and what is changing on the island. Students choose appropriate gear for the pictured season and, as the season 'changes,' describe what different things are happening on the island.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to reread The Little Island and to "tell you the story of the island in her own words," with explicit encouragement to "use the illustrations to guide her retelling." Activity 3 directs students to "look at a page or two of the book together to find some examples" of where animals move and to use the pictures from the book when identifying and acting out air/land/water movement. These prompts require students to connect pictures to story events and actions.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to look at a picture of the stormy ocean and discuss how waves form, observing a pan demonstration and deciding what causes the waves. Students turn to the first page of the story, hear the lines about the island and winds, and are prompted to act out how winds move around the island and how clouds, fish, and fog move "over" and "around." Students also role-play the kitten moving on, under, off, beside, near, far, above, in front of, and behind the island, linking pictured positions to the text.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 asks students to look at the book cover and name what they see (title, author, illustrator, illustration of the island, Caldecott medal), flip to the back cover and talk about what they see, open to the title page and discuss its purpose and contents, and spend several minutes alone looking at the book. Activity 3 has students draw a picture of an imagined visit to the island and then 'read' their ideas aloud, which involves creating and relating images to narrative ideas.
Unit 4: T - What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson asks the child to preview the book, noting title and illustrators, and to predict what the book will be about based on what he notices in the pictures. After reading, the child is asked to refer back to the pictures together as they discuss what they learned about how animals use ears, eyes, and noses. Activity 2 has students draw animal cards and state similarities and differences in structures using the illustrations on the cards.
Unit 5: L - We're Going on a Leaf Hunt
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to look at the cover of the book and say what season is depicted and what clues support that idea, which requires interpreting an illustration. Students are asked to read the title and the names of the author and illustrator and to "look back through the story as you discuss it," which invites revisiting illustrations alongside text. The teacher-directed question about the very first page asks what the children want to find and what kind, linking text words to the pictured items (leaves).
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to look at the second page of the book where the children approach a mountain and answer, "What kind of mountain is it?" guiding them to find the adjective "tall" and to say "a tall mountain." Students are directed to look at the front cover to find the uppercase L, linking visual elements on the page to letter identification. Students are invited to act out story scenes using parts of the home (stairs as a mountain, a dark bathroom as a forest), which asks them to connect visual/setting elements with story moments through movement.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to construct a simple map of the children's journey by drawing the tall mountain, the maple tree, the dark forest, and subsequent stops, and to use arrows to show which way the children traveled. The lesson provides a sample black-and-white map image that sequences five natural locations and suggests an order or journey through these scenes. Students also look together at visual features such as how font reflects certain words when reading aloud.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Writing Workshop Option 1, students draw a picture of an imagined adventure and then dictate a story to go with their illustration, directly pairing an image with narrative text. Activity 2 asks students to spend time with the book and look at describing words while reading independently, which gives students time to attend to picture–text elements and consider features of the book.
Unit 6: F - Fireflies
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Skills list explicitly names the target standard (With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story). Students are asked to look at the cover and describe what they see and what the children are doing, which requires identifying what a picture depicts. Question #2 directs students to determine how the boy feels and to "look through the book together for evidence from the pictures of his feelings," which requires using illustrations to support story understanding.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 asks the child to spend time reviewing the illustrations and then to tell the story in his own words using the illustrations as a guide. The follow-up discussion prompts the child to reflect on parts of the book that were funny, surprising, or how he would feel, which encourages linking images to events and emotions in the story. Activity 3 asks the child to draw a picture of a summer activity and write words describing it, which has the child connect an illustration to a related narrative.
Unit 7: E - But No Elephants
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson asks the child to look at the cover and say what she sees and what she thinks the book will be about, which requires using an illustration to make predictions about the story. Activity 1 asks students to color animal pictures according to the colors in the book and identify each animal, linking pictured characters to the story. Activity 2 has students place the animal pictures in the order they visited Grandma Tildy, using the book for reference, which asks students to match pictured characters to events in the story sequence.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Activity 1 directs students to look at a book illustration and describe where animals are using words such as "in," "on," "under," "beside," and "behind," and includes a sample picture in which the elephant has fallen through the floor for students to describe. The review prompt asks students to recall a predicament Grandma Tildy faced in the story, which asks students to think about story events.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The lesson directs the child to look back at the first page picture and answer questions such as What is Grandma Tildy doing?, What kind of work is she doing?, and Why is she doing that?, which requires identifying the moment the illustration depicts. The lesson has the child continue to look through the story at each new pet and explain how the picture shows the pet helping Grandma meet a want or a need. In Activity 2 the child holds up each animal puppet as it is introduced and is asked to tell what came next or make up a new ending, linking the visual representation of each animal to specific story events.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 asks the child to look at the pictures and "read" the rest of the book, moving a finger left to right while tracing words, and it allows retelling the story in her own words or looking at the pictures. After reading, the child is prompted to talk about the book (enjoyment, favorite part, and imagining a different ending). Activity 1 instructs using the elephant pictures as visual cues so the child can count ears and feet, linking illustrations to quantitative information.
Unit 8: C - Millions of Cats
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson directs students to look at the cover of the book and asks what they see and what they think the book will be about, prompting them to use the cover illustration to make predictions. The lesson also instructs students to page through Hondo and Fabian to help remember the story, which asks students to attend to the book's pages and visuals to recall events.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson directs the child to look at the third page of Millions of Cats and references the text, "And he set out over hills…He trudged through cool valleys," while asking the child to make landforms with playdough, linking a page to physical features. The lesson also asks the child to look at the front cover to find the letter C, which requires attending to the book's illustration. The "A Pretty Cat" activity asks the child to decorate a cat to look like the "prettiest" cat the man could have picked for his wife, tying a created image to a character from the story.
Unit 9: G - The Real Mother Goose
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover and infer who Mother Goose might be, using the illustration to support that idea. After reading selected poems, students are shown the corresponding illustrations and asked about features in the picture (for example, the round face of a clock, a well, a button, and a pancake). While reading "The Little Bird," students move their fingers along the lines, look at the picture, are asked "What is happening?", and are prompted to act out the poem while referencing the picture.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students read the poem "The Year" that describes months, weather, and activities, then look at the "Months of the Year" activity sheet where each month is represented by a specific image. Students are asked to color, cut out, and glue the picture for January and to "talk about what happens in January" and "what is the weather like?" The Student Activity Page description explicitly states that each month is represented by an image that symbolizes characteristics or events typically associated with that time of year.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 3 has the child dictate a poem, have it written in a journal, and then create an illustration to go along with that poem, requiring a connection between text and picture. Activity 2 has the child listen to and follow along with poems, engaging with the text content that could be linked to images. Activity 1 has the child read poems together and identify objects described in the poems, which involves attending to poem content that illustrations might depict.
Unit 10: O - Owl Babies
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson instructs the child to look at the cover of the book and describe what he sees and to predict whether the book will teach facts or tell an imaginary story, which asks the student to use the illustration to form expectations about the text. The lesson also includes an image of an owl face and directs hands-on assembly of owl parts, which engages students in attending to visual features of an owl illustration.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to look at the front cover of Baby Owl and tell what they see (a picture of an owl). Students compare photographs and hand-drawn pictures and use the pictures in the book to predict whether the book is fiction or non-fiction, then confirm that it is non-fiction after reading. Students use an illustration of an owl to dictate or write facts they learned, filling designated spaces on the student activity page.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Activity 1 asks the child to look at a website of owl pictures and to "observe what is different and what is similar about the owls," and then to consider how the book Owl Babies gives the owls attributes they don't really have (for example, talking and human-like feelings). The Reader's Theatre pages include small owl icons and illustrated decorative borders, showing that illustrations are present alongside the text. The letter-sound pages include pictures (octopus, orange, frog, etc.) that students identify and match to letters, demonstrating practice with images paired with words.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 asks the child to identify which owl book is fiction or non-fiction and to name clues found in the books; the guidance explicitly notes that the fiction book (Owl Babies) uses painted illustrations that show owls acting like people while the non-fiction book (Baby Owl) uses photographs to illustrate facts. Activity 1 has the child create and act out stories with owl counters on a tree mat, moving owls to show events (e.g., owls flying to or away from the tree). The step-by-step "Draw Your Own Owl" page aligns each drawing instruction with an illustration so students match pictures to corresponding steps.
Unit 11: S - Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the front cover and describe what they see, including a close look at the four branch pictures and what they think those pictures represent. Students are instructed to read the book and to "look at what Arnold does with his tree during each season," prompting them to connect illustrations of Arnold's actions to the story events. The skills list explicitly states that with prompting and support students should describe the relationship between illustrations and the story, indicating guided practice opportunities.
Unit 12: D - Dinosaurs Big and Small
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover and say what they see and what the book will be about, using the picture to make predictions. The lesson asks students to name the illustrator and define the illustrator's role, connecting pictures to the presentation of ideas. The activities refer students to specific pictures in the book (e.g., picture #3 of the Caudipteryx on pages 32–33) and have students use those illustrations to compare lengths of dinosaurs.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson asks students to look back at page 27 and use the picture of a lizard and a crocodile to guess the meaning of the word "sprawl," prompting them to relate the illustration to the sentence about how dinosaurs walked. Activity 3 asks students to look at specific pages (e.g., pg. 13, 14, 16-19, 20-21, 24) and come up with adjectives to describe the dinosaurs shown, encouraging students to talk about what the pictures show. During the poem activity students are prompted to point to words as they recite and then to look at pictures in the book and identify describing words that match the images.
Unit 13: P - Harold and the Purple Crayon
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover and predict what the book will be about, using the cover illustration to make meaning. Students are prompted to recall specific moments when Harold used his crayon (e.g., drawing a boat when water rose, drawing pie when hungry), linking those drawings to events in the story. An optional extension has students draw the way Harold solved a predicament, which has them create an illustration that represents a story moment.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked directly about an illustration from the text: "In Harold and the Purple Crayon, Harold draws the moon, and the moon follows him throughout the story. What shape is the moon in the story? Does the moon always look that way?" Students examine the book cover to find the uppercase letter P, which requires looking at an illustration on the front of the book. Students cut out, arrange, and glue labeled pictures of moon phases around a circle, and view a diagram that depicts the moon in several illustrated states tied to the story element of Harold's moon.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to look ahead at the pages where Harold started to draw buildings and to read the sight word "made" on those illustrated pages. Students reread Harold and answer comprehension questions including "What was Harold's most amazing drawing?" which directs attention to specific illustrations. Activity 3 asks students to look at the pages where Harold drew the buildings and to compare those drawn (flat) buildings to real solid shapes (cube/rectangular prism), tracing bottoms and counting faces, edges, and corners while referring to the pictured drawings.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked questions about Harold and the Purple Crayon (e.g., what an imagination means and whether their neighborhood is like Harold's), prompting comparison between the story and their own ideas. Students construct a neighborhood map using printed building illustrations and toy cars, arranging pictures of places (homes, school, bank, fire station, hospital, playground, etc.). Multiple student activity pages present labeled images of community buildings that students can cut, color, or place on their maps.
Unit 14: B - Blueberries for Sal
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover and say what they notice and what they think the book will be about, and to judge from the cover whether the child likes blueberries and explain how they can tell. Students are prompted to find the name of the illustrator and to note that the same person both wrote and illustrated the book. Students are asked to flip through the book and identify what color the illustrator used, and then discuss questions after reading that connect pictures and story details (e.g., who was looking for blueberries, what happened on the mountain).
Lesson 2
Day 2
Activity 1 asks students to look through the book and find clues from the pictures (model of the car, clothing, stove, hairstyle) that show the story takes place in the past, requiring them to link illustration details to the story's setting. Activity 3 directs students to look at a specific two-page spread, describe what the picture shows about Little Bear hustling, and infer the meaning of the word from the illustration; students then act out character movements shown in multiple pictures to connect images to story action and moments.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to retell Blueberries for Sal in their own words and may use the pictures to prompt them, which encourages using illustrations to support story recall. The reading directions tell the adult to keep looking for the sight word "she" as they read and point to it, which involves visual tracking of text alongside images. The Student Activity Page includes a small labeled illustration (a bat with the word "bat"), supporting students in connecting images to words and story elements.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 2 (Reading Workshop) students are given books set in the past and asked to spend time looking independently at the books, searching for clues that help identify the setting as the past. Students are prompted to use illustrations (clothing, technology, objects) as evidence and then share their findings with an adult, with suggested questions to guide their observations.
Unit 15: R - Rain
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson directs students to examine the book cover and notice that the small words look like rain, prompting discussion of how the illustration conveys rain. During reading, adults are told to point out colors that match the text and to stop and ask what the child thinks the rain will fall on next, encouraging students to link pictures to upcoming events. Activity 1 has students place die-cut pieces on a sky mat to "show the progression of the story" and add a gray sky "as the story calls for," requiring students to map illustrations (die-cuts) to specific moments in the narrative.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students read the book page by page while the adult points to each word and then manipulate die-cuts to match the page, linking picture pieces to specific pages. After reading, students are asked to read the book back and point to words while possibly using colored text clues, reinforcing connection between text and images. In Activity 3, students arrange and glue die-cuts to create a scene from the last page and point to each object while using descriptive words (e.g., "purple flowers") to tell about the scene.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students practice reading a picture book aloud while using pictures and the colors of the type as a guide to meaning and word identification. Students write or dictate sentences describing favorite things and then illustrate those sentences using colors that correspond to their writing, linking images to text.
Unit 16: N - Night in the Country
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover illustration and describe what they see (the sky, a sunset) and to identify the time of day depicted (evening/night). After reading, students are prompted to say what they thought about the book and answer questions such as "What does the author seem to think about nighttime? How can you tell?" with an answer linking the pictures and words (pictures are gentle and descriptive). These prompts explicitly ask students to relate illustrations to story meaning and the moment being depicted.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson asks the child to "tell you the story in his own words, using the pictures as a guide to the retelling," which requires students to use illustrations to support story retelling. Activity 3 directs the child to "look through the book" and identify landforms seen in the pictures and then create models of those landforms while talking about their names, which has students examine illustrations and connect them to story content and features.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 asks the child to "read" the book, look at the pictures, and identify a question or two he'd like to know more about after reading. The activity also directs an adult to look at the book with the child briefly and model an example question, which exposes the child to thinking about the book and its illustrations.
Unit 17: M - Marshmallow
Lesson 1
Day 1
The activity asks the child to look at the book cover and say what she sees (a white bunny) and to predict why the book is titled Marshmallow, which asks the child to connect an illustration to the story. The instructions also tell the adult to "show your child the page where Marshmallow kisses Oliver on the nose" and to ask about the word "hesitated" and why Oliver hesitated before pouncing, which directs the child to attend to a specific illustration and its moment in the narrative. The read-aloud includes follow-up questions (e.g., favorite part) that prompt the child to refer back to story pages and images.
Lesson 2
Day 2
In Activity 1 students are asked to look at the part of the book where Oliver is about to pounce on Marshmallow and to talk about how Oliver followed Miss Tilly's rules, which directs attention to a specific pictured moment in the story. Activity 2 asks students to look at the front cover of Marshmallow and identify the uppercase M and the word 'marshmallow,' linking an image on the cover to a word. The Student Activity Page pairs a monkey illustration with the word 'monkey,' prompting a basic image–word connection.
Lesson 3
Day 3
After reading, the child is asked to tell the story in her own words and is explicitly encouraged to use the pictures to prompt her retelling. The teacher/adult is instructed to show the second page of the book and point to the word "out," then reread the book and have the child read that word as it occurs in the story, linking text on the page with the accompanying picture.
Unit 18: U - Umbrella
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson asks the child to look at the front cover of the book and say what he sees and what he thinks the book will be about, which engages the student with the book's illustrations. The lesson also directs the child to look at page 6 with the adult, which involves attending to a specific page in the book. After reading, the child is asked to recall events from the book, connecting comprehension of story events with pages they have viewed.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The plan directs an adult to read the story Umbrella to the child and then ask the child to tell the story in his own words. The instructions explicitly encourage the child to use the pictures in the story to prompt his retelling. The guidance to look at kanji and specific pages in the book also has the child examine illustrations on particular pages.
Unit 19: J - Jump Frog Jump
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students look at the book cover to identify animals and explain why the frog will be the main character (e.g., frog centered, name in title). Students are asked to look back through the book to remember which animals the frog escaped, using illustrations as clues. Students cut out and order story sequence pictures by consulting the book and placing pictures from beginning to end, then read the sentences that match each picture.
Lesson 3
Day 3
After reading, students are asked to line up the story sequence cards from Day 1 in order and then tell the story using the story sequence cards to prompt them. Activity 3 has students hear phrases from the book and then show the relationship between two animals by using die-cut figures and arranging them in the physical relationship that matches the phrase. Students also create original situations using directional words and then use the die-cut figures and props to show those situations, linking visual placement to narrative actions.
Unit 20: K - Kindness
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to look at the cover of the book and asked what they notice and what they think the book will be about, which asks them to use the illustration to make meaning. Students are asked to turn to the page where Harry's wife lists the animals and count each animal character, and the activity directs students to cut out animal illustrations and number them according to the order in which they are introduced in the book. The Student Activity Page provides a 3x3 grid of animal illustrations that students manipulate and reorder to match the story sequence.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 directs the child to spend time looking carefully at the pictures and to practice retelling the story through them. The child is then asked to retell the story, giving a general description of each act of kindness using the illustrations as a guide. Activity 3 asks the child to draw a picture of a favorite scene, linking an illustration to a specific moment in the book.
Unit 21: V - Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson asks the child to look at the book cover and name what she sees and the instrument pictured, encouraging attention to the illustrations. It tells the child to pay attention to the instruments and the activities of the dog, cats, and mouse on each page. After reading, questions ask what the animals did and how you can tell the musicians enjoyed playing (answering from smiles and dancing), requiring use of visual cues. Activity 1 has the child go through the book and match instrument pictures with the number playing and ensemble name, which requires examining illustrations to identify moments when instruments appear.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The student reads Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin and is asked to look for a specific word while reading, showing engagement with the text and illustrations. After reading, the student is asked to use the book to place instrument pictures in the order in which they appear, directly linking illustrations to the story sequence. The student also examines pictures of instruments to identify shapes, demonstrating attention to features of illustrations.
Unit 22: Y - Little Blue and Little Yellow
Lesson 1
Day 1
Have your child look at the front cover of the book and make observations and predictions, asking 'What does he see? What does he think the book will be about?' After reading, students are directed to turn back to the appropriate page and re-read sections when they have trouble remembering answers to comprehension questions, which encourages referring to pages (and their illustrations) for detail. The cover activity explicitly asks students to use an illustration to form ideas about the story.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Activity 1 directs the child to "look back at the pictures in the story" and asks what ways Little Blue and Little Yellow were good friends and good citizens, prompting the child to use illustrations to identify actions (e.g., hugging, playing nicely, obeying rules). The activity also asks the child to identify a moment when Little Blue ignored rules (leaving home) and to explain why obeying the rule was important, which asks the child to connect a pictured event to the story outcome.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The child is shown pages in Little Blue and Little Yellow and asked to read the word "they" in those illustrated sentences. The adult reads the story and then gives the child Play-doh balls and instructs him to use the pictures in the book and the balls of dough to retell and act out the story in his own words. The retelling and acting task asks the child to use the book's illustrations as the basis for sequencing and portraying story moments.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Activity 2 asks students to look back through Little Blue and Little Yellow and answer how the author shows parents and houses (bigger shapes and torn brown boxes), how he shows Little Blue's feelings (page color changes from black to red), and how he shows settings like the park and mountain (green and torn black paper). Students are then asked to tear construction paper to represent characters, use torn paper to represent objects and settings while they tell a story, and choose one scene to glue and write or dictate what is happening in that scene. These prompts require students to link specific visual choices (color, size, shape, paper texture) to story elements and moments.
Unit 23: W - George Washington's Birthday
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson directs students to look at the book cover and compare the picture of George Washington to the picture on the dollar bill, asking what is alike and different, which requires attending to details in illustrations. The lesson also points students to the page where George is working on arithmetic and asks what he is using to write (a quill pen) and to observe his written problems, linking the pictured scene to the events in the text. Students are asked to examine the page where George is supervised by his brother and to check his arithmetic, which involves using the illustration to locate and interpret a moment in the story.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Activity 2 instructs the child to "consult the book so your child can see the illustration and you can read before and after the highlighted sentence if helpful," and then to act out the sentence including the action described by the italicized word(s). The Student Activity Pages include multiple illustrations (story pictures and object pictures) that students are asked to use to identify vocabulary and beginning sounds.
Lesson 5
Day 5
The Reading Workshop asks the child to look for information in the illustrations, noting places where George is shown writing down things (e.g., his rules for life). The child is encouraged to spend time independently with the text, look for different places words appear on the page, think about the purpose of those placements, and then share observations about the book. The Writing Workshop has the child draw a picture of a personal birthday celebration and write or dictate about it, connecting an image with words.
Unit 24: Q - The Quilt Story
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover of the book and discuss what a quilt is, prompting them to use the cover illustration as a source of information. After reading The Quilt Story, students are asked how they knew the story took place a long time ago, with explicit clues given (style of dress; sewing by candlelight; traveling by horse and wagon; building a new house, furniture, and a rocking horse). A directed question asks how the child could tell the second part took place in more modern times, citing illustrative details (style of dress, modern buildings, cars and trucks, an already-built house). The skills list explicitly includes: "With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear."
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to go through the beginning pages of the book and identify ways the family used natural resources (wood for furniture/houses/wheels/toys; tea for drinking; beeswax/animal fats for candles), which requires looking at pages that may include illustrations. Students are also asked to identify the landforms "mentioned/shown in the story (hills, prairie, river)," explicitly linking what is shown to the story text.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 asks the child to consider what role illustrations play and to look at the picture of Abigail on the cover, asking how her facial expression shows how she feels and how that deepens understanding of the book. Students are encouraged to spend independent time looking at words and pictures and to focus on the girls' faces to determine what the facial expressions reveal about what is going on in the story. After independent reading, students are asked to point out an expression and explain what they learn about the story from it.
Unit 25: X - An Extraordinary Egg
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover of the book and tell what they see, which requires observing an illustration and connecting it to the book. Students are prompted to page back through the book to find examples of frogs acting like real frogs and examples where frogs have fictional qualities, which requires returning to specific pages and images to find evidence. The activities ask students to record ideas from the book on index cards, implying they examine text and accompanying pages to classify facts versus fictional elements.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The text directs an adult to read An Extraordinary Egg with the child and then asks the child to retell the story in her own words "using the pictures to help her remember the events." The teacher/adult is also instructed to look at specific pages (the second page) and point to text while reading, linking words and images. The student activity pages include illustrations tied to words (e.g., fox, mailbox, ox) that encourage attention to pictures while reading and naming.
Unit 26: Z - Greedy Zebra
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover of the book and say what they observe and to predict how the zebra will be greedy and what might happen as a result, which uses the cover illustration to anticipate story events. Students are guided to find where zebras live on a world map and told that the "Where Zebras Are Found" illustration shows that area, which connects an illustration to the story's setting. The materials also point out that book images are hand-drawn illustrations versus photographs, prompting students to notice different kinds of images related to the text.
Lesson 3
Day 3
After reading, ask your child to use the illustrations to retell the story to you. The plan instructs an adult to read Greedy Zebra aloud while encouraging the child to read the sight word "new" as it appears in the story, linking text reading with the pictures. Activity 3 directs students to look at images about caves and talk about what they might see, using pictures to support understanding of the content.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 3 asks the child to choose a favorite book and draw a picture of a scene from the book, and to think about the characters, setting, and events of the story while drawing. Activity 2 has the child look through book covers and identify settings and animal characters, which requires connecting visual elements to story elements.
2: Holidays
Unit 27: Halloween
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to compare the covers of Goodnight Moon and Goodnight Goon and note similarities and differences in style, colors, and characters, which requires relating illustrations to the books' tones and content. Students are prompted to turn back to the page that mentions a "black lagoon" and look at the picture to decide whether the lagoon is salt water or a shallow area of dirty water, linking the illustration to word meaning in the text. Students are also asked to listen for the word "lagoon" while reading and check which definition the picture supports, reinforcing the connection between image and story language.
Unit 28: Thanksgiving
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Skills section explicitly states: "With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text the illustration depicts)." The Reading and Questions section directs students to look at the cover and ask what they see and to flip through the book and identify locations while looking at the picture of that location (Egypt, China, Greece, Italy, Israel, England). The instructions to trace the voyage of the pilgrims from England to Plymouth and identify the Atlantic Ocean require students to connect illustrations/maps to the story text and events.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to look at the picture of the Mayflower in the book and then cut and glue sails to match that picture, using the illustration as a model for constructing the replica. The included image description shows a drawing of a small boat with three triangular sails, which students reference during Activity 2. Students also reread the Pilgrims pages (Activities 1 and 3), which could allow comparison between text and images while they act out story actions.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 (Reading Workshop) asks the child to study the book's illustrations, to see how they help the author teach about Thanksgiving, and then to point out observations about the illustrations. The instructions include a reminder that illustrations "go along with the words" and sometimes help explain what the author is trying to communicate, which prompts the child to connect pictures with text.
Unit 29: Christmas
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to explore The Christmas Wish by themselves and to be asked what they notice about the book and to predict what the book will be about. They are prompted to "consider the illustrations of the book — are they pictures?" and to look out for photographs that might have been edited as the adult reads the story with them. The reading directions instruct students to observe the illustrations while the story is read aloud.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to look again at The Christmas Wish and tell their favorite part of the story, which involves re-examining text and illustrations. The text points out that the photographer is a native of Norway and that the story seems to take place there, which invites students to connect images to setting. Students are instructed to use the snow dough to create a snowy scene and to create animals they read about, which has them reproduce visual elements from the story.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 1 directs an adult and child to look at the page in The Christmas Wish that shows the northern lights, prompting observation of that illustration. Activity 3 asks the child to page through the book and note all the animals the girl encounters, and asks questions about the reindeer's appearance and whether it can really fly. Activity 2 (Northern Lights Art) has the child recreate the aurora scene, reinforcing attention to how an illustration depicts the night sky and landscape.
Lesson 4
Day 4
In Activity 2, students decorate a Santa die-cut, locate their position on a world map, and move the die-cut along a shown path, talking about which oceans and continents Santa crosses and where he lands. The activity asks students to identify when Santa has arrived at a continent and to find islands for Santa to land on, using the map illustration as a representation of the story action.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 1 directs students to look at the first pages of The Christmas Wish and notice the kind deeds Anja did for others, prompting students to attend to events shown on the pages. Activity 3 asks students to draw a picture of their favorite part of celebrating Christmas or to draw a picture that complements their writing, which has students create an illustration that represents a story moment.
1: Environment
Unit 1: Habitats and Homes
Lesson 3
Guide to Animal Habitats
During read-aloud (Activity 1) students are asked to point out the animals and plants shown in each habitat illustration and count them, tying pictured elements to the text. In the Introduction students examine the book cover and answer questions about who the character is and what she thinks he will do, using the illustration to make predictions about the story. Activity 2 (Option 2) has students trace Crinkleroot's Jeep through the illustrated habitats in the order visited, requiring them to connect specific pictures to story sequence. Activity 5 directs students to carefully examine the pages that illustrate a chosen habitat and then draw or tell a story about visiting it, prompting them to describe what the pictures show and how that fits the narrative.
Lesson 4
Animals Live and Grow
During Day 2 the child is asked to read Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt aloud and answer picture-based questions (e.g., QUESTION #1 asks What season is it on the first page? How do you know?), which prompts the child to use illustration details to support answers. QUESTION #4 (What is "Nana's rain"?) and the guidance to discuss why Nana tells the boy to give the plants a drink require the child to link picture clues to story events and vocabulary. The Shelter activity asks the child to cut out animal pictures and place them in locations that provide the best shelter, which has the child relate illustrations of animals and places to their role in the story/environment.
Lesson 6
Exploring Animal Habitats
Students are asked to draw or find a picture of an animal and place it in the box at the top of the "A Day in the ______: A ______'s Life" page, then tell and dictate a story about what the animal might do in its habitat. Students are asked to read the story back with support and to sound out words, and the Skills list includes 'Demonstrate a sense of story (beginning, middle, and end).' Students also create an observational illustration/collage in Activity 1 and compare that illustration to predictions they made before the observation.
Lesson 9
Animal Designs
Students read picture captions and name the animal and habitat in each illustrated panel (Activity 1, Option 1), analyze how each pictured animal moves, and circle body parts that enable movement. In Activity 2 and the activity pages students identify which animals do not belong in pictured habitats and explain why, linking illustration details to meaning. In Activity 4 students create a short narrative about an animal in the wrong habitat and then draw pictures of the animal in its correct habitat and in the wrong habitat it visited, thereby producing illustrations tied to moments in their story.
Lesson 10
Amazing Animals
Activity 1 asks the child to analyze each picture on the "Amazing Changes" page and read the paired text about how each animal changes, prompting students to look at illustrations alongside descriptive text. The Student Activity Page presents numbered illustrations (starfish, snake, lizards, shark) with corresponding explanatory text, which students are asked to read and use to select an animal to learn more about. Activity 3 asks students to draw in missing body parts on illustrated pages (e.g., a starfish that lost legs) and to solve related word problems, linking picture details to the written scenarios.
Lesson 11
Amazing Me
Students are asked to "read or attempt to read own story" and to "illustrate a story" in the listed skills. In Activity 3, students think of a time they changed, have their ideas recorded and read aloud, and then are asked to illustrate those ideas. In Option 1 and Option 2 activities, students look at pictures (snake, flower, hurt elephant) and select or write the face showing how the image makes them feel.
Final Project
Animal Research / My Environment
The project instructions repeatedly tell students to draw or paste illustrations that "match the description at the top of each activity page" for both the "My Environment" and "Animal Research" options. The directions ask an adult to "Help your child label his pictures," which prompts students to connect text labels with their illustrations. The Wrapping Up section instructs to "Allow your child to explain each page of his book," prompting students to talk about how their pictures relate to the page content.
Unit 2: Weather
Lesson 1
Reading the Skies
Activity 1 asks students to look at the cover of Whatever the Weather and say what they think the story is about, which engages them in interpreting an illustration in relation to the story. Activity 2 has students match weather words to corresponding pictures, and Activity 3 asks students to illustrate or tell a story about their favorite kind of weather, connecting pictures with narrative ideas. Activity 4 asks students to draw daily weather on a calendar, giving additional practice relating images to events or conditions.
Lesson 2
Types of Precipitation
After reading Oh Say Can You Say What's the Weather Today?, students are asked to find pictures of habitats and describe the weather shown, directly connecting illustrations to story settings. The lesson asks students to identify how characters look when they are hot versus cold by referring to specific pages (pp. 26-29), which requires describing what moment or condition an illustration depicts. In Activity 2 students look closely at pictured scenes and decide which type of precipitation is falling, labeling each picture to show comprehension of the illustration's meaning.
Lesson 6
Winter
Activity 1 asks students to find winter pages in the book Whatever the Weather and to describe what they see in the pictures, and to compare the pictured environment to their own. The same activity has students dictate a winter story and then illustrate that story in the provided box, requiring them to create an image that corresponds to a written narrative.
Lesson 7
Spring
Activity 1 asks students to attempt to read each short poem, tell what the poem was about, and then draw a line from the poem to the picture that best tells the story; the Student Activity Page shows three poems each paired with an illustration. Option 2 asks students how they would illustrate each poem and encourages them to add their own picture, with a reminder that the picture should help tell the story. These tasks require students to connect the text of a poem with an illustration that represents the poem's content.
Lesson 8
Summer
In Activity 2 (Option 1) students use picture-word prompts (images labeled pool, hot, trip, beach, swim) to choose words that fit blanks in a short story, requiring them to match illustrations to story vocabulary and events. In Activity 2 (Option 2) students are asked to fill in blanks and then illustrate the story in a large blank area, prompting them to create an image that represents the narrative. In Activity 1 students describe what is happening in a pictured scene and how the characters feel, which practices interpreting illustrations' content and actions.
Unit 3: Community
Lesson 1
On the Town
Students are asked to look at the cover of On the Town and say what they think the book might be about, which connects an illustration to story prediction. In Activity 2 students select pictures that best complete sentences, linking images to specific community-related text. In Activity 3 students draw a new page for the book and write or dictate a sentence about Charlie visiting that place, creating an illustration that corresponds to a moment in the story.
Lesson 2
My Community Environment
Activity 3 directs students to look through books and "describe some of the communities found in the illustrations," select three books, copy the titles, and draw a simple illustration of the community in each story. Activity 1 has students turn to the page in Me on the Map that shows the town map, point out streets, buildings, and the river, and trace paths between buildings, which has students attend to and talk about specific elements shown in illustrations/maps.
Lesson 3
Jobs in the Community
Students look at illustrated activity pages (Community Workers Option 1 and 2) and are asked to read labels, name each worker, say what the worker does, and draw a line from the worker illustration to the place where they work. Students draw a picture of themselves in the "When I Grow Up" box and are encouraged to read or attempt to read their own written paragraph about the worker. Students are directed to find and read books about community workers and to observe community workers in real settings.
Lesson 7
A Citizen with Character
Students are asked to illustrate the beginning, middle, and end of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and to write, dictate, or copy a sentence to accompany each drawing (Activity 5, Option 1), which requires them to link a picture to a specific moment in the story. Students view pictured scenarios in the "Kindness Award" activity, assign kindness scores to each picture, and explain why they chose each score, which requires describing what each illustration depicts. The "Boy Who Cried Wolf" student page includes a printed illustration of a wolf that students can see while reading the text.
Lesson 9
Caring for Our Communities
In Activity 1, students are told to study the "When One Person Cares" activity sheet illustration while the story about Katy is read, allowing them to view an image that relates to the narrative. In Activity 2, students look at two community pictures and mark problems or positives, and an extension asks them to look through picture books and discuss whether the settings portray safe or happy communities, connecting images to story settings. In Activity 4, students look at pictures on the "Helping Others in the Community" sheet and discuss how the citizens are helping one another, relating pictured actions to community contexts.
Final Project
I Can Make A Difference
Students are given a large blank box on the activity page to draw or illustrate their community plan and are prompted to paste a photo of themselves engaged in the project into that box. The activity asks students to write a step-by-step plan using sentence starters: "The first thing I will do is __," "Next I will __," and "Finally I will __," which has students sequence events. Students are also prompted to write reflective sentences about what they did and how they helped, linking text to their drawing or photo.
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 1: Amazing Attributes
Lesson 10
Earth Materials: Rocks, Soil, and Water
Students are asked to locate and describe items shown in the illustrations (e.g., Q2: "Can you describe any liquids pictured in the book?" and Q4: "Can you find any rocks in the illustrations?"). Day 2 prompts ask students to compare the two covers and to "describe the habitat of the pond" with concrete descriptions of what is shown and talked about. The preposition activities require students to look at specific pages and complete sentences based on the pictures (e.g., "The frog jumps ___ the lily pad"), and Activity 2 asks students to find animals described in the glossary in the illustrations.
Unit 2: Senses
Lesson 2
Senses and Body Parts
The Student Activity Page shows a grayscale illustration of a girl (Jackie) with space to glue sense-organ cutouts. In Option 1 students listen to the story "Jackie's Day at the Pet Store" and are instructed to pick up the body part Jackie uses in the narration and glue it on her face at the appropriate time. In Option 2 students create or tell a story about Jackie and pause to glue the appropriate sense organ on Jackie's body when she uses a sense.
Lesson 7
Using All of Our Senses
Students are asked to look at My Five Senses (pages 21+) and identify which senses the boy in the story used and how he used each sense, with an explicit note that she may "look at the pictures and words with her eyes." Activity 3 directs students to look through books and identify ways characters in stories are using their senses, citing picture books (Brown Bear, Brown Bear; Polar Bear, Polar Bear) as starting points. The Student Activity Pages (How Many Senses? and Nature Walk) include illustrations or spaces for drawing where students must interpret pictures or scenarios to decide which senses apply.
Lesson 8
Writing About Our Senses
Students are asked to draw and label scenes in Activity 2 where the worksheet provides two labeled boxes, "My popcorn before popping" and "My popcorn after popping," and fill in sensory sentences about the popcorn. In Activity 3 students are prompted to "illustrate the event" they remember on Page 1 of "Sensing My Day" and then write sensing words or phrases for each of the five senses that describe that event on Page 2.
Unit 3: We're the Same, We're Different
Lesson 1
You're Special
The lesson lists the skill 'Discuss, illustrate, and dramatize stories' and asks the child to complete a personalized paragraph and then read and share his story with others. Student activity pages include small icons (face, house, crayon, etc.) next to questions that serve as simple illustrations tied to the prompts. The teacher notes encourage review and discussion of vocabulary and ideas related to the student's personal story.
Lesson 2
Physical Characteristics
Students listen to the short story "Different Friends" and then cut apart illustrated event boxes that depict scenes from the story; they put those boxes in the order in which the events occurred. Students answer retell questions about the beginning, middle, and end and discuss whether the pictured caterpillar and ladybug are friends. Students also plan and draw illustrations for the beginning, middle, and end of their own friendship story, matching their drawings to the sentences they dictate or write.
Lesson 5
Shapesville
Students are asked to look at the cover of Shapesville, guess what the story might be about, point to the title, and identify shapes they see on the cover. As the story is read, students identify the shape of each character, count sides and angles, and describe physical characteristics such as color, sides, angles, and eye color. Students are prompted to review each shape's personality and interests after reading and answer comprehension questions about how the shapes look and act.
Lesson 6
Different Families
The lesson asks students to look through the pages of A Life Like Mine and identify pictures of families, then describe clothing, physical characteristics, activities, and interactions shown in the illustrations. The lesson directs students to read specific pages and talk about the different people, foods, and homes shown in the book. Students are asked to draw illustrations to represent basic needs and to draw both their own family and a family from another country engaged in activities, connecting images to content presented in the text.
Lesson 7
Different Homes
Students are asked to read pages 26–35 of A Life Like Mine and identify and describe the different homes shown in the book. They are prompted to look at the materials used to make the homes and to name materials they recognize. Activities ask students to look closely at illustrations, find similar real-world examples, and sketch or build homes based on pictures.
Lesson 8
Different Holidays and Traditions
Students match pictures/symbols to holiday names (Activity 1 and the "American Holidays and Traditions" pages), and they examine pictures of celebrations from scrapbooks or online and answer questions about what people are celebrating and what activities they are doing (Activity 2). Students draw themselves celebrating a holiday and then write or dictate three sentences describing what they enjoy about the holiday (Activity 3). Students create a Book of Holidays with pictures or photos representing each holiday and write a sentence about each one (Activity 5).
Lesson 9
Different Modes of Transportation
Students are asked to look through the pages of A Life Like Mine and find examples of transportation in the book's pictures, encouraging them to examine illustrations for specific content. In Activities 1 and 2 students view images and either label modes of transportation or choose/draw the mode that fits pictured scenarios, requiring them to interpret what each illustration shows. In Activity 3 students draw a picture of themselves using a mode of transportation and then tell a story about that trip, linking an illustration they create with a narrative they produce.
Final Project
Differences Make the World Go 'Round
Students are asked to illustrate each page by drawing or pasting a picture that represents the sentence they write, including a cover drawing of themselves and the child from another country. Multiple Student Activity Pages provide large blank boxes labeled for Food, Hobbies, Homes, Clothing, Transportation, and Holidays where students draw or write to match the prompts. The materials include small icons and example pictures that link visual elements to the text prompts (e.g., plate and utensils next to Food).
3: Patterns
Unit 2: Patterns in Sounds, Words, and Actions
Lesson 2
Making Word Patterns
In Activity 1 students fold the sheet so they cannot see the illustrations, complete each sentence, then unfold to read the sentence and pair it with the illustration; they also cut sentences and illustrations apart and glue a sentence and an illustration on each book page. Activity 1 therefore has students identify which picture matches each sentence and place the illustration with the corresponding text. Activity 3 gives students a variety of picture books to use while they identify words and patterns from the text, exposing them to images paired with story text.
Lesson 3
Poetry Patterns
The Skills section explicitly includes "Discuss, illustrate, or dramatize a story or poem," which asks students to engage with both text and pictures. Activity 1 asks students to read each poem and answer "what each poem is about," while the Student Activity Page descriptions note black-and-white illustrations accompanying the poems. Activity 2 has students write another verse and "illustrate the new verse in the box provided," requiring students to create an image that corresponds to text.
Lesson 5
Story Patterns
Activity 2 (Option 1) has students cut apart three sequential pictures, glue them in order, label each as beginning/middle/end, and dictate a sentence describing each event. Activity 2 (Option 2) asks students to illustrate and describe what happened in the beginning, middle, and end in labeled boxes for a provided story. Activity 3 asks students to create their own short story and then illustrate story boxes for the beginning, middle, and end, linking pictures to story moments.
Unit 3: Patterns in Your World
Lesson 2
Patterns of Growth
Students draw the plant every few days and write a sentence to record its growth on the "A Plant's Pattern of Growth" page, directly describing what each illustration shows. Students cut apart pictures of a plant, an animal, and a person and glue them in order from first to last stage, sequencing the illustrated stages. Students organize personal photos from youngest to oldest and talk about the pattern of growth, describing what each picture represents in the progression.
Lesson 4
Daily Routines
Students cut apart and glue illustrated pictures of a morning routine into the correct order (Activity 1), showing they use illustrations to represent events. Students break a routine into four steps and either illustrate each step or select an object/gesture to represent each step (Activity 2), and students pair icons with specific times for activities in a daily schedule (Activity 3). Students also write or dictate a sentence describing a routine and can illustrate it (Activity 4).
Lesson 6
Seasonal Weather Patterns
Students examine the "Seasons and Months" activity page that contains images (snowflakes, flowers, umbrella with rain, sun, leaves) and are asked to fill in missing seasons after studying those illustrations. Students are instructed to "discuss the illustrations associated with each month and what they symbolize" on the Weather Patterns sheet and to paste each month beneath the season and weather pattern it represents. Students match month pictures (Christmas tree, umbrella, sun, pumpkin, etc.) to months and then to appropriate seasons, using the illustrations as cues for sequencing.
Lesson 9
Counting Patterns
In Activity 3, students cut out clown faces and place them in a drawn car as the story is read, keeping track of how many clowns are in the car at each moment and filling the blanks in the story. After listening, students retell or create their own clown story while manipulating the clown illustrations to show clowns getting in or out of the car. Activity 4 has students write a sentence about the clowns in the car, connecting a written description to the images they used.
4: Change
Unit 1: Changes on Planet Earth
Lesson 1
What Causes Change?
Students examine picture pairs and decide what changed between the first and second image (Activity 1), matching before-and-after illustrations and explaining the change. Students draw a before and after picture of a change and complete sentences about that event, then attempt to read their own dictated story (Activity 3). The skills list also notes that students will "read or attempt to read own dictated story," linking their illustrations to their own written narrative.
Lesson 2
What Changed?
Students read "Part 1: Things Change" (pp. 3-26) and answer explicit questions about changes described on specific pages (e.g., pages 20, 22-23). Students examine the Student Activity Page pairs of illustrations (tree/bare tree, caterpillar/butterfly, empty/full cart, doghouse/dog) and are asked to determine how attributes like weight, color, size, amount, and location have changed.
Lesson 3
Changing Position
Students are asked to look at the cover of Zoom! Zip! Whoosh! and answer what is happening in the picture and what they think the book will be about, which prompts them to relate an illustration to the book's content. Activity 2 provides a 3x3 grid of illustrations that students cut apart and sort into actions requiring pushes or pulls, asking students to interpret what each picture depicts. The reading directions also encourage reading or listening to the book and answering comprehension questions, creating opportunities to connect images and text.
Lesson 4
Changes in the Environment
Students are directed to "look at the pictures of a tree in each season on the 'Seasons Change' page," label each season, and color the tree as it would look during each season, which requires them to match images to seasonal information. They are asked to read Part 2 of the book and "answer the questions about the changes in the book," linking text explanations (freezing, evaporating, pupa to butterfly, etc.) with the book content. Students also create and spin a season wheel to observe how the tree illustration changes across seasons and are asked to illustrate or write two sentences about a time weather caused them to change an activity, tying personal narrative to drawn scenes.
Lesson 7
Living Things Change
Students compare paired illustrations (lizard on a leaf vs. branch; rabbit in summer vs. winter) and are asked to explain how and why the animals changed and to color scenes accordingly. The "Changes in Living Things" activity has students observe picture pairs and describe what changed (size, number, shape, place) and mark whether the change was fast or slow. In Activity 3 students draw or cut pictures showing a living thing before and after a change, creating illustrated sequences that depict moments of change.
Lesson 8
Plants and Change
Students cut out and glue the "Plants Change" pictures in order to show the life cycle (Activity 4), and they assemble or draw and label the "Parts of a Plant" illustration (Activity 2, Options 1 and 2). The paper-folding activity (Activity 3) and its step-by-step image present sequential illustrations of growth stages that students attach real or pictured plant parts to. These tasks require students to identify what each illustration depicts and place images in a meaningful sequence.
Lesson 11
People Change the Environment
In Activity 3 students are asked to "describe what is happening in each illustration, explain how it is changing the environment, and decide if the change is positive, negative, or neutral," which requires students to identify the moment depicted in each picture and explain its meaning. Activity 2 and the Recycle pages ask students to sort pictured products into recycling or trash bins, so students must interpret illustrations of objects and decide their category. The student activity page descriptions list concrete scenes (bicycle rider, bulldozer removing trees, children planting a tree, factory smoke, etc.) that students are prompted to talk about.
Unit 2: Characters Change
Lesson 1
What's in a Name
The lesson tells students to "pay close attention to the illustrations as the narrator reads," prompting them to connect pictures with story events. In Activity 3 (Feeling Phrases) students identify what the author communicates in specific phrases and then "illustrate the face that Chrysanthemum might have at that moment in the story," requiring them to link a moment in the story to an image. The Characters Change page asks students to describe how Chrysanthemum is at different points in the story and includes illustrations that correspond to those moments, supporting discussion of picture–story relationships.
Lesson 2
Why Worry?
The "Characters Change" activity asks students to write how Wemberly changed from the beginning to the end and provides two illustrations (a worried child and a relaxed child) that align with those sections, so students can use the pictures while describing character change. The "Using 'And'" activity page includes illustrations (a swing set, a clock, a sun and clouds) interspersed with sentences about things Wednesday worried about, and lines for students to write combined sentences, which places images alongside text for student reference.
Lesson 3
Is It a Problem?
Students are asked explicitly to look through the pages and "talk about how the author starts by representing the problem as a cloud" and to "watch how the problem grows and changes in the illustrations." A guided question asks, "How does the author illustrate the problem at the beginning of the story?" with the expected answer "As a cloud or a storm." The "Beginning, Middle, and End" activity has students match and order illustrations to parts of the story, and the activity page asks students to illustrate the problem at different points in the story.
Lesson 4
Comparing Characters
The Skills section explicitly lists identifying similarities and differences in illustrations as an objective, and Activity 1 tells students to think about "the illustrations in the books" when comparing characters. Activity 3 includes two labeled illustration boxes ("Illustrate Wemberly" and "Illustrate the boy") where students draw scenes for each character, and Activity 5 asks students to "Draw a picture of your favorite part of your favorite story," which asks students to produce an illustration of a story moment. The Cause and Effect and summary tasks also require students to tie events to pictures they create when dictating summaries and answering questions.
Lesson 5
The Raft
Students are asked to look at the cover and are told the author is also the illustrator, and the reading stops at specific pages (e.g., the page ending "Where had the raft come from?") for discussion. Activity 4 directs students to discuss the pictures painted on the raft and to consider that each picture represented an animal and possibly a story associated with that animal. The Story Elements and matching activity pages include illustrations and ask students to glue titles, characters, settings, problems, and solutions to frames, prompting use of pictures to identify story parts.
Lesson 6
Positive and Negative Change
Activity 3 asks students to illustrate a situation showing the cause and the effect of a change and then write or dictate a sentence or two describing that change. The wrap-up asks students to share the examples of change that they illustrated with their family, reinforcing linking an image to a described event.
Final Project
My Own Story
Students are asked to illustrate the setting on a blank sheet of paper and to illustrate each character (Part 2 and Part 3). Students plan which parts of the story will go on which pages and are helped to find and arrange images and backgrounds in the online storybook (Day 3, Part 6). The project asks students to choose or upload images and to place them alongside the text of their story.
Unit 3: A First Look at History - Change Over Time
Lesson 1
People and Families Change
Students examine and sequence personal and family photographs in Activities 1 and 4, putting pictures in chronological order and answering questions about how people looked or what happened at each age. In Activity 5 and the Student Activity Page, students dictate or write about family changes and then draw or illustrate those changes in the provided "Past" and "Present" boxes. Students are asked to look at pictures, describe differences, recall memories tied to particular years, and label ages and heights on the growth chart, linking images to moments in their lives.
Lesson 3
Communities Change
Students are asked to look at the cover pictures and describe what they see and to predict what the story might be (Activity 1). In Activities 2 and 3 students cut out illustrated events or pictures and place or number them on a timeline or in circles to show the order in which those pictured events/people lived on the land. Activity 3 directs students to look closely at pictures and point out differences in transportation, clothing, homes, and activities, and Activity 6 asks students to identify artifacts shown in the illustrations.
Lesson 4
Past and Present
Students are asked to analyze the book cover to predict the content, linking an illustration to likely story events. Students cut out labeled historical illustrations and place them on a timeline, using the images to identify the time period of the scenes. Students are prompted to point out differences in setting, clothing, and other details they see in the illustrations after reading sections about characters from different eras. Students order images of homes, transportation, clothing, and school from earliest to most recent and discuss the clues they used from the pictures.
Lesson 5
Exploring the Past
Students look through illustrated pages and are instructed to draw and write or dictate descriptions of information found in the book. Students cut out pictures that represent cultures and glue them on a timeline, and they select a culture to write one sentence about each element of culture and draw an illustration to accompany each sentence. Student activity pages repeatedly pair labeled illustrations (pyramids, Colosseum, castle) with spaces for students to record observations about homes, clothes, food, and transport.
Lesson 7
People of the Past
In Activity 2, students read short descriptions and are asked to "point to the individual described" and glue each description beneath the person's picture on the "People in History" page. The Student Activity Page includes sketches paired with text for five historical figures, so students match written descriptions to corresponding illustrations. The activity directs students to reread descriptions while referencing the images.
Final Project
My Past, Present and Future
Students create pages with three boxes aligned to written prompts (e.g., "I was different because," "Now I am," "In the future I will be") and are asked to draw or add photographs for each prompt. Students are told to "illustrate each side" when comparing past and today, producing images that correspond to the written sentences. Students are prompted to read through and present their book or comparison pages to their family, providing an opportunity to connect images and text.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 1
Letter Sounds Review I
During Activity 5.3 (Reader #1 — Tap and Pat), students are shown the book cover and are asked "What else do you see on the cover?" and are allowed to share observations. Students are encouraged to "do the action shown on each page as he reads" (for example, tap the map) and to "use the pictures provided to figure out words." The teacher model includes pointing to pictures and asking students to refer to them while reading.
Lesson 2
Letter Sounds Review II
In Activity 5.3 (Reader #2 — The Pig Can) students are asked to read the title, describe what's on the cover, and answer "What do you think this book is about?" The same activity later asks students to read the book, then respond to the question "Do you think the pig and the cat can fit in the box?" and to explain their thinking. Several other activities require students to identify pictures (e.g., Beginning Letters and Writing Words) and name the objects shown.
Lesson 3
Letter Sounds Review III
In Activity 5.2 students are asked to "describe the cover" of the reader The Bug and to read the book aloud, then answer questions about what the bug is able to do and what it wants to do. In Activity 5.1 and Activity 2.2 students identify pictures (e.g., log, jug, pot, dot; and cut-out pictures for short o and u) and use those images to select or write the corresponding words. Several activities ask students to look at pictures to determine missing words or to place pictures under vowel categories, requiring students to connect images with word meanings or events.
Lesson 4
Letter Sounds Review IV
Students are asked to read Reader #4 (The Cat, the Pig, the Dog, and the Fox) and then answer questions about why the dog and fox are napping and why the cat and pig are not, which requires attending to story events (Activity 5.2). Students name and identify many pictured items on the Short Vowel Sort pages and on Writing Words pages before writing the corresponding words (Activity 2.2 and Activity 5.1). Several student activity pages include illustrations that students must identify (e.g., pictures for sorting by vowel and pictures paired with lines for writing the word).
Lesson 5
Adding s, More Word Families, Ending with ck
Students are asked to read Ducks Are Fun and to use the picture on page 2 to infer the meaning of the word "don," prompting them to relate an illustration to the text. After reading, students are asked which duck is having the most fun and to explain why, encouraging them to use picture details to support their answer. In Activity 3.2 students match and write words to pictures, attending to how many objects are shown, which requires linking images to the written words.
Lesson 9
Blends with l
Students read Reader #9 (The Club) and are asked specific questions that require attention to illustrations (e.g., "What color are the flags that are flying above the club?" and "What do the kids do at the club?"). Students name and match many pictured items on the l Blends pages and the Fill-in-the-Blanks pages, cutting out or filling in blends based on each illustration. Several activities require students to look at pictures and use them to identify words or details (picture naming, sorting, and using images to complete words).
Lesson 10
Blends with r
Students read the decodable reader One Can and are asked targeted comprehension questions after reading (e.g., "Where are the ducks swimming to?" and "What are the kids running on?"), which require referring to the book's illustrations or illustrated story events. Students also name and identify pictures on multiple activity pages (r Blends picture sorting, Writing Words pages, Alphabet Soup) and point to or use those illustrations when saying or writing the corresponding words.
Lesson 12
Double ll, ss, ff, zz (FLOSS)
Activity 4.3 has students read the book Huff and Puff, point to each word as they read, and then answer questions such as "What insects are shown in the book?" and "Why is everyone huffing and puffing at the end of the book?" Activity 3.2 asks students to name each picture before writing the corresponding word, requiring them to attend to and describe illustrations.
Lesson 16
R-Controlled Vowels (ar)
The materials include student activity pages that pair questions with illustrations (Sight Words: Which, What, When) and prompt students to engage with images while answering questions. The Fill in the Blanks pages explicitly tell students to "make sure that she knows what each picture is showing," requiring picture identification to complete words. Reader #16 (Which? When? What?) asks the child to answer the question on each page as she reads and includes follow-up comprehension prompts about items or actions related to pages (e.g., "What else might you find in a barn on a farm?").
Lesson 17
Semester Review
Activity 4.1 asks students to point to or name characters in readers and to talk about the different things the characters do (e.g., they swim, they camp, they sing, they go on a raft trip). Activity 4.2 and the associated student pages require students to create their own small reader, write on each page, and optionally add pictures, with a planning page labeled "What Characters Do:" and instruction that "there should be something different happening on each page." The drawing-and-writing pages give students space to produce illustrations that correspond to the text they write.
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 2
Long Vowels o, u, and e with Silent e
On Day 5 (Activity 5.1) students are directed to turn to specific pages in the reader and the teacher is instructed to point to the illustration beside page 6 and explain the shape (dome) and slope while tracing it. Students read They Chose To Doze on their own and then answer questions about events in the story (e.g., what the family did, who fell off the mule). The lesson also has students look at pages (page 4) while the teacher points out punctuation, indicating guided interaction with the book pages and their pictures.
Lesson 8
Long o Spellings ow, oa, oe
Students read the reader The Slow Boat and answer comprehension questions about story details (How many boats are in the race? What color is the boat that wins?). Students are also asked to identify pictures before writing target oa words (e.g., picture of a sailboat → write boat), and several activity pages include illustrations with prompts to write words or sentences tied to those images. The lesson asks students to reread the Weekly Message and point to long o words in the text, connecting printed words to visual layout.
Lesson 17
Year-End Review
Students are asked to look at each of two pictures and write one or two sentences based on each image (Activity 2.2), with example responses such as "The ducks are on the dock" or "The clouds are in the sky." Students are asked to read their sentences aloud after writing them, practicing linking an illustration to a verbal description. Students also use pictures on compound-word pages to spell and create words that name the illustrated objects, requiring them to identify what an illustration depicts.