Illustrations and Text Working Together!

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

The pictures and illustrations we see in books or stories help us to understand the meaning of text.

Sometimes, it would be very difficult to even imagine something we read about in a book or story if we didn't have pictures to give us information or show us what something looks like.

For example, without any pictures at all, it would be difficult to understand this sentence about the life cycle of butterflies in a textbook:

• What in the world is a chrysalis?
• Why is it a stage in the life cycle of a butterfly?

Read this sentence again with an illustration.

• It is definitely much easier to understand now, right?

Yes! If we didn't have the picture or illustration, it would be difficult to know what the different stages of a butterfly's life cycle really look like.

Illustrations can help us to understand when, where, why, and even how different events happen in a text and can help us understand things about characters in the text as well.

Watch the video below to learn more about how to use the information you get from illustrations to help you understand the text you read.

Connections between text and illustrations from Curriculet Instructional Videos:

Different illustrations can help to understand so many parts of a story or text.

Look at another example!

Read the short paragraph below and then look at the illustrations that follow.

There are many insects in nature that have symmetry. Butterflies have symmetry. Ladybugs also have symmetry. The same shapes and colors are located in the same place and position on each side of the insect!

• How do these illustrations help us to better understand the text?

Now that you know how to use illustrations and pictures to help you understand the meaning of different texts, move on to the Got It? section and practice!