Kindergarten · English Language Arts · Parent guide
Short answer. RI.K.7 means your child can say what a photo or diagram in a nonfiction book shows about the words on the page. What it looks like and how to help.
Quick answer
With support, your kindergartener can describe how the pictures in a nonfiction book relate to the words, saying what person, place, thing, or idea an image shows. Reading about ladybugs, he can point to the photo and say "that's the ladybug's wings, like the words just said." In nonfiction the images do heavy lifting, so this standard is about reading words and pictures as a team.
Why parents see this skill
Diagrams, photos, maps, and charts carry a huge share of the information in science and social studies texts all the way up through school. A child who habitually checks the picture against the words is building the exact skill he'll need for labeled diagrams in 2nd grade science and beyond.
For reference
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 an illustration depicts).Official Common Core source
See it, then try it
You do not need a lesson plan. Look for these signs in ordinary play, reading, and conversation, then choose one short activity.
Read one sentence from a nonfiction page, then ask your child to touch the part of the picture it's talking about. "A giraffe's tongue can be 20 inches long." He hunts the photo for the tongue. Three or four sentences per sitting is plenty.
Before reading a page, ask him to report everything the picture teaches, like a news reporter on the scene. Then read the words and check: did the picture know things the words didn't? Did the words add more? Comparing the two sources is the whole standard.
Nonfiction books love labeled diagrams, so make one of your kitchen. He draws it, you write labels together on sticky notes or the drawing itself: sink, stove, window. Then read it like a book page. Making a diagram teaches him how to read one.
Choose what helps today
Start with the domain guide for context, use the learning library when a concept needs explaining, or print a page when your child is ready to practice.
See every RI.K skill in order and how the codes fit together.
Open resourceFilter free pages by literacy, phonics, handwriting, and comprehension skills.
Open resourceShort, repeatable reading activities for common early words.
Open resourceSimple reading and vocabulary ideas for home and classroom routines.
Open resourceMy son just looks at the pictures in nonfiction books and won't listen to the words. Is that bad?
Pictures-first is a completely normal entry point, and honestly, kid nonfiction is designed to hook the eyes first. Bridge it: let him study the photo, ask what he sees, then say "let's find out if the words agree with you" and read. You're turning his picture obsession into the exact words-plus-pictures habit this standard wants.
What's the difference between this and RL.K.7 with storybooks?
In stories, illustrations show a moment of the plot; in nonfiction, images show real people, places, things, and ideas, and often add information through labels, photos, and diagrams. RI.K.7 nudges kids toward pictures as an information source, which is a slightly different muscle than following a story through its art.
Keep the sequence
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