Kindergarten · English Language Arts · Parent guide
Short answer. RL.K.7 means your child can connect a picture to the moment in the story it shows. What this looks like in kindergarten and how to practice tonight.
Quick answer
RL.K.7 asks your kindergartener, with support, to describe how the pictures and the story fit together. Shown an illustration, she can tell you what moment it shows: "That's when the wolf is blowing the house down." She's learning that pictures aren't decoration; they carry part of the story, sometimes even parts the words leave out.
Why parents see this skill
Using pictures to track meaning is a legitimate comprehension strategy, and it's exactly how beginning readers get through their first books. A child who checks the illustration when the words get hard is doing real reading work, and this skill later grows into reading diagrams, maps, and charts.
For reference
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story 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.
Before reading a new book, flip through the pictures only and let your child tell the story she thinks they show. Then read the real words and compare. "You said the fox was mean, but he was just hungry!" The comparing is the skill.
After finishing a familiar book, open to a random illustration and ask "What's happening right here?" Then ask one detail question: "How do you know she's scared?" Pointing at the character's face counts as a great answer. Two or three pages is enough.
Pick a moment in a story that has no illustration and ask your child to draw it. When she's done, ask her where in the book it belongs and let her hold it in place while you reread that page. She just illustrated a specific story moment, which is this standard in reverse.
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 RL.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 resourceIsn't looking at pictures cheating? I want my child to focus on the words.
In kindergarten, pictures are part of the text, not a cheat. Early readers are supposed to use illustrations to build and check meaning, and the standards say so explicitly. Words-only reading comes gradually in 1st and 2nd grade as books shift the load to print. For now, picture-checking is a strength.
How is this tested at school?
Informally. A teacher might hold up a page during a read-aloud and ask what's happening in the picture, or ask how a picture matches what she just read. There's no bubble sheet. If your child talks about pictures during your bedtime reading, she's practicing the assessed skill exactly.
Keep the sequence
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