Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Images & Pictures

Written by Julie Wright & Elizabeth Keim

We offer you Short Texts at Your Fingertips. Twice each week, we provide teaching ideas around a different type of short text that is easily found in the home, so that no family feels under-resourced. These ideas can integrate into virtually any curriculum and pedagogy, from Workshop to basal. If you are a caregiver, teacher, or curriculum director, these brief but mighty texts and lessons are our way of saying thanks. And our way of giving children authentic and enjoyable reading and writing engagements each day. 

SHORT TEXTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS: IMAGES & PICTURES

If we want students to read the world around them, we have to expand the types of texts that we ask them to read, inside and outside of school.  Said another way—our kiddos deserve to read texts everyday that go beyond textbooks and test prep passages. In addition, they deserve to spend their learning time doing things that boost their curiosity, creativity and ingenuity. 

Have you ever scrolled through your camera roll and found pictures that bring back great memories?  Or, have you ever noticed a picture you don’t even remember taking? Images and pictures can be found everywhere and are great short texts to explore.  They can be found in family photo albums, books, wall calendars, game board boxes, packaging from a recent delivery, or online. There are also lots of credible sources that share photos of the day or week.  Here are a few examples:

• The Atlantic

• National Geographic

• NASA

• The Guardian

• NYT

TRY THIS!

Step 1

Grab any image or picture that you find in your house or online and ask:  

• What do you notice?

• What do you wonder?

• What do you think this image / photo is about?   

• Does it have a title or caption?

• Who is the author?

Step 2

Take a closer look at the image / picture and discuss:

• What does this image / picture make you think about?  

• What connections can you make?  

• How does this image / picture make you feel?  

• When do you think this image / picture was taken?  For what reason?

Here’s an example of an image we love.  

Here’s what we noticed:

• This looks like a bee hive or a wasp nest. 

• it was hanging from a branch, but fell to the ground.

• No bees or wasps are living in it right now.

Here’s what we wondered:

• Is this a bee hive or wasp nest? What’s the difference?

• How many bees or wasps would typically live here?

• How long do the bees or wasps stay here?

• Is this dangerous to be around?

Step 3

Look for other reading, writing and talking opportunities using this short text type.

Reading  Ideas  

• Read/watch information about bees for a mini-inquiry study focused on one or more of the following ideas:

  • Bee swarms

  • Bee hives

  • Bee lifespan

  • Importance of bees to our environment

  • Bee stings/allergies

  • Products made from bees

• Explore the Cincinnati Zoo and learn more about bees.

• Watch a short video from National Geographic about bees.

• Search, sort, and read infographics about bees.  Examples can be found here.  

Writing  Ideas  

• Create a two column chart.  

  • In the left-hand column, write things you think you know about bees.

  • In the right-hand column, write things you are wondering / things you want to know about bees.

• Write/draw some ideas related to bees focused on one or more of the following ideas:

  • List of questions about bees

  • Create a top 10 list of bee facts

  • Draw the relationship between hives, bees, and flowers

  • Make your own informational bee book

• Write bee and bug jokes.

• Draw some pictures of bees.  Use crayons, colored pencils, markers, or watercolors to add color.

Talking  Ideas 

• Discuss the different types of bees and hives after watching All Things Animal TV about bees.

• Read and talk about The Good of the Hive project by Matthew Wiley.  Check out the About page for some background information.

• Talk about bee idioms (the bee’s knees, busy as a bee, have a bee in one’s bonnet, queen bee)

• Have a conversation about honey.  Note: This conversation may lead to more reading, writing and talking.

  • Do you like honey?  Why or why not?

  • What are the major honey companies?  Where are they located?

  • What types of recipes include honey as a major ingredient?

  • Are there honey festivals?  If so, when and where?

  • Why are honeycomb cells hexagonal?

Step 4

Look for other images / pictures that you find and read those too! 

FOR MORE RESOURCES, CHECK THESE OUT!

• The Bee Book by Charlotte Minor

• Enjoy some jokes about bees and bugs here.

• Look at Burt’s Bees and talk about the company’s purpose, People, Profit, Planet.  

  • What do you think?

  • What ways could you go out and change the world for the greater good?

• Explore bee poems (Do a quick search and lots of bee poems can be found.  Reminder to preview them before sharing them.)

COMING SOON!

Short Texts:  Mighty Mentors That Move Readers and Writers Forward by Julie Wright & Elizabeth Keim (2022)

Creating Entry Points #4: Try Using Short Texts to Spark Curiosity Using a Photo of the Week

We keep saying it because it’s true—short texts are everywhere! They are also often at our fingertips and can be consumed for free. If we want kiddos to read the world around them, we have to expand the types of texts that we ask them to read, inside and outside of school. Said another way—our kiddos deserve to read texts everyday that go beyond textbooks and test prep passages. In addition, kiddos deserve to spend their learning time doing things that boost their curiosity, creativity and ingenuity.

TRY THIS

1. Remind students that a short text is…short! Share some of your favorite examples with them. This can be a quick “short text hot read” share OR you can use a few short texts for shared reading.

2. Share this amazing photo of the week. Consider:

   • Giving students a chance to figure out the content of this photo. Instead of telling them it’s a picture of the sun’s surface, ask them to share some guesses with peers. You could say: This may look like kernels of corn, but it’s not. What is it?

   • Give students time to swap ideas.

   • Then, give students some information about the photo [share information included in the caption of the photo and/or from other information you find about the latest photos of the sun.].

   • If there’s time and interest, ask students to go on a hunt for other short texts about the sun that they could consume during independent reading time.

3. Give students time to find other photos of the day/week. There are lots of credible sources out there! Here are a few examples:

   • The Atlantic

   • National Geographic

   • NASA

   • The Guardian

   • NYT

4. Remember to give students time to share and talk about the photos they discover. This talk time increases motivation and engagement and leads to greater transfer of knowledge, skills and understandings.

SOME TIPS

• If you are an administrator or instructional coach, consider taking 5 minutes during a staff meeting or co-planning session and sharing a photo of the day/week. Teachers could:

  • View the photo of the week together and discuss their thinking in small groups.

  • Brainstorm ideas about ways photos/images could be used in the classroom to increase spark curiosity.

Creating Entry Points #1: Try Using a Photograph to Spark Curiosity & Interest

SOME BACKGROUND [SHARING MY ROOTS]

Many moons ago, I was a self-contained, intermediate teacher. I loved teaching, loved my kiddos, loved my colleagues and my school. From day-to-day, my students helped breathe life into the work I was doing. That was especially true when the work was extra hard—navigating school initiatives, trying to understand state and district mandates, making sense of curricula, and staying on top of the never-ending, to do list on my teacher clipboard.

Those days are vivid in my mind’s eye because it was the same time my firstborn, Sydney, showed her beautiful face to the world. I was a proud, new, working mom [missing my baby fiercely] which resulted in a daily quick share during Morning Meeting, referred by my students as “Sydney Story Time”. I shared stories about Sydney throwing Cheerios all over the floor, her refusal to keep baby socks on her feet, her babbles and first words, and descriptions of lost toys in our backseat. My kiddos learned a lot about Sydney, but they also learned a lot about me and the things that were important in my life.

In those days being digital was a 2 or 3 step process. Once a week, I added a picture to my narrative to add to the storytelling experience. My students would gather around our desktop computer to view the “Sydney Picture of the Week”. As I shared the play-by-play descriptions that accompanied the picture, my students would smile and laugh and ask questions and give advice. I knew I was onto something meaningful because if I was out of the classroom and missed Morning Meeting, my students expected 2 “Sydney Stories” upon my return. It was pure joy.

Each day during Reading and Writing Workshop, my students had 2 big chunks of work time where they were doing the work of READING [reading texts they chose] and doing the work of WRITING [writing a lot]. Among others, we had 2 goals that were consistent across every unit, every day. They were:

1. EYES ON PRINT, EYES ON PRINT, EYES ON PRINT to build reading volume.

2. PENCIL TO THE PAGE, PENCIL TO THE PAGE, PENCIL TO THE PAGE to build writing volume.

“Sydney Stories” often became entry points for my students’ reading and writing experiences. It was not unusual for a few details to show up in my students’ Writer’s Notebooks. Sometimes students recounted the events from Sydney’s point of view. Sometimes fictitious details were added. Other times, students would write a similar story, but change the main character or add a new ending with a twist. There were even times when a few students would launch some research and create things, based on something that was shared, which is how I acquired homemade, baby-safe, hanging toys in the backseat of my car.

SO WHAT? WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

Kids want to know their teachers. They want to know about our experiences, talents, fears, family happenings, and the adventures of our daily lives. It’s reciprocal because we want to know our students in the same way. As the years passed, I expanded my Morning Meeting share to include lots of things about me— interesting things about my extended family, my passions, and curiosities. My sharing often inspired students to want to to do the same, giving everyone ongoing opportunities to learn about and know one another.

EFFICIENT & EFFECTIVE PRACTICES STAND THE TEST OF TIME

Recently, our family got a new puppy. Oh my…. it’s like having a toddler in the house! Here’s Denver, our 16-week old Bernedoodle.

As an instructional coach who visits schools, I often need to create opportunities to learn about students and ways for students to get to know me. Earlier this week I was working with some amazing 4th graders. To launch our work, I shared Denver’s picture above along with these details:

• My family got a new puppy.

• He is 16 weeks old.

• His name is Denver and he is a Bernedoodle.

• He came from a breeder in Indiana.

• His mom had a litter of 7 puppies.

• When Denver runs across the yard, he sometimes does a little somersault because he’s in that clumsy puppy stage.

Students broke into small groups for about 7 minutes to discuss anything they were thinking about. The room was full of productive chatter. Some students talked about their own pets. Others listed wonderings they had about Denver. During Reading and Writing Workshop, students were given several choices. They were invited to read or write something that they were previously working on OR they could do some work in response to Denver’s picture. During a quick brainstorm, we generated this list together of some possibilities.

Denver’s photo sparked curiosity and interest, but the key was students’ choice and autonomy in what they did [or didn’t do] after my quick share. Some students talked more about their own experiences with puppies. Some students researched about Bernadoodles and other points of interest. Some created lists of questions while others wrote Denver adventure stories. Most importantly, some went about with their own reading and writing projects because that is how they chose to spend their time. These 4th graders are just getting started—I can’t wait to see where their literacy journey takes them!

TRY THIS: USE A PHOTOGRAPH TO SPARK CURIOSITY & INTEREST

1. Find a photo/image that is meaningful to you [family member, recent experience, something from nature, etc.]

2. Project the photo/image so that students can see it and share a few details about it.. Note: If time permits, give students time to talk about the photo/image and/or ask you questions about it.

3. Explain that during Reading and/or Writing Workshop, students will have time to read or write something related to the photo/image you shared OR they can read or write something they were previously working on.

4. As a whole group, brainstorm some possible reading and writing ideas.

5. Give students time to read and/or write.

6. At the end of Reading or Writing Workshop, give students an opportunity to share what they’ve been working on [whole group or small groups].

7. As students share, listen in and kidwatch so that you can use this data/intel to impact your focus for instruction in the days to come. CONSIDER: Ask students if they would like more time to read and write using the photo/image as inspiration OR if they have had enough time. If students would like more time, plan accordingly based on students’ interests/needs and your school/district curricular calendars.

SOME TIPS

• Invite students to bring in a photo/image to share with the class. If there’s time and interest, give students an opportunity to read and write from classmates’ photos too!

• If you are an administrator or instructional coach, consider asking colleagues to bring in a photograph to share during a staff meeting. They could:

  • Form a small group and talk to colleagues about their photo.

  • Do a quick write about their photo or any photo in the room.

  • Brainstorm ideas about ways photographs/images could be used in the classroom to bolster reading and writing volume.