South Carolina Grade 1 English

Pictures and Words Give Different Clues

Find information in pictures and words. This South Carolina Grade 1 reading activity pairs a short original text with a response to explain, revise, and try on a longer classroom text.

Curriculum reference: South Carolina 2024 College- and Career-Ready English Language Arts Standards, emended August 2025, from the South Carolina English language arts standards page.

South Carolina Grade 1 references for this activity

South Carolina’s department identifies the 2024 College- and Career-Ready English language arts standards as the current reference. The linked document records January 2023 approval and August 2025 emendation. This activity addresses one selected reading indicator; the complete curriculum also includes foundations of literacy, research, written and oral communication, and overarching expectations. Follow the school’s full learning sequence.

These selected reference labels identify an activity focus, with the correct grade and PDF page linked separately. Read the complete standards selected by the school and its learning sequence, including reading, writing, language, speaking, and listening. This short original example does not fulfill the entire curriculum or establish a student’s grade-level proficiency.

The illustrated garden page

This original classroom example is separate from official assessment questions.

Written sentence: “Our class planted seeds on Monday.” Look at the drawing below. The picture and sentence belong to the same invented classroom page.

Try the activity

Which tells you the planting day: the sentence or the picture? Which shows two plant pots? Point to the information you used. Can the picture tell you how tall the plants will grow?

Follow the reasoning

The words give the day: the sentence says “on Monday.” The drawing shows two pots, so the picture supplies that count. The written sentence does not say there were two pots, and the picture has no day label. Use the source that actually provides the information. Neither source tells how tall the plants will grow. The picture represents the invented page; it does not show a real class or guarantee that a seed will sprout. Ask the child to point to “Monday” and then count the drawn pots aloud.

Notice what needs more practice

Children may use what they know about gardens to guess. Return to the page and distinguish what it shows or says from an idea that would need another source. A drawing of two pots does not prove that the entire class used only two pots.

Use the next session to build independence

1. Read the sentence aloud together.
2. Ask one question answered by the words and one answered by the picture.
3. Point to the evidence before giving the answer.

Use a teacher-selected illustrated informational page. Cover the picture briefly and identify which information is lost; then cover the words and identify what cannot be read. Let the child explain orally while an adult helps with the print.

For more general reading and writing resources, visit the Grade 1 English Online Center.

South Carolina Grade 1 English: useful planning questions

Must a picture repeat everything in the words?

No. A picture may add information, and the words may supply details the picture does not show. Explain which source supports each answer.

Which standards does the school use?

South Carolina’s department identifies the 2024 College- and Career-Ready English language arts standards as the current reference. The linked document records January 2023 approval and August 2025 emendation. This activity addresses one selected reading indicator; the complete curriculum also includes foundations of literacy, research, written and oral communication, and overarching expectations. Follow the school’s full learning sequence. The school’s sequence also includes reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language work beyond this example.