How can you tell they’ve got it: Pictures and Text Working Together?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Use pictures to predict or confirm story events; Describe what is happening in an illustration and how it relates to the text; Explain how an illustration adds information not stated in words. Or just try it together: When your child is reading a picture book, do they look at the illustrations to help them understand what's happening in the story — and can they explain how a picture connects to the words on the page?

English Reading Comprehension Ages 5–9

Pictures and Text Working Together

Your child can see how the pictures and words work together. They use a picture to guess or check what is happening.

In curriculum terms

Describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear; use pictures to support and extend comprehension

Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Use pictures to predict or confirm story events
Describe what is happening in an illustration and how it relates to the text
Explain how an illustration adds information not stated in words

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Try this together

When your child is reading a picture book, do they look at the illustrations to help them understand what's happening in the story — and can they explain how a picture connects to the words on the page?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Understanding printages 4–6Print concepts support illustration-text relationship

Pictures and Text Working Togetherthis skill · ages 5–9

Unlocks

Interpreting visual information in textsages 9–10Interpreting visual/quantitative information in informational texts builds on using pictures to support comprehension; the step up is from illustrations to charts, graphs, and diagrams

Text & Media Connectionsages 9–10Connecting text to visual/oral presentations builds on understanding the relationship between illustrations and text; the step up is from static illustrations to film, drama, and audio adaptations

Multimedia elements in textsages 10–11Multimedia analysis builds on relating illustrations to text

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.

Show candidate curriculum codes · 3 ACARA · 2 NSW · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9E3LA09medium confidenceYear 3 · Language

identify how images extend the meaning of a text

AC9E2LA08medium confidenceYear 2 · Language

understand that images add to or multiply the meanings of a text

AC9E5LA07medium confidenceYear 5 · Language

explain how the sequence of images in print, digital and film texts has an effect on meaning

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

EN3-UARL-01medium confidenceEnglish K-10 · Stage 3

EN2-UARL-01medium confidenceEnglish K-10 · Stage 2

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2EFLA07medium confidenceEnglish · Foundation · Language strand

VC2E2LA08medium confidenceEnglish · Level 2 · Language strand

VC2E3LA10medium confidenceEnglish · Level 3 · Language strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Book Features and Author's Reasonsages 5–8 Characters, settings, and eventsages 5–8 Comparing Characters Across Storiesages 5–9 Connecting reading to experienceages 5–7

All Reading Comprehension skills →