Using Pictures as Context Clues Worksheet

Young readers meet new words every single day, and the picture on the page is one of the first tools they can use to figure those words out. Using this Using Pictures as Context Clues Worksheet, first graders read a short story about a family camping beside a quiet lake and use both the illustration and the words around each new word to decide what it means. Looking closely at a picture, naming what is in it, and matching it to the words on the page is the very beginning of vocabulary work, and it gives a child a strategy they can carry into every book they open.

The Using Pictures as Context Clues Worksheet is a three page reading comprehension set. Page one holds a full color campsite scene and a 116 word passage written on a first grade reading level. Page two holds five multiple choice questions, one for each target word, with three answer choices each and a bubble to fill in. Page three is the answer key. Print the sheet, read the passage together, and let students point to the tent, the trail, the canoe, the paddle and the lantern in the picture before they choose an answer.

What’s Included

• A three page PDF worksheet with a full color illustrated passage page
• An original 116 word informational passage on a first grade reading level
• Five fill in the bubble questions covering tent, trail, canoe, paddle and lantern
• An illustrated campsite scene that shows every target word in the passage
• A complete answer key on the final page

Three Reasons This Helps Kids

• It teaches children to look at the illustration on purpose instead of skipping past it, which is a text feature skill first graders are expected to use.
• It pairs each new word with a picture and a sentence that explains it, so children practice both kinds of clues at once.
• The multiple choice format builds test taking confidence while keeping the reading load light enough for a beginning reader.

Ideas for Teachers and Parents

Cover the passage and ask students to name everything they can find in the picture before they read a single word. Write their words on the board, then read the story and see how many of those words appear. This picture clues worksheet also works well as a partner activity, with one child reading the sentence aloud while the other points to the matching object in the scene. For a quick follow up, ask students to draw their own picture for a new word and trade with a classmate. Keep the answer key handy for small group work, and revisit the sheet later in the year as a review of context clues.

Related Resources

• Using Picture Clues Worksheet
• Pictures and Words Context Clues Activity
• Context Clues Worksheet
• Context Clues Song