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Common Core ELA1st GradeReading: Literature

RL.1.7: Use Pictures and Words to Describe

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7 · Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas.

All 41 1st Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 1, Reading: Literature · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RL.1.7 Means in Plain English

First graders read the pictures as closely as the words and use both to describe a character, the setting or an event. The words say a tugboat puffed and pushed; the picture adds rain, tall gray waves and her scrunched-up face, so she is working hard in a storm.

The picture often carries what the words leave out, so “Look at her face” is a fair question. Kindergartners matched a picture to its moment in the story (RL.K.7). In 2nd grade the same work covers print and digital stories and the whole plot (RL.2.7).

RL.1.7 I Can Statements

  • I can look at a picture to learn about a character.
  • I can use the words and the picture together.
  • I can tell what the picture shows that the words don’t say.

RL.1.7 Worked Example

A four-part story where the words and the pictures each tell part of it, then two descriptions of the tugboat.

Read the Story
Words: Pearl the tugboat puffed and pushed, but the big ship would not move.Picture: Rain pours down. The waves are tall and gray. Pearl’s face is scrunched up tight.Words: Puff, push, puff, push. At last the ship slid into the harbor.Picture: The sun peeks out. Pearl is smiling, and the sailors wave their hats.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: How does Pearl feel while she pushes the ship? Use the words and the pictures.
Not Yet“She’s happy.”That comes from the last picture only, and nothing backs it up. The first picture shows something very different.
Meets the Standard“It’s hard work for her. The words say she puffed and pushed, and the picture shows her face scrunched up tight in the rain and big waves. At the end she’s smiling because the ship got in.”It joins a detail from the words with details from the picture, and notices how Pearl changes from the first picture to the last.
Question Stems to Use
The picture shows…The words say…Look at her face. She feels…Where is she? The picture shows…What does the picture tell us that the words don’t?

Common Mistakes with RL.1.7

Reading only the words

“She pushed the ship.”

Try this: Cover the words and have the child tell the page from the picture alone, then uncover them and add what is new.

Listing what’s in the picture

“There’s a boat and water and hats.”

Try this: Ask “What does that tell us about Pearl?” after each thing named, so every picture detail is tied to a character, setting or event.

Using one picture for the whole story

“She’s happy,” from the last page only

Try this: Lay the first and last pictures side by side and ask how Pearl changed and what happened in between.

Where RL.1.7 Fits

Comes BeforeRL.K.7Say which moment of the story a picture shows, with prompting and support.
AlongsideRI.1.7Use the pictures and words in an informational book to describe its key ideas.RL.1.3Describe characters, setting and big events with key details.
Comes NextRL.2.7Use pictures and words in print or digital stories to show understanding of characters, setting and plot.

Practice RL.1.7

Quick Check

  1. What does the first picture show about the weather?
  2. How does Pearl feel at the start, and how do you know?
  3. What changes in the last picture?

RL.1.7: Other Names

RL.1.7CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.