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Common Core ELA1st GradeSpeaking & Listening

SL.1.5: Add a Picture When It Helps

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.5 · Cluster: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas.

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The Official Wording

Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 1, Speaking & Listening · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What SL.1.5 Means in Plain English

First graders add a drawing, a photo or a labeled sketch to a spoken description when it helps listeners understand. The picture has to do a job, showing how something is shaped or arranged, or how the speaker felt, and the speaker points to it while talking.

The shift from kindergarten (SL.K.5) is two words: there a drawing was added as desired, and here it is added when appropriate, so children start judging when a picture helps. In 2nd grade (SL.2.5) they also make audio recordings of stories or poems.

SL.1.5 I Can Statements

  • I can draw a picture that helps my words.
  • I can point to my picture while I talk.
  • I can show how I feel in my drawing.

SL.1.5 Worked Example

One child’s secret clubhouse, shared twice with the same drawing, and only once does the drawing do any work.

Prompt

Describe the secret clubhouse you would build. Bring a drawing if it will help us picture it.

Not Yet“My clubhouse is really cool and it has lots of stuff.” (The child holds up a colorful drawing for a second, then puts it down and never looks at it again.)The drawing might be full of good ideas, but nobody sees them. The words give no detail and never send listeners to the picture, so the visual clarifies nothing.
Meets the Standard“You get in through this tunnel, here, so you have to crawl. Inside, this is the snack shelf, and up here is a lookout window. This sign on the door says only me and my best friend. I drew us smiling because we’d feel so proud.” (The child points to each part while naming it.)The drawing shows what is hard to say: where the tunnel opens and how high the lookout sits. The child points at each part, and the smiling faces carry the feeling, so ideas and feelings both get clearer.
Moves to Use
Draw the part that is hard to explain with words.Point to the picture while you talk.Add a label or an arrow for the important parts.Show your feeling with a face or a color.

Common Mistakes with SL.1.5

The drawing that never gets used

Held up for a second, then dropped in the lap

Try this: Require one “Look here” moment per share, where the speaker points to a part of the picture and names it.

A picture of something else

Describing a clubhouse while holding up a rainbow and a unicorn

Try this: Ask before drawing, “What part will be hard to explain with words?”, and have the child draw that part first.

Drawing time swallows talking time

Twenty minutes of coloring, then a ten-second share

Try this: Cap drawing at five minutes, a quick sketch rather than a finished picture, and spend the saved time on the description.

Where SL.1.5 Fits

Comes BeforeSL.K.5Add drawings or other visuals to descriptions to give more detail.
AlongsideSL.1.4Describe people, places, things and events with relevant details and clear feelings.RI.1.7Use an informational book’s pictures and words together, the same partnership seen from the reader’s side.
Comes NextSL.2.5Make audio recordings of stories or poems, and add visuals to stories and recounts when they clarify.

Practice SL.1.5

Classroom TimerFree ToolFive minutes on the board for a quick sketch, then the share begins, so drawings stay plans for the talk.5 minutesSketch firstThen share
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Quick Check

  1. In the strong share, what does the drawing show that words alone would struggle with?
  2. How does the strong drawing clarify a feeling, not just an idea?
  3. What does “when appropriate” add to SL.1.5 compared with kindergarten?

SL.1.5: Other Names

SL.1.5CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.5

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.