Images in Mentor Text Teaching Slides – Strengthen Picture Comprehension Skills

This set of teaching slides has been created and designed by one of our teacher contributors to support the teaching of visual literacy in both fiction and nonfiction, these slides guide students to think critically about the images they encounter and understand how pictures work alongside words to tell a fuller story.

Picture-Based Comprehension in Fiction and Nonfiction Texts

Whether you’re reading a narrative picture book or exploring an informational text, images provide powerful support to the written word. 

These teaching slides help students explore how:

• Pictures in fiction reveal character emotions, actions, and setting
• Images in nonfiction add clarity, give extra information, and support factual understanding
• Readers can use both images and words together to build deeper meaning

With a strong focus on picture based comprehension, students are taught to treat images as essential clues rather than decorative extras.

Whole-Class Activities to Build Visual Literacy

Each slide includes clear explanations, think-aloud models, and interactive prompts for class discussion. These Images in Text Teaching Slides include:

• Step-by-step guidance for teaching picture comprehension
• Questions to prompt image-based thinking
• Whole-class activities to check for understanding
• Fiction and nonfiction image examples

Perfect for early readers, EAL students, or any classroom working on comprehension strategies, this resource helps build the foundation for strong reading skills.

Use these slides during modelled reading, guided reading, or literacy warm-ups—and help your students unlock the power of pictures in every text!

Download and and Use as a Lesson Plan for Visual Literacy

Use the dropdown menu to choose between the PowerPoint version or the Google Slide version of this resource.

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and a Teach Starter Collaborator.

More Printable Visual Literacy Activities

Looking for printable visual literacy activities to use after this set of teaching slides? We have you covered…