Floral Park-Bellerose School kindergarteners in Marie Acquista’s class are learning to tell stories through illustration and labeling as part of their first writing unit of the school year.

The students collaborated on drawing a park scene and labeling the images, such as “sun,” “dog” and “tree.” Then they illustrated their own pictures and labeled them. Labeling a picture allows the students to review vocabulary and connect new words to a familiar image. It also promotes phonemic awareness, as beginner writers can label images with beginning sounds or phonetic spelling.