Using clothespins to match words to pictures is a great way for students to practice basic reading comprehension during independent work. There’s no need for Velcro or even laminate depending on the type of pictures that you use. And the students can get some fine motor skills practice while they are at it.
Match the Words to Pictures Work Box: Material List
- Clothespins You can use colored or regular clothespins (wood or plastic).
- Photos or illustrations of targeted words (you could pull these from products like file folders as I demonstrate in the pictures and videos or from magazines or any type of picture cards will do).
Match the Words to Pictures: Who Is It For?
The great thing about this matching words to pictures task is that it can be used for any age that is working on this reading comprehension skill. Even some of our high school students are working on matching words to pictures. And the age you target will really depend on the type of pictures you choose to use. For instance, cute clip art pictures would be great for younger students. But, functional pictures like the community signs would be good for older students.
Match the Words to Pictures Video Tutorial
Tips for Matching the Words to Pictures Task
I use a permanent marker to write the words on the clothespins. It’s easy and fast. But, if you worry that your handwriting would be hard to read, you could print out the words, cut them out and Velcro or glue them to the clothespins.
Clearly, you can match the words to pictures of any kind depending on what you are working on for reading comprehension. I have also used this task to have students match pictures of their classmates to their names on the clothespin. In addition, they could match pictures of their family members to their names. As they get better at this it can become part of a morning greeting routine as well.
Need more ideas for task boxes? Check out the resources below.
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More Workbasket Wednesday Resources
Looking for more ideas on special education work boxes or work systems and how they can be used? Check out the links in Resources below for more posts. And, I wrote about a book about them!
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These kits include an e-book with directions on setting up independent work systems and using the materials included, data sheets for tracking progress, visuals for the special education work boxes and schedules, what’s next visuals, and mastery sheets to keep track of which students have mastered which task.
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