Reading Comprehension · Writing
Photo Essay
A writing lesson that walks students through planning a photo essay — choosing photos, writing captions, and combining words and pictures to tell a meaningful family story.
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Subject
Reading Comprehension
Grade Level
Grades 4–8
Format
Lesson + Printable PDF
Access
Full Member
What Is a Photo Essay?
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” What do you think this saying means? It refers to the fact that photographs and pictures give people a lot of information — sometimes more information than words could ever give.
A photo essay uses this idea by combining photos and words to tell a story. Magazines often have great examples of photo essays. They use photographs to give readers more information about people, places, things, and events in the story.
The photos in a photo essay should give the reader more information about the topic. They can show people, places, things, and events. A series of photographs may show a sequence of events in the order they happened, or they might just highlight key points of the essay. Photos should be placed throughout the essay rather than all at the beginning or end, and each one should have a short caption describing what is in the picture.
Planning Your Photo Essay
For your photo essay, you’ll write about a family tradition. List the traditions your family has, then choose your favorite. The tradition you pick will be the topic of your essay. Think about details that relate to the five senses: what do you see, taste, hear, smell, and feel?
Some questions to help you plan: Who started the tradition, when, and why? What do you do, and for how long? Who is involved? What makes the tradition special to your family? Has it changed over the years? What is your favorite part? You don’t have to use all of these topics, but pick at least three. Each topic can become a paragraph in your essay.
Once your draft is written, choose one or two photos to go with each paragraph and write captions for each one. You can publish your photo essay as a small book, with one paragraph and its photos on facing pages, or arrange the whole essay on a piece of poster board. Don’t forget to proofread before you share it with your family!
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