Feelings and Choices in Pictures - Foundation

Help children connect what they see with what a person explicitly says. Ari, Sam and Jo model story, painting, quiet-puzzle and changed-choice examples. They also show when a face or unclear pointing leaves us needing a checking question. A stated feeling now does not establish whether someone likes or dislikes an activity.

Three short picture stories give children a complete invitation, choice and response sequence. Two fictional classroom posters invite building or sharing stories, without claiming a guaranteed feeling. The unit culminates in children creating and explaining their own picture message, followed by a fresh independent collage task.

What's included

• Unit Plan PDF, 35 pages: one contents page, six pages of teaching guidance and 28 resources.
• Editable teaching presentation, 18 slides.
• Editable Picture Message Quiz, 22 slides: cover, ten question/answer pairs and closing slide.
• Preview PDF, 75 pages: the complete 35-page Unit Plan followed by all 18 presentation and 22 quiz pages. Contents page clean; remaining pages watermarked.
• Clean Table of Contents JPEG.

Learning focus

• Identify an explicitly expressed preference and a useful picture or word clue.
• Distinguish a current feeling from a like or choice.
• Ask a relevant question when a preference is unclear.
• Follow an invitation, choice and acknowledgement through a picture story.
• Recognise when a choice has explicitly changed.
• Interpret a simple invitation and explain a coherent message of one's own.

Classroom use

Five lessons are planned for approximately 35–45 minutes each, with shorter parts as needed. The guidance includes preparation, explicit modelling, guided practice, independent practice, observation, support/core/extension and feedback. Read captions and questions aloud. Responses can be spoken, pointed, gestured, AAC-based, drawn or scribed. Children may use fictional examples rather than disclose private experiences. Cutting, handwriting, eye contact and neat artwork are not entry requirements.

Use the cooperative clue game for evidence-based discussion, rather than speed or elimination scoring. Use the final Visual Message Check after teaching and rehearsal; its separate teacher record distinguishes response access from prompting the interpretation. Personal preferences are never scored as right or wrong.

Teacher benefits

The guide provides a complete five-lesson route. Original recurring characters and contextual pictures connect practice with teaching examples. An independent new scene checks transfer. Colour discussion resources sit alongside low-ink practice and assessment pages. Multiple response modes allow children to demonstrate meaning without a handwriting requirement.

Digital product and licence

Digital download; no physical item. Use classroom files under the seller's applicable licence. Do not redistribute or resell them. The editable text claim applies to the two PPTX decks; student pages are PDF resources.