Good morning! We’ve rounded up all the Picture Prompts we published this school year, and categorized them for easy searching. Enjoy!— The Learning Network138 short, accessible image-driven posts that invite writing
Our Picture Prompt series invites students to share experiences from their lives; tell us their opinions on hot-button issues; analyze illustrations, graphs and charts; and write short stories, poems and memoirs. Here you can find a categorized list of every one we published during the 2025-26 school year. If you’d like to use this feature to build literacy skills, promote critical thinking, inspire discussion and foster creativity in your classroom, you can learn more by watching our three-minute tutorial video or our on-demand webinar. For dozens more ideas, see our lesson plan “How to Teach With Our Picture Prompts (and Other Times Images).” Recent Times reporting about education
On Literacy Struggles and Sleeping Fish: The Winners of Week 4 of Our Summer Reading Contest
Our Summer Reading Contest is going strong, and this week we crowned two winners. Megha Mishra, 17, from Cumming, Ga., was enlightened by “Fish Sleep a Lot Like Us. (They Even Nap.).” Here are her first two paragraphs: The first time I witnessed fish sleeping was when my little sister and I flushed Timmy down the toilet. Merely minutes before, our goldfish was resting at the bottom of his tank, completely still and motionless. And we were convinced that it was Timmy’s last day. After serenading with “Let it Go” from Frozen and offering a sprinkle of fish food, we brought Timmy over to his resting place, but mere seconds before his demise, we saw a twitch. Then Timmy began to swim around the bowl. Samaira Rasul, 16, from Richmond Hill, Ontario, had a strong reaction to “Why Boys Are Behind in Reading at Every Age.” Here is the opening of her piece: Ms. Cain Miller’s words in her article “Why Boys Are Behind in Reading at Every Age” ring especially true for me as a rising high school junior. I’ve personally witnessed fewer boys earn academic awards, answer questions during class, and even complete their schoolwork. So, it came as no surprise to discover that they have also been falling behind when it comes to reading. Yet, it’s difficult to feel much sympathy. Intrigued? Read on, then leave a comment for these students if you like! We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to LNfeedback@nytimes.com. More next week.
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