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July 11, 2025

Use this image to write the opening of a short story or poem. Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari for The New York Times

Dear Reader,

We’ve been publishing our Picture Prompts series four days a week during the school year since 2016.

These short, accessible, image-driven prompts invite students to pen short stories, poems and memoirs; share experiences from their lives; analyze illustrations, graphs and charts; and tell us their opinions on hot-button issues.

In our new collection, “143 Picture Prompts to Inspire Student Writing,” we’ve rounded up all the prompts we published for the 2024-25 school year.

Sincerely,
The Learning Network

P.S. Week 6 of our Summer Reading Contest begins today.

RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari for The New York Times Picture Prompts 143 Picture Prompts to Inspire Student Writing A school year’s worth of short, accessible image-driven posts that invite a variety of kinds of writing. By The Learning Network

Loren Elliott for The New York Times Contests Summer Reading Contest, Week 6: What Got Your Attention in The Times This Week? To participate, submit your response here by July 18 at 9 a.m. Eastern. This week’s winners will be announced by July 29. By The Learning Network

The New York Times; Illustrations by Till Lauer Contests ‘He Replied With a Single Thumbs-Up’: The Week 3 Winner of Our Summer Reading Contest “Asian parents don’t text their kids like they do in Western movies,” writes Ellena Li, 15 — but a father’s love can show up in other ways. By The Learning Network

Ben Hickey Contests Our 16th Annual Summer Reading Contest Students are invited to tell us what they’re reading in The Times and why, this year in writing OR via a 90-second video. Contest dates: June 6 to Aug. 15, 2025. By The Learning Network

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VOCABULARY RESOURCES

Cindy Lozito Word of the day Word of the Day: kitschy This word has appeared in 60 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence? By The Learning Network

Cindy Lozito Word of the day Word of the Day: humility This word has appeared in 553 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence? By The Learning Network

Cindy Lozito Word of the day Word of the Day: taqueria This word has appeared in 29 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence? By The Learning Network

Cindy Lozito Word of the day Word of the Day: whimsical This word has appeared in 243 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence? By The Learning Network

Cindy Lozito Word of the day Word of the Day: vexatious This word has appeared in 16 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence? By The Learning Network

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