Contextualising children's literature to build phonemic awareness

Using a variety of picture books in the classroom can be an avenue for contextualising meaning and providing explanations through the situations that are presented in the stories. Picture books can be used as ‘windows and mirrors’ (Bishop, 1990) where students can either see reflections of their own lives or see others’ lives. Through authentic activities, students become engaged to learn meaning about the world we live in. The following presents picture books that can be used in early childhood classrooms. The activities discussed focus on building phonemic awareness, as well as building awareness of diversity, multimodal forms of literacy, and literary devices.