Using Picture Books to Teach About Other Cultures

1385 Words3 Pages

Aesthetic, psychosocial, and instructional are just a few great reasons for reading in early childhood education. Students gain in so many areas of their lives through reading and educators are continually working to build up reading skills and help students find the joy in reading. History has shown us that the thought of how important reading is has increasingly grown over the years. In 1940, only 984 books for children were published, in 1997 a total of 5,353 children books have been published. The increase in published books shows that many are finally getting on board with the importance of young readers.
There are many styles of literature out there that can be beneficial in and out of the classroom. Some examples include rhymes, fairy tales, picture books, fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Each type of book can be used in various ways to capture your readers as well as to teacher valuable lessons. Picture books are great books that can be utilized in the classroom to teach lessons on various cultures to your young students. There are many benefits to using picture books to teach on this tough subject, with limited negative results.
There are three main types of picture books that are used in the classroom. The first being wordless books, which is a complete book that tells a story using only pictures. The second is a picture storybook. This type of book utilizes words along with the pictures to tell a story or teach a lesson. Lastly you have illustrated books, this type of book utilizes pictures to accent the words to help visualize the story. When selecting a picture book teachers need to ensure they meet the requirements of a well picked book for the classroom. The book should have a plot, theme, setting, and characteri...

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...ing picture books to teach on this tough subject, with limited negative results. Picture books show great benefits in helping students find their love for reading, making students feel welcome in the classroom, and opening up your student’s eyes to those around the world. Using picture books to help educate students in the early childhood education classroom is a great benefit for students, as well as the teachers.

Works Cited

1. Lamme, L., Fu, D., & Lowery, R. (2004). Immigrants as Portrayed in Children's Picture Books. Social Studies, 95(3), 123-129.
2. Mendoza, J., & Reese, D. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v3n2/mendoza.html
3. Evaluating multicultural picture books. (2002, June). Retrieved from http://www.factsinaction.org/classroom/cljun021.htm
4. Sawyer, W. (2012). Growing up with literature. (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning

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