ABSTRACT
Children spend five years immersed in a world saturated with texts before entering kindergarten. Currently, the pervading narrow view of reading does not invite teachers to tap into this rich experiential literacy foundation, evolving naturally within children’s homes and communities. Barnhill relied upon young children and their teacher to serve as informants about their lives, cultures, languages, and beliefs. With a similar intent, Abby and Emily, two student teachers, and I initiated a family photo project in their kindergarten classrooms, in collaboration with their cooperating teachers, Vicki and Lisa. We asked kindergarteners and their families to capture themselves interacting with texts outside of school. Photographers for this family−school project came from two classrooms at Coitsville Elementary situated in the northeastern United States rust belt. Their urban community included African American, Italian, Polish, Greek, and Puerto Rican families. Family invitations to capture reading moments outside of school evolved from a three-month investigation centered on “Reading is everywhere.”
