ABSTRACT
On a typical winter morning, kindergartners trickle into Pam’s kindergarten classroom, chatting, clomping, and bundled head to toe. A closer look at the children’s clothing reveals favorite media characters on Spiderman ski masks, Cinderella parkas, Transformers boots, and Shrek mittens. It’s likely that an even closer look into backpacks and pockets would uncover other popular media objects that accompany the children to school: Thomas the Tank train cars, Hello Kitty lip gloss, YuGiOh cards, Polly Pocket dolls, and Snoopy pencils. Such popular media items are often banned from classrooms, but children bring toys into school anyway, stashed away in backpacks until recess, when they are quickly pocketed and toted out in the relative freedom of playgrounds. However, Pam recognized that toys and their familiar media storylines offer powerful means for integrating children’s cultural resources into literacy curriculum. She allowed her students to bring toys from home into the classroom and play with toys while writing and drawing during writing workshop.
