Summer 2026      Volume 54, Number 3

Family Engagement in Literacy: Every Family Has a Story: Celebrating and Connecting Families to Literacy from Day One
By Julie Hoffman and Cindi Koudelka

Document: Column 

Introductory Paragraph:   It is such an exciting time of the year! You are trying to stretch the last days of summer—sleeping in, sunshine, projects around the house. At the same time, you are getting ready for the school year. You may have already visited your classroom and started setting things up. As you prepare for your next group of students, your mind is lingering longer on thoughts of seating charts, setting up the classroom library, and getting ready for Open House. Ultimately, you are preparing for the individuals who will be coming to your classroom to learn and thrive. No matter what grade level or content area you teach, your class will be made up of different human beings with different experiences, different abilities, and different hopes and dreams. Each one of your students is unique and wonderful. So are their families.  To create a space that celebrates our students and their families, it is important to begin the school year with families in mind. Being intentional about this will help sustain the practice throughout the school year. The families our students belong to are as diverse, unique, and wonderful as our students. This is why celebrating diversity and ensuring our materials and instruction are grounded in positive, multifaceted, joyful representation matters (Ladson-Billings, 2021; Muhammad, 2023; Nieto, 2013).

DOI:   https://doi.org/10.33600/IRCJ.54.3.2026.44

Page Numbers:   44-47