Children Authoring Literacy and Community: A Discourse of Belonging in Elementary Classrooms

ABSTRACT This qualitative study investigates how young children use language and literacy to co‐author belonging in early elementary classrooms that draw on foundations of restorative justice. Grounded in sociocultural and critical perspectives that position literacy as a relational social practice, the study conceptualizes belonging as a literate process through which children make meaning, connect with others, and participate equitably in classroom life. Using sustained classroom observation, video‐based interaction analysis, and discourse analysis across three classrooms (Kindergarten–Grade 3), the analysis traces how children's talk, writing, and collaborative storying enacted what is theorized as a Discourse of Belonging. Through three analytic strands, (a) storying selves and others into belonging, (b) embodied and empathic listening, and (c) co‐authoring shared literate worlds, the findings illustrate how children used literate actions to negotiate inclusion and agency. These everyday literacy events reveal belonging as an affective stance and a collectively authored literacy practice that enables children to imagine and sustain community. The study contributes to literacy research by demonstrating how discursive and multimodal forms of authorship support equitable participation and a sense of belonging in early learning spaces. Implications emphasize designing early literacy environments that foreground dialogue, empathy, and shared authorship as central dimensions of reading, writing, and learning together.