Engaging students in valuable undergraduate research can be an arduous task to craft outside of the regular schedule of both staff and students. This paper describes a successful research experience that was part of an ongoing methods class for undergraduate pre-service education students. Participants simultaneously engaged in community service while experiencing firsthand learning about emergent literacy as companion learning to their ongoing coursework. Self-reflection targeting the student's future in higher education as researchers and students was an intentional part of their experience, as was reflection about their authentically acquired new learning about emergent literacy.