frequently asked questions

I taught 4th grade social studies right out of college.  Then I moved districts where I taught 1st grade for 3 years and 2nd grade for 6 years.  I served as team lead, head of our school’s Sunshine Committee, and on many district curriculum committees.  After leaving a traditional classroom setting I taught as an acceleration teacher for 4th and 5th grade 

Creating resources for the classroom has always been a passion of mine.  I actually started creating lessons while student teaching.  My teaching blog (Step into 2nd Grade) came to life in 2011 during my first year as a 2nd grade teacher.  At that point I had been a teacher for 5 years.  I started selling my resources on Teachers Pay Teachers later that year.  Creating engaging and effective lessons and activities for the classroom is definitely my passion!

Rooted in Reading is a curriculum that was created to enhance the Language Arts instruction in Kindergarten, 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd grade classrooms. Teachers read purposefully-selected picture books to their students each week.  Students are actively engaged in listening to and discussing each text throughout the read-aloud.  Before, during, and after the read-aloud, teachers guide book conversations through thought provoking discussion questions.  With Rooted in Reading, the learning process continues through targeting specific skills and standards as students interact with this text all week. Activities for each text have been designed to assure students are actively thinking, making connections, and responding to the text in a meaningful way.  This curriculum focuses on deepening comprehension, developing and expanding vocabulary, and integrating language skills with the use of a mentor text.

We have Rooted in Reading resources for K-3 grades.

Kindergarten Rooted in Reading

1st Grade Rooted in Reading

2nd Grade Rooted in Reading

3rd Grade Rooted in Reading

This will vary based on what all you use from the units. Based on the data we collected, most teachers use it for 45-60 minutes. The beginning of the week may take a little longer since you are introducing a book, but as the week goes on the students have more time to respond to the book independently because the mini-lessons are shorter. You can see a post I wrote HERE with how I broke it all down.

We know that many teachers needs to show proof to their admin when they are using a curriculum of their choice. We have created a document that houses all of our research, data, quotes from users, etc. You can find that by clicking below:

Rooted in Reading Research Document