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Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading® is a collaboration of the curriculum team at the University of California Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science that created the Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS®) series, and Berkeley's Graduate School of Education. The principal investigators leading the development effort are P. David Pearson and Jacqueline Barber. Read more on members of the development team here.
The Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading Approach
Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading is designed to strengthen and capitalize on the natural convergences between science and literacy. The curiosity-driven “why” that powers science inquiry is also a driving force in the quest for language literacy; the desire and need to “find out” makes reading an essential act of inquiry. Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading units were designed to help students use strategies common to both the science and literacy domains as they engage in these key activities:
The program components are described in more detail on the Curriculum page. There are two curriculum series: a collection of integrated science and literacy units, Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading, and a parallel collection of literacy units, Literacy Investigations. In addition, there are 81 delightful, 4-color student books that are central to each of the units.
The integrated science literacy units feature opportunities for students to learn about science through doing, talking, reading, and writing about science. The Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading approach capitalizes on the natural convergences between science and literacy to create a more effective, integrated approach to learning. Research efforts are ongoing to demonstrate the effectiveness of the units.
Literacy Investigations provides much-needed content-rich literacy instruction, with a special focus on reading and writing informational and nonfiction text genres.
Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading is published and distributed by Delta Education, a division of School Specialty, Inc., of Nashua, New Hampshire. The first Seeds/Roots units, Shoreline Science, Soil Habitats, Gravity and Magnetism and Designing Mixtures, for grades 2/3, are now available, as are several of the grades 3/4 units, with additional units under development. The scope and sequence table on the Curriculum page shows the name and subject matter that will be covered in each of the initial 12 units at three grade bands in the program and approximate release dates.
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