About Roots & Research
Roots & Research is an inquiry-driven literacy lab grounded in place, equity, and early childhood practice.
Created by a Brooklyn-based Pre-K educator with over two decades of classroom experience and a PhD in Literacy, the work bridges research and practice to support educators and families.
At its core, this work is rooted in a belief that meaningful learning grows from children’s lived experiences.
In real classrooms, especially in urban settings, children explore, create, and make meaning using accessible materials.
Roots & Research centers hands-on, inquiry-based learning that is responsive, connected, and grounded in the realities of the classrooms and communities it serves.
Because meaningful learning doesn’t require perfect materials, it begins wherever children are.
What Guides the Work
Roots & Research grew from my experiences as a mother, educator, and researcher. I believe meaningful learning begins in relationships and the everyday experiences that shape children’s lives. The studies, documentation, and reflections shared here are grounded in a commitment to honoring children’s thinking while recognizing that teachers also bring their own histories, identities, and questions into the classroom. I believe young children are capable thinkers, whose ideas deserve careful attention, reflection, and study.
Place-based learning
Learning is shaped by children’s environments, communities, and everyday experiences. Place is not a backdrop, it is a central text for inquiry and making meaning.
Research-practice integration
Educational research is most powerful when it lives in real classrooms. This work bridges theory and practice to create approaches teachers can actually use.
Equity as lived practice
Equity is lived through daily decisions, relationships, and learning environments that honor children’s identities, cultures, and ways of knowing.