Cafe with the Sisters

Hi Friends!! Guess what Cafe we went to on Sunday!! It was the 2 Sisters Cafe! That's right, Daily 5 and Cafe creaters Joan Moser and Gail Boushey! We were so fortunate to have our PTA send us to Cafe Training! We learned lots of tips to make Cafe smooth sailing.

If you don't know what Cafe is, it is an explicit method for teaching reading strategies. It is awesome. Cafe stands for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expand Vocabulary. Teachers use mini lessons for exposing students to reading strategies in each area. Students are then able to practice strategies during the Daily 5. Daily 5 consists of Read to Self, Word Work, Work on Writing, Read to Someone, and Listen to Reading. After many weeks of training, students build stamina for each of the Daily 5. Then teachers are able to confer one on one with students and conduct small group instruction.  We love creating anchor charts for everything. These help students know what they should be doing and what the teacher will be doing during Cafe and Daily 5!

I-Chart or Anchor Chart



Daily 5 Choiceboard

 
Tip 1: If teaching really young kids, place your cafe board headers at the bottom of the board so kids can easily reach the board to add their name to the strategy they are working on.



Cafe Board with Headings at the Bottom

Cafe Board with Headings at the Top

Tip 2: Touch points can be used for formative assessments. For example 1=Below Standard , 2=Approaching Standard, 3=Meeting Standard, and 4=Exceeding Standard. This is helpful when trying to explain to parents about how you can grade using Cafe. This also helps teachers know when to have students move on to the next strategy.

Tip 3: Soon the sisters are coming out with an electronic conferring notebook. So, if you are more technologically savvy you will love, love this! Be on the look out for it on their website.

Happy Reading!!