CAFE Chapter 3 Step-by-step: The First Days of School

I remember my first days of school each year.  My bulletin boards were up and full of cool laminated letters, words, and "people".  It is a paradigm shift for me to look at the "blank" CAFE bulletin board on p.28.  Did any of you try this?  It could be on windows, closet doors, a white board, or a bulletin board.  What do you think about making it interactive?

How do the upper grades (4th and 5th) use a read aloud like noted on p.32?  Those look like too juvenile of titles for those ages.  Maybe I am wrong....

I like how they emphasize that if the TEACHER does not constantly "think aloud" and physically point to the bulletin board or CAFE strategies like check for understanding or crosschecking then the students will never really buy into it.

7 Steps from Assessing to knowing the Instruction the student needs

• Assess individual student
• DRA, CBM, running record, what else?
• Discuss findings with student
• How comfortable are you with this process?  Do kids use the phrasing that you are modeling?
• Set goal and identify strategies with student
• This is the hard part.  You want to hit a home run the first time when you individualize it and pick a strategy for the student to practice independently.  How can we connect the strategy we are picking for students in PK-2 to match our PLA common area of retelling????
• Student declares goal on menu and in notebook
• I like that the students are an active part as they write, review, and record/post it.
• Teacher fills out Individual Reading Conference form
• This would be an excellent artifact to share with parents.
• Teacher fills out Strategy Groups form
• This part confuses me a little.  If you are not meeting with each student equal times, how and when do you rearrange the groups for guided reading based on CAFE input from individual conferences? Or do you always have one of each of the 4 groups going and then rotate the kids as needed so the membership is always different from week to week?
• Instruction
• Imagine how great this system will work in a year or two when the kids have had it in K, then 1st, then 2nd, etc.....

CAFE Chapter 2: The CAFE Notebook & Record-Keeping Forms

Amen on the love/hate relationship with sticky notes!  I remember my first year teaching 5th grade in Houston.  I had a blue 3-ring binder.  Each grading quarter had a divider between.  Each student had a black piece of white paper in each quarter.  Each student needed to have 3 anecdotal records every 9 weeks in this binder.  Boy, what started out great in August was not pretty when my principal looked at it at the end of 1st quarter! The notes were subjective.  The notes were random.  The notes did not guide instruction.

In case you weren't sure, here is the definition and a picture of pensieve:
Pensieve

The Pensieve as seen in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

A Pensieve is a stone basin used to store and review memories. Covered in mystic runes, it contains memories that take physical form as a type of matter that is described as neither gas nor liquid. A witch or wizard can extract their own or another person’s memories, store them in the Pensieve, and review them later. It also relieves the mind when it becomes cluttered with information. Anyone can examine the memories in the Pensieve, which also allows viewers to fully immerse themselves in the memories stored within, much like a magical form of real world virtual reality.
Users of these devices view the memories from a third-person-point-of-view, providing a near-omniscient perspective of the events preserved. Rowling confirmed that memories in the Pensieve allow one to view details of things that happened even if they did not notice or remember them, and stated that "that's the magic of the Pensieve, what brings it alive".^[16]

I think it is an AWESOME idea to use staff development time to create this data collection notebook and personalize it.  We can do this in the future, maybe?  Any scrapbookers out there at TJ?  I am NOT!

Section 1: Teacher Notes

• Love, love the calendar.  It sounds simple, but keeps us (both the kids and teacher) accountable
• Keeping track form will show, again, that fair is not equal. This needs to happen to close the gap....
• Strategy Groups form is a new way of grouping for guided reading!  I mentioned this in a previous blog.  We need to group by CAFE principles, not DRA levels.  Thoughts?
• What are touch points?

Section 2: Dividers/tabs for each child

• Do you already have a laminated version of the "Literacy CAFE Menu"?  What an awesome reference....
• Reading conference form and writing conference could be a "job-embedded" way to track progress for a BAT student with a skill that is being evaluated?

Happy reading....I am popping in the CD now!

CAFE Chapter 1: The Beginnings of the CAFE Menu Assessment System

So, I am really excited to see that the authors followed up their "theory" book, The Daily 5, with an application that tells teachers "how" to make this work.

C=Comprehension
A=Accuracy
F=Fluency
E=Expand Vocabulary
Can you visualize what each part of CAFE looks like in your PK-5, Special Ed, Core, or Title classroom?

Have you been able to integrate your reading assessment data into your instruction?  I think this is where we lose momentum at times.  We learn something new, we know we need to use it, we know the data shows areas of concern, but we struggle to find ways to match the strengths/goals of each child with the assessment data and our daily lesson objectives.

Here are my thoughts on their 4 "core" elements they note on p.6-7:
1.Would it help if we all had the "same" notebook set up for TJ to use in each classroom?  It would include the forms, calendar, and templates.  Maybe that is an idea to start for August?
2. I LOVE the idea of students setting reading goals for daily or weekly work.  Are any of you doing that?  Thoughts?  Goals lead to accountability.  What gets monitored gets done.
3. All of you use guided reading groups.  Are any of you creating these groups based on CAFE needs, not guided reading levels (all the 14s in one group, all the 20s in another group)?
4. Is your whole group instruction based on what you pick up in conferences and guided reading groups as skills that all or most of the kids need?  Or is your whole group instruction driven by the district "plan"?

The thought from Chapter 1 that has me doing a lot of thinking.....
"The more effective classrooms have a distribution of whole-class, small-group, and side-by-side instruction.  The more whole-class teaching offered, the lower the academic achievement in any school."
Wow, powerful.......

OK, so one more thought that made me go hmmmmm.....
"no negative impact for assigning the best readers more student-directed work" and "we no longer have to fret about meeting with each and every child one-on-one each day"
What does this mean for above grade level student readers?
www.thedailycafe.com

Chapter 7: Putting it all Together and Troubleshooting

So, I know that I did not assign Chapter 7 to you to blog about, but I was so impressed by this chapter that I did it anyway.  Feel free to join in...

Jugglers spinning plates- I love that analogy!  It is true, isn't it?

Students need choice.  Are you letting them choose by now?

Status-of-the-class conference!  I love that idea.  It sounds formal and is needed!

Students should leave the gathering place one group at a time to avoid the "stampede effect".  So true!

Daily 5 should help us realize that many times our students had truly been involved with unauthentic busywork that did not influence their learning.

Margaret Mooney, "Independence is synonymous with accountability."  Amen!  We have to trust them to carry out our expectations and to accept the responsibility to do so.

Has your room arrangement changed because of the Daily 5?

I love the idea of practicing the skill of ignoring the teacher.  That is so hard for some of our highly distractible students.

Do you have tech support helpers identified in your room?

I like the "Above, Pause, Whisper" signal to get students' attention.  Do any of you use it?  What do you use?

I like how they end this section by addressing how to make this work with intermediate students.  If you can only get to the Daily 3, then so be it.  I like the way they focused those 3 and the rationale behind it.

I hope you enjoyed the book.  It was an easy read and one you could reference over and over.  On to the CAFE!

Chapter 6: Work on Writing and Word Work

Work on Writing
I love the distinction of how Writer's Workshop is about writing using a taught strategy or genre.  Working on Writing is sustained writing of their choice.  That is the "fun" writing or at least should be in my opinion :)

Launching Work on Writing
Do you notice the kids being excited to work on writing?  Why do you think this is or is not?

Focus Lessons
I like the technique of showing them how to underline words they don't know and move on.  Do you have their "Writer's Notebooks" in their book boxes?  I don't know how much of that I have seen.
Are we getting 30 minutes of writing every day in primary and 45 in intermediate?  That seems like a lot of time??

Word Work
I struggle with this one as I know there are as many ways and programs out there as there are teachers.
How do you get them to recognize spelling patterns in your room?  How do you get them to internalize high frequency words spelling patterns?

Launching Word Work
Do you use Wikki Six?  I love those as a teacher.
Do you use this part of the Daily 5 since we have iSpell at 3rd-5th?
Have you noticed that as you add new Daily parts that they are "better" at it as you have scaffolded it with them?

I think it is crucial to note that they say to give them time to just play with the materials before expecting them to use them for spelling.  I like that they have it divided into thirds: Materials setup, Materials placement, and Materials cleanup.

How do you make sure to leave enough time for clean up AND to gather them back and check in?  That is always so hard......

Chapter 5 Read to Someone and Listen to Reading Deep Thoughts

A quote worth repeating:
"I have seen master teachers who always maintain a positive attitude toward teaching and learning- and they always get results." 

I couldn't agree more about what a difference attitude and disposition makes!  Now on to the reading...

Read to Someone

• Is Read to Someone the favorite part of Daily 5 for your students?
• Have you felt frustrated by the noise or accountability issues?  If so, how have you handled it?

Introducing Read to Someone

• What matters the most is presenting a series of lessons for a period of days with step-by-step modeling and practice.

Focus Lesson Day 1: EEKK, Voice, Check

• Do we have a TJ posted set of the RTS definitions for:
• EEKK
• I Read, You Read
• Choral Read
• Reading One Book
• Reading Different Books
• Check for Understanding
• Voice level
• Does everyone have the voice level poster/anchor chart?
• Check for Understanding
• Do any of you use an object for the non-reader to hold during Check for Understanding?
• I-Chart, Modeling, Practice, and Check-in
• I loved that the kids made the connection between Read to Self and Read to Someone.  Go kids!
• I loved the direct aspect of teach, model, practice, review, repeat.......
• Self-selected Work Areas
• Do you let the pairs choose?  Do you choose for them?

Read to Someone Focus Lesson Day 2: I Read, You Read

• Have you noticed one "way" that works better? 
• Check for understanding with one book
• I Read, You Read with one book with parrot reading for fluency practice
• Read Two Different Books with two books

Read to Someone Focus Lesson Day 3: How to Choose Books

• Are the kids able to choose books for RTS or do you choose?
• How do the strategies of "Let's Make a Deal" and "Rock, Paper, Scissors" work in your classroom?

Read to Someone Focus Lesson Day 4: Choosing Your Own Classroom Spot

• I like how they weave the psychology in to this step.  They have controlled this variable up to now and now that the procedures for behaviors and book choice are in place they can release responsibility to the students to choose their own "spot".  How did your students do when you let them choose their spot?

Read to Someone Focus Lesson Day 5: How to Choose a Partner

• Have you made an anchor chart for this "How to Choose a Partner"
• I LOVE how they include the lifeskills part of this process.  "The only acceptable answer is "Sure, thank you!" when someone asks you to be his or her partner.
• Model, model, model, monitor, monitor, monitor :)

Read to Someone Focus Lesson Day 6: Coaching or Time?

• This part was hard for me to visualize.  Our little people are somewhat egocentric so having to wait until 3 or give a coaching strategy versus the answer seems like a very grown up skill.
• Do you have a Reading Coach Anchor chart?  How did it go?
• What about a Reading Coach cheat sheet?  Do we have decoding and comprehension strategies?  Are they district generated?  How do our beginning readers navigate through this process?

Listen to Reading

• I love the goal of having kids "catch up" on lap time if needed by listening to reading and then transitioning to Read to Self or Read to Others when they have "caught up".
• What do you think of the idea of putting headphones on a school supply list????
• The idea of a consistent, explicit, instructional pattern for each of the "5" is such a good investment and is so pedagogically sound.

Focus Lessons

• How do kids listen to reading in your reading?  Tapes, CDs, computer?
• Is this a "job" for students to be the Techie so that the teacher can continue working with a student or group?  Career preparation :)  The sisters call it "Listen to Reading Helpers".
• I am still not sure about modeling procedures incorrectly, but I will abstain as I am not in the trenches trying it :)

Chapter 4- the deep thoughts continue....

READ TO SELF

So I love the notion of gradual release of responsibility and the way they explain it.  The key, it seems, is to recognize that you never ever fully "release" the whole responsibility to the children.  There has to be a constant, timed correctly, way of monitoring their independence with the strategy.

I know it is hard at times to see connections in PS, K, and 1st with reading ideas in books like this one.  I did, however, have an a-ha moment when they spelled out:
Read and talk about the pictures
Read the words
Retell a previously read book
That sounds exactly like what is done in early childhood classes as the goal is to acclimate the children to print, develop an interest in books, and deepen concepts of print.

Read to Self I-Chart
As I read this part I made lots of text to self connections.  This lesson sounds so much like a SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) lesson.  SIOP is a research-based strategy for designing lessons to make content comprehensible for ELLs and other learners with limited vocabulary.  She set the objective.  She provided a visual.  She used the LEA (Language Experience Approach) which is another ELL strategy to post the thoughts verbatim on the chart paper next to the child's name.  Also, focusing on what it LOOKS like AND SOUNDS like is crucial for addressing brain-based learning. 

3-minute start.....have you tried it?  Want to share??  Checking back in is a great way to "celebrate" what went well and quickly "fix" what didn't.

The goal is to read for 30-45 minutes in Read to Self.  That is a goal that takes lots of stamina-building practice sessions for sure!

Chapter 3 deep thoughts :)

Do we have a gathering place/space in our 2nd-5th grade classrooms where all the children can sit comfortably?  It sounds like that is something to work on.....

I really agree with the idea of 99% accuracy vs. 95% accuracy for Good Fit books.  As a Spanish speaker, I always think about how important getting as close to 100% accuracy really is.  Would you want to miss even 1% if that was the final direction/step/warning/exit???

More thoughts...
Did any of you try the shoe analogy lesson?
How are you organizing "book boxes"?  Do we have enough books at each level and do you have storage systems?

I love the idea of Anchor Charts.  It makes me think of my days as an ELL teacher.  ELL kids LOVE anchor charts as I am guessing IEP kids do, too.  It is a quick visual way to fill in the gaps and connect learning to prior experiences.

Short intervals of repeated practice/Building Muscle Memory
This one was hard for me.  I can't imagine stopping everyone from reading if only one child was "done".  That would take some time for me to get used to in the classroom.

Signals and Check in
I love the idea of the chime.  What are you all currently using to bring the class to your attention?
Would it be cool or useful to have a building wide sound that we all use?  Maybe we could get some support to buy something??  I also loved the no thumbs down idea.  Stay positive...

OK, I am not sure if I buy in to the Correct Model/Incorrect Model idea.  Behavioral psychology has taught me that you don't leave a negative/non-example as their last memory.  It would make more sense to me to do Correct/Incorrect/Correct.  What do you think?

Testing, testing....

I am new at creating blogs as I am sure most of you are at posting on blogs.  We will learn together!  Let's hope that this new tool is one that we can post on before, during, or after each chapter of our reading.