The CAFE

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer or is about to start enjoying their summer. I know some of you are still in school. I'm out but in district classes until tomorrow.
I am so excited about the book I am reading. It's The CAFE Book by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser (The Sisters.)

If you've heard of Daily 5 then you've probably heard about the CAFE. I started Daily 5 in my class this year and LOVED it. So my dear friend Fredia over at Frogs in First suggested I read this book. THANK YOU FREDIA! I'm almost done with it and I LOVE it. It's a short book and a very quick, easy read. I found out Lory over on Lory's Page is having a Summer Book Club that anyone can join up and read the Daily 5 book and Cafe book then read and talk about it with other teachers. You might want to check this out!
So you're saying "what IS CAFE"? because that's what was going through my mind when I first heard of it. Here is a short explanation. CAFE is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand vocabulary. You may have seen something like it floating around called FACE. They just changed the letters around. Here's a quote from the book's blurb: "CAFE includes goal-setting with students, posting of goals on a whole-class board, developing small-group instruction based on clusters of students with similar goals, and focusing whole-class instruction on emerging student needs. It provides a structure for conferring with students, a language for talking about reading development, and a system for tracking growth and fostering student independence." The CAFE system is based on research of the habits of proficient readers and is aligned with the new common core. One thing I LOVE is there are 37 strategies with lessons to teach each one. I also love the CAFE board you put up in your classroom. It's a huge visual reminder to kids about what smart readers are doing. I love the system they set up to conference with students and it only takes 5 minutes. It also has a great, easy tracking system.
I've got lots of questions and wonder what CAFE looks like in first grade. (because everything looks different in 1st) If anyone out there is doing CAFE in first grade I'd LOVE to hear from you!!
Well I'm off to my district class.
I hope everyone has a terrific day!