Tools to Develop Literacy IndependenceDaily Five and CAFE are researched based structures that allow teachers to have autonomy in planning and creating activities that enhance student learning through the creation of authentic learning activities aligned to assessments. Daily Five
Daily Five is the structure for organizing the literacy block in classrooms. The structure is simple: the whole class meets for a short burst of instruction (7-12 minutes) depending on the age of students, after which students choose and move into one of the Daily Five tasks. The length of each round of Daily Five is dictated by the stamina and independence of the students. Once student stamina breaks down, the round is over. Primary students usually settle in to three rounds of Daily Five and intermediate students into two rounds each day. Because students are motivated, engaged, and highly independent with their Daily Five choice, the teacher in turn uses the entire block of time to assess, lead a small group lesson (two or three students), or conduct individual conferences.
10 Steps to Teaching and Learning IndependenceOne of the keys to success in our classrooms is to teach students to be independent. This high level of independence allows the teacher to continue teaching without interruption because the students are reading and writing the whole time. Students develop a sense of urgency regarding their own practice, as well as value the individualized attention they receive toward reaching their goals. Click here to find out more about the 10 Steps to Teaching and Learning Independence.
Good-Fit BooksBecause we want our students to be highly successful and truly enjoy reading, they need to spend the majority of their time reading self-selected books with 99-100% accuracy. Good-Fit books enable students to practice strategies while reading accurately, fluently, and with a high level of comprehension. Good-Fit books are the secret to outstanding stamina while students are reading.
I PICK
We don’t confine students to assigned reading levels but allow them to book shop for Good-Fit books every two weeks. Because students are expected to pick their own books it is important that we teach them how. We teach students to use an acronym known as the I PICK method to enable them to make excellent book choices that are a good fit for them. The I PICK method is simple and reflective:
Here is a demonstration of the I PICK chant, and below, a demonstration of book shopping.
CAFECAFE is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary. A CAFE Menu board is used to display reading strategies under each heading. It ensures that strategies are taught and practiced during focused mini lessons. This system includes goal-setting with students in individual conferences, posting of goals on a whole-class board, developing small-group strategy instruction based on emerging student needs and one-on-one conferring. Gail and Joan ("The Sisters") developed the CAFE system to support teachers as they:
CAFE further explained:This document gives more information about the steps of CAFE:
PensieveOne of the important components of our daily work with students is our conferring notebook that we refer to as our Pensieve. The Pensive serves as both an organizational structure for student grouping, student meeting calendar, data collection, touch points, and assessment. In this notebook, there is a tab for every student with notes on data collected during one-on-one conferences and assessments. For more information on touch points and assessments, click on the highlighted areas above. During the upcoming school year, team members will transition from the use of the traditional Pensive which is our paper conferring notebook to an electronic pensive utilizing iPads that were purchased with grant monies. The Electronic Pensieve will allow the team members to save and track student data more efficiently. Document Actions
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