Daily Five and CAFE

I am so excited to introduce you and your children to "the Daily Five."

The Daily Five is a way of structuring the reading block so every student is independently engaged in meaningful literacy tasks. These research-based tasks are ones that will have the biggest impact on student reading and writing achievement, as well as help foster children who love to read and write. Students receive explicit whole group institution and then are given independent practice time to read and write independently while I provide focused and intense instruction to individuals and small groups of students. When it is up and running smoothly, students will be engaged in the Daily Five, which are comprised of:

  • Read to Self
  • Work on Writing
  • Read to Someone
  • Word Work

There are very specific behavior expectations that go with each Daily 5 component. We will spend our first weeks working intensely on building our reading and writing stamina, learning the behaviors of the Daily 5 and fostering our classroom community. I will also spend time learning about your child's strengths and greatest needs as a reader in order to best plan for each student's instruction.

Right now, we are focusing on increasing our stamina to work independently during Reading to Self. Within the next few months, the other choices will be introduced. While the students are completing their literacy tasks, I will be meeting with small groups and conferencing with individual students. Daily 5 is how we schedule our language block. CAFE is what we study during this time. CAFE is an acronym for the four major components of reading. They are:

  • C - Comprehension
  • A - Accuracy
  • F - Fluency
  • E - Expands Vocabulary

The children will learn reading strategies within each category. These strategies will become tools for the children to use to help themselves become better readers and writer. I will keep you informed when new strategies are introduced to the whole class through weekly newsletters. This communication will give your clear directions as to how to reinforce these concepts when you read with your child at home.

Your child will be taught to select "Good Fit Books" or books they can read, understand and are interested in, which they will read during Daily 5. They will be spending most of their time actually reading, which research supports as the number one way to improve reading. I anticipate the motivation and enjoyment of reading will skyrocket when this gift of choosing their own books is accompanied by extended practice and specific reading instruction for each individual child. As you can see, I am excited about giving your child the opportunity to be involved in a structure that will have a positive effect on their education.

Please think of our classroom as you visit garage sales or clean your own child's bookcase. It is my goal to make our classroom library as appealing as your favorite bookstore for browsing.