Okay, so ever since I did the book studies last year at my school, I have discovered Daily 5/CAFE has been a pretty big craze, meaning I've found a ton of posts and blogs all about Daily 5/CAFE. This is my first attempt at it this year and I wanted to post some things that are working well and reservations I have. Obviously, trying anything new takes time and I plan to use it next year too before deciding how I want to run my reading/writing stations.
Book Boxes:
Can we talk about how EXPENSIVE magazine holders are? Even cheap ones multiplied by 30 does not equal cheap. Anyway, I found a pretty inexpensive way to make book boxes and did it this past summer. Here's the site I found with the information & directions: Book Boxes from Priority Mail Boxes. I ordered the boxes from USPS and they shipped it to me for free. The cost of labor was spending some summer time doing all this, but after buying paint (about 3-4 cans for 15 boxes), the cost was about $0.82/box.
Of course, AFTER I made and painted them all, I found out Ikea sells cardboard FLYT Magazine Holders for $1.99/5 pack. That makes them about $0.40 each not counting tax. (Yes, these were beginning of the year math problems I posed for the class.) The only thing that made me feel better was that mine were painted for that cost and there is no Ikea where I live right now anyway (Ikea shipping prices would make those magazine holders not cost-effective),
At first, I wondered if I even needed book boxes, but they are working well because students have a place to put books that don't get lost in their desks and I can suggest books for them simply by placing books in their boxes with a post-it on them. Here is a picture of my post-it labels so I don't have to keep writing the same thing over and over again. I got the template freebie from Angela Crescenzo's TpT store.
My Pups Wanted to Help Out with My Anchor Chart Pictures
Gotta love using Instagram for the classroom!
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| My favorite one! |
Daily 5 & CAFE Board
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| I can't find for the life of me where I got these cute Daily 5 signs, but here is a copy to spread the love. Thank you to all the crafty and artsy people out there! By the way, the bottom of the "Accuracy" board is black construction paper folded in half holding strips of paper I will use when ready to post new strategies. That way, I don't have to cut to size each time, they're right where I need them, and they're covered up at the bottom. |
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| Anchor charts for each station that we filled out. This is to the left of the CAFE board on top. |
The Pensieve (or as I like to call it... the Binder. Boring, I know, but that's what it is)
I felt like I needed to get the Daily 5/CAFE binder really organized before I could actually start. Even if I'm not using it right at the beginning of the year, I need to know where I'm headed and how things will be done. So, here's how I organized my binder.
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| When I open up my binder, the left side has my calendar where I make my appointments with the kids. The first page on the right is where I keep track of who I have met with so it's a quick glance. |
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| I have 8 tab dividers for my main tabs. The first tab is "Strategy Groups" behind my keeping track form in front of everything else. This is where I plan to group kids by strategy. The 26 colored tabs under it are the individual tabs for each student. The tabs were originally alphabets, but I used my labeler to make numbers that matched the student numbers and they would work for future years. Each individual student has the observation/goals form for reading and writing along with a reading survey & type of learner survey I gave out at the beginning of the year. |
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| Behind all the individual student numbers are the 7 other divider tabs. They are as follows: -CAFE Overview (charts of CAFE strategies, alignment to CC, etc.) -Comprehension* -Accuracy* -Fluency* -Expand Vocabulary* -Teacher Materials (master copies of forms, book suggestion post-its, etc.) -Resources (CAFE, vocab collector, make connections bookmarks & more for student use) *See picture below |
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| Each of the CAFE tabs has behind it: -Ready Reference Form with ideas on how to teach the strategies -Parent Pipeline that I use to make copies & send home when kids have a new strategy |
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| This is my favorite part. It's an 8.5 x 11" zip pouch that contains all the materials I would need to meet with students. It's so much quicker and easier that my materials are right there with me versus having to pause my meetings to grab something. -Post-its to write their name & stick on CAFE board or notes for myself -Pre-printed vocabulary collector bookmarks for students who are ready for that strategy -Make connections bookmarks (front is quick reference of strategy, back has blank space for kids to make connections) -Extra CAFE Goal bookmarks for those who lose their laminated ones -pencil, pen, wet & dry erase markers |
Daily 5 Stations
Work on Writing
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| Writing options are on the covered cork board. The shelves underneath hold all the materials and stationery needed. |
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| Close up of writing options |
- creative writing wheel - I made this years ago and students love it. The wheel is reversible for more options on character, setting, & situtation
- letter writing (different stationery in file folders)
- recipe (recipe paper in file folders)
- animal research (students use encyclopedia and animal drawing guides to research an animals)
- drawing books such as this one is used. I copied each page, glued onto construction, and laminated so students can pick and choose without fighting over the book.
- monthly bingo journal prompts I purchased here
- Poems I got from Pinterest, which led me to Victoria Nicholson's TpT store
- monthly journal prompts written on seasonal die cuts or other objects
- monthly lists (I got the lists from secondstorywindow.net and then created a list template to use with them)
Word Work
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| The 10 drawer cart off to the side holds all the Word Work station activities. |
Listen to Reading
My first school gave away tons of books on tape (picture & novel), so I got lucky enough to have them. These are great for 20-25 minute centers. I even created comprehension questions for each book. This cart I found in the alley behind my apartment at the time. It works great and the cupboards hide all the jacks and headphones. The shelf holds a can of pencils, a spot for the current book I put out, and a spot for comprehension questions for that story.
Read to Self
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| I keep about half in one place of the room and the other half in another place since I do Read to Self as a class and don't want them running over each other for boxes. It's also a good way to practice math when I say things like, "Get your book boxes if you're a prime number." |
Read to Someone
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| The plastic sleeve in front holds the Read to Someone Checkmarks. The tub holds the books I want them to choose from to read. |
Current reservations about Daily 5 and CAFE
1. Writing: Daily 5/CAFE does not really have an academic writing component/teaching strategies available. The CAFE is more focused on reading even though there's the word work and work on writing stations. I struggle with this as I am trying to get my class to write more academic essays and cite evidence. It's difficult to do/teach in mini lessons or repeatedly in short 20 minute blocks. The writing options I had and/or collected were all intentionally used as "I'm done!" activities in previous years. I don't like that there is way more time for that now rather than what I want them to work on.
2. 10-15 minute whole group mini lessons: I feel these work great sometimes, but I find it difficult to find time with the Daily 5 structure to do longer lessons and still fit in stations. There are some lessons that do not get taught efficiently in 10-15 minutes, especially in upper elementary. Even when I've blocked out Mondays and sometimes Fridays for this purpose, I don't feel there's enough wiggle room.
3. Are the activities really helpful? Sometimes I wonder if the writing and word work options I find are really helpful or meaningful. I mean, if they are doing these options everyday, that's a lot of time. Wouldn't it be more useful to teach some deeper skills, even if it's whole group? I don't usually provide time in class to practice spelling words for example, so this is a shift for me. I can see how stamping spelling words and what not can help primary (or my super low students) when they're learning how to read, but what about kids who don't need all that practice time? I don't want it to be wasted and I want the work to be more valuable. Small groups and stations definitely help attention span, but the work has to also be relevant and accountable.
I hope I don't sound like I don't like the small groups. I meet in small groups with my students all the time, but it's dependent on what we're doing and when I feel like they need it.
More about all the Daily 5 later. I'll be attending a Daily 5 conference with the sisters for 3 days in November, so I'm sure some of my questions/concerns will be answered. This post it getting way too long!
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