Daily CAFE Conference

I attended the Daily 5 and CAFE conference in Vegas this past week.  It was very informative since I had many reservations about aspects of it since starting my implementation of Daily 5 and CAFE this year.  You can read about that post here.  The sisters had some revisions & updates to the original Daily 5 book.  They are currently finishing up the second edition.

Well, here are some things I plan on trying out since the conference.

Assessments to Guide Strategy Groups
At our school, we currently have been trying to find a way to progress monitor comprehension.  We measured fluency pretty well, but didn't have something school-wide for upper grades when it came to assessing and monitoring comprehension.  My biggest problem with fluency assessments are that by the time they get to 5th grade, my biggest concern is comprehension.  Some kids just don't read well, but man, do they think outside of the box!  Also, the fluency assessment didn't even monitor their pace or expression.  It was simply read as fast as you could in the time frame given.  Who reads like that?

Anyway, the upper elementary assessment recommended by the sisters (which looks pretty good) is the Informal Reading Inventory by Roe & Burns.  It has the fluency, accuracy, vocabulary, and (most importantly) a comprehension piece.  Our reading specialist just ordered it and I'm excited to have something that will assess students' different reading areas and abilities.

Limit to 2 Rounds & Differentiate
Since older kids have longer stamina AND there is less time in the day to actually do all 5 rounds AND I didn't feel all kids needed to complete work in all 5 areas, the sisters talked about differentiating, but still have all 5 rounds as opportunities for those who need it.  This will be great since one of my issues with Daily 5 was the meaningfulness of some work/rounds for older kids.

Also, with our current curriculum, I don't want to toss it out, but use it within Daily 5.  So... I decided to give some choice, but limit the choices by having students know what is a "must do" first before they move on.

Reading Round Options
Kids will have choice for how they will complete the required (must do) reading for that week's selection & leveled readers.  When they are done, they can work on the other may do choices during those rounds.

1. Read to Self  - some kids just like to read the story on their own & complete the graphic organizer on their own
2. Read to Someone - partner reading selection, checking for understanding, & filling out comprehension graphic organizer together; will be helpful for those who need peer support
3. Listen to Reading - listen to selection on CD; for lower kids who have a difficult time reading the grade level selection on their own and with a partner; comprehension skill graphic organizer will be modified for these students as well since they will need to complete it independently (or with other kids who are also listening to reading)

Writing Round Options
Sisters talked about how some kids will not need lots of word work while others do.  In either case, they mentioned limiting Word Work to about 10 minutes before students move on to Work on Writing options within this round.  The Sisters also talked about how Work on Writing needs to be a daily option, just like Read to Self.

1. Word Work - Vocabulary assignments in this round will be a must do, but students will have choice on when to get the work done by the end of the week; so they will need to pace how they will complete the work in the writing rounds.  For my low kids, I will give them less vocabulary words (specific ones they will need for the selection) so that I can provide time for them to practice spelling (most other kids do not need spelling practice during school and it will not be an option for them).  
2. Work on Writing - choices I have available were discussed in this post.

Sample Schedule
I've started Daily 5, but haven't really stuck with it.  Here is the schedule I will attempt to try out...

Mondays and Fridays have many other things going on, so rounds are limited... this is where I give myself permission to do some more whole group activities that may take longer than 7-10 minutes.

Also, to clarify, the writing in the choice rounds are all student choice, not necessarily writing that I taught.  The direct instruction for writing comes after lunch as a whole group.


Extras
At the conference, I had a conversation with a primary teacher at my school about her starting to implement Daily 5 this year as well.  We talked about how it would be beneficial for her kids to meet with my 5th graders every once in a while to get them started & reinforce behaviors, such as in Read to Someone.  Not only would that help her primary kids, it would help my students be leaders and reinforce their behaviors also.

The sisters talked about how too may specialists working with kids can confuse them on what their reading goal/focus is supposed to be.  Eventually (since we've already started the year) I'd love to work with our specialists and paras to figure out a way for them to work with students directly on their goals in my classroom rather than being pulled.

Conferring & Grading
One thing I feel I have done pretty well is conferring with students one on one with their specific goals during Read to Self time.  (As for strategy groups, I have not started pulling for these yet.)  The sisters also talked about how to grade holistically.  Based on the strategy students are working on, we can give them grades based on how they do (touch points) when we meet with them.  The sisters graded on a 4 point scale similar to what I listed below.  However, I changed some wording around to match what our district uses on report cards:

1 - Needs Improvement
2 - Improving
3 - Meets expectations
4 - Exceeds expectations

I haven't started this yet, but it gave me a better idea on how to use touch points when I meet with students.  In addition, I learned that once students reach a tough point of 3 or 4 a couple of times, they are ready to move on to a different strategy.  The only negative I see is that since I will most likely meet with needier kids more often, I won't have the same amount of grades for the whole class.


Reading Strategy Bookmarks

Inference Bookmark - Back has post its for students to infer using the example above

I got the front of the bookmark from Don't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late.  On the back is where I added my own touch.  No, it's not cute, but it works.  Here is the pdf I have for the bookmarks.  Sorry, the black and white pdf copy is so light!

Inference Bookmark - Color

Inference Bookmark - Black & White with back

Read to Someone Checkmark (front & back) - I wanted the fiction, non-fiction, & coaching tips all on ONE checkmark.

Again, the pdf didn't copy well, but here it is: Read to Someone Check Mark & Coaching Tips

Vocabulary Collector Bookmark - makes it easier for kids to remember to "tune into interesting words"

I got the Vocabulary Collector Bookmark from Corbett Harrison's website.  I have also bought their Sacred Writing Time slides and monthly bingo writing prompts. Vocab Collector Bookmark

Make Connections Bookmark - back has space for student to make connections... I may also give students smaller post its to explain HOW their connection better helps them understand the story.  So many kids make connections that are not very important, such as, "I like to eat hot dogs also, just like the boy in the story," when that part of the story has no significance.

These bookmarks I got from another teacher who came to our school to share her Daily 5 resources, so I don't know where they came from.  They were 2 different bookmarks that I combined to be front to back so that kids would have sentence starters to help them and room to write their connections.  Make Connections Bookmark

Start Slow! 

I really need to make sure I give myself time & permission to work out the kinks to make Daily 5 & CAFE work for me and my students, even if it's not going to be perfect.  That way, when I have next summer to really reflect on how the year went, I can revamp what is necessary.  We'll see how it goes!

I originally had issues with Work on Writing lacking too many choices and not having any direct instruction time.  Since the sisters mentioned that direct writing instruction was a separate time in the day, such as in Writer's Workshop, I was still concerned because there's not enough time in the day for both, BUT I think I found a way to  make it work with the schedule above.  We will see!


Overall, the conference gave me lots to think about, especially the day about CAFE.  I also loved the giveaways!  Who doesn't want some cool, FREE stuff?

Oh, and a conference in Vegas would be more fun if I wasn't pregnant!  It was nice to have time to sit down to eat dinner, talk about the day, and get to know other teachers in my building better on a more personal level.  Now to making it all work...