Looking Back to Celebrate, Looking Forward to Innovate

Today is a special day as it marks the fourth anniversary of The Daily CAFE. We first launched the website with one hundred active pages. Some of you have been with us every week since then. Some of you have discovered us along the way. Either way, we are grateful you've chosen to join us in this learning journey.

We have a lot to celebrate as we look back on the growth, development and accomplishments of the past four years:

• We've published 51 new Tip of the Week's for four years in a row (a total of 204!).
• We've grown from 100 to 2249 pages of articles, videos and downloads and continue to publish 10-15 new content items each week.
• We've added a Favorites Bar (orange bar, top left) so readers can save and organize content that is especially meaningful to them.
• We've created an Interactive CAFE Menu to provide support for teachers who want to find items specifically related to certain goals and strategies.
• We've shared Parent Pipelines; a parent involvement component for each of the strategies on the CAFE Menu.
• Parent Pipelines and CAFE Menus have been translated into Spanish.
• Videos have been and are being upgraded to allow for full screen viewing.
• Guest writers have been invited to share their knowledge, expertise and inspiration.
• Math Daily 5 has been introduced and we've begun to post related articles.
• Book Looks and Lit Lessons have been added as a feature to support strategy instruction.
• Our initial search function has been upgraded to a robust Google Search Box that browses the site for key words and articles of interest.
• A Discussion Board has been added, providing teachers with a forum for meeting, sharing, discussing and supporting one another.
• Readers have shared tips and delights which have become a favorite feature.

• Launch our brand new Electronic Conferring Notebook (look for it in July!)
• Introduce interactive pages for both the Emergent and the Transitional Cafe Menus
• Publish more information on Math Daily 5
• Provide Book Study Guides for both The Daily 5 and The CAFE Book
• Provide an online course on Daily 5 and CAFE that provides graduate level credits
• Determine how we might refine the organization of the website to make it more user friendly (we never dreamed when we began that we would end up with over 2249 pages and counting)

FAQ: What kind of lesson plans do I show my administration for Daily 5?

When thinking about what to show administrators, we have found this planning sheet called Foundation Lessons to be a helpful place to begin. It is especially great for the beginning of the year, so you might want to tuck it away. A new school year will be upon us before you know it.

http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/public/1680.cfm

Book Look: Planting the Wild Garden by Kathryn O Gailbraith

In Planting the Wild Garden, readers discover that farmers and gardeners play a very small part in creating the beauty around us. Nature is always at work in mysterious and wonderful ways. Soft illustrations and lyrical text, including onomatopoeia, will make this book a treasure to pour over again and again.

http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/public/2247.cfm

Reading Rockets (WEBSITE)

Reading Rockets has packed a "virtual beach bag" of activities for teachers to help families get ready for summer and to launch students to fun, enriching summertime experiences. Educators will find materials to download and distribute as well as ideas and resources to offer to students and parents to help ensure summer learning gain rather than loss.

Get Ready for Summer! Ideas for Teachers to Share with Families

iPad Apps (WEBSITE)

After surveying teachers about their favorite iPad apps, EmergingEdTech has compiled a list of the top 15.

15 Favorite iPad Apps As Selected By Teachers

Daily 5 Delight

Jodie Pulciani writes:

As I sat on the couch and viewed Joan's video of Starting with Independent Text before Increasing Text Complexity, my third grade son listened from the other room. As Joan started reading to her student, my son joined me in viewing the video. As the video ended he said, "That lady is magic!" I think Joan is magic too!!! Thank you for all you share.

http://www.thedailycafe.com/members/1510.cfm

Before Students Check In (ARTICLE)

Refreshed: You may have already experienced the sometimes audible frustration expressed by students when they have made their Daily 5 choice and then you pull them from it for small group or one-on-one instruction. We respect and appreciate that frustration and try hard not to interrupt the cadence of their independent time. So what does that look like?

http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/public/1389.cfm

2012 Workshops

We will be in Atlanta in August. Will we get a chance to meet you?

http://www.thedailycafe.com/public/2012_Workshops.cfm

New This Week For Members

Interested in becoming a member of The Daily CAFE™? Click here for more information.

Good Fit Books, I Pick in Sixth Grade (VIDEO)

Gail and Joan are introducing I-PICK to this group of sixth graders. Since most of these students are familiar with the shoe lesson, Gail and Joan use weights instead, bringing a new analogy to the concept of good fit books that is critical for every age to master.

http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/members/1426.cfm

Repurposed File Cabinets (ARTICLE)

As our teaching has evolved over the years, so has the purpose of our filing cabinets. We used to have two cabinets filled to the brim with our worksheets, centers, thematic units, and assessment materials. After Daily 5 and CAFE revolutionized the way we work with children, most of those materials became obsolete. The file cabinets have been repurposed for three main uses:

http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/members/1872.cfm

Spanish Ready Reference Guide - Monitor and Fix Up (DOWNLOAD)

Here is the Ready Reference Guide translated into Spanish for the Comprehension Strategy of Monitor and Fix Up.

http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/members/1838.cfm

Touring the Word Work Area (VIDEO)

In this updated video, Joan takes us on a tour of the Word Work area in her classroom. Flexibility, simplicity, location and ease of use, makes this area run like a top.

http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/members/321.cfm

Until Next Week!