Assessing young readers involves more than determining a reading level and moving them onto the next. We developed the CAFÉ Menu to help students understand and master different strategies used by successful readers.

CAFÉ is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary, and the system includes goal-setting with students in individual conferences, posting of goals on a whole-class board, developing small group instruction based on clusters of students with similar goals, and targeting whole-class instruction based on emerging student needs and fine tuning one on one conferring.

This is the topic of our next book which will be out in 2009. Good news - you don't have to wait until then! To get started click on the links below.

CAFE - Joan and Gail debrief a lesson using multiple strategies (VIDEO) A good lesson often looks simple to the viewer, which is why it's fun to hear Gail and Joan debrief, reflecting on the detail and thought that went into this lesson on chunking and blending sounds together. One thing they noticed as the lesson progressed was the level of sophistication the group has achieved in using these strategies which help them achieve their accuracy goal. . . . more . . . CAFE-Historical Overview-(DOWNLOAD) One thing we love about teaching is the evolving nature of it. As professionals, we are always learning and growing, refining our craft so we can best meet the needs of our ever changing children. Many of you have asked how we got to the point where we are today…and as we look back at our journey we discover our own personal continuum. Though we have always worked very hard and have been passionate about what we do, our approaches to delivering whole group, small group, and one-on-one instruction have changed dramatically as we have become familiar with . . . more . . . CAFE - Fluency: Read Appropriate Level Text That are a "Good Fit" - Ready Reference Guide Fluency has been kind of a buzz word in recent years. Years ago, the term fluency was used in conjunction with reading aloud, and anyone who's been transported during a great read aloud will tend to agree. A gifted reader has the ability to capture our rapt attention and launch an adventure by mixing their words with our imagination. In more recent years, the critical role fluency plays in comprehension has come to light. . . . more . . . FAQ - Are your CAFE strategies preprinted for us to post? A: While pre-made materials may be convenient, and cute or professional (depending on the grade level we teach), they are contrary to our deeply rooted belief system that has developed from years of experience in our classrooms. . . . more . . . CAFE - Vocabulary with Isabel Beck (Website) What does an expert have to say regarding vocabulary and comprehension instruction? This video snippet from Reading Rockets will give you a glimpse. One of our favorite authors in this Meet the Expert series is Isabel Beck. Her book, Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction, is one of our staples for teaching vocabulary. In this video, Isabel talks about her three tiered approach to vocabulary. Her system really helps us decide which words are worthy of our time and . . . more . . . CAFE - Fluency- Adjust Reading Rate with a small group (VIDEO) "Here is the passage. Now when I say go, read this as fast as you can." This is what fluency meant to us when we began teaching. It was all about speed, even though as early as 1908, Huey reported that fluency was reading aloud with accuracy, appropriate speed, expression and comprehension. Now we understand and endeavor to impart to our students the true meaning of fluency. . . . more . . . Cafe - Expand Vocabulary - Tune into Interesting Words Ready Reference Guide (DOWNLOAD) There has been concerted focus in education and educational research regarding the importance of vocabulary development with students. Of the many convincing reasons for providing students with instruction to build vocabulary, none is more compelling than the direct role increased vocabulary development plays on reading comprehension. . . . more . . . CAFE - Book Talks for Current Book Picks (website) Our wish is that each of you had a bookstore you loved and could count on for perfect recommendations whenever you needed them. You say you don't have one? Let us introduce you to . . . more . . . CAFE - Holding Students Accountable After the Conference (DOWNLOAD) Don't you love the feeling of pleasure and satisfaction that follows a really successful informal conference with a child? You know the ones….your conversation was engaging and authentic, your teaching point was perfectly delivered and applicable, the child got back to work right away….and you wished your principal had been there to see it all play out. Then, the pleasure turns to dismay the next time you check in, because they can't remember what they were supposed to be focusing on. Sigh. We've been there. . . . more . . . CAFE-Fine Tuning a Conference-Inference (VIDEO) One way to reflect on our practice and fine tune it is through the conversations with other teachers. In this video, Heather has Gail listen in and offer feedback on her one-on-one conference with Grace. Gail's feedback is specific to the structure of the conference and what is being taught. She also discusses when to move a student onto another strategy. Prior to listening to this conference, you may want to run off the "How to Confer" Download that is linked below and watch the conference with that structure in mind. . . . more . . . CAFE - Learning Basic Sight Words We were in Danielle's kindergarten class in Waterville, Maine and observed her students practicing their sight words. We were struck with the independence they demonstrated during this activity. After arriving at school, each child hung up their coat, ate breakfast and found their small plastic crayon box which contained . . . more . . . CAFE - Curricular Coherence, Working Together with Interventions (DOWNLOAD) In September, our grade level meetings are characterized by lively conversations about our hopes and dreams for the students in our charge. By October they have taken on a new energy and sense of urgency. What more can we do for the students who are not meeting standard or making the progress we'd like to see? Many of our struggling students are receiving extra support via Title funds, Special Education services, English Language Learner support, tutoring, etc., but we don't always see the growth we'd like when our most at risk students leave us for fragmented portions of the day. How can we design really intentional and effective interventions for these students that will give us the needed results? . . . more . . . CAFE - Check Understanding, second in a series (VIDEO) This video is the second in a two part series looking at a small group of students in Carrie's room learning the Comprehension strategy of Check for Understanding. . . . more . . . CAFE - Recording Your Reading History (DOWNLOAD) Do you keep a Reading Log, carefully recording title, author, genre and comments regarding every book you read? Few of us do. So why do so many of us ask our students to keep a Reading Log? Is there a purpose in requiring our students to do this specific task, which so few of us do ourselves, or are we asking students to spend considerable time on a task that may not have purpose or meaning in real life? . . . more . . . CAFE - Lesson 4-Beginning the Literacy Cafe Menu: Back up and Reread (article) The million dollar question is always, "Which strategies on the Café Menu do we introduce first? Is there a standard sequential order in which we teach the strategies? Alas, if there were a perfect system to introduce strategies to all children that allowed them to become exquisite readers, no doubt we would all be using it! Instead, there are a myriad of considerations to make; we must think about the students in our class this year and their needs. Of course we must also keep in mind what has worked for students in the past as well as what we know to be true about proficient readers. Following the first three strategies we present to children, Comprehension-Check for Understanding, Accuracy-Cross Checking and Expand Vocabulary-Tune into Interesting Words, we typically layer on this comprehension strategy that also supports accuracy: . . . more . . . CAFE - Pam Reviews Cafe with her class whole group (VIDEO) This video features Pam reviewing some of the Café strategies with her class. We like her explicit explanation of her metacognition and how she thinks aloud for them so they can, in essence, see inside her head as she uses strategies while reading. She asks children to engage with the lesson by trying to figure out the strategies as she uses them. Each child has a copy of the Café Menu to refer to. After modeling, she asks . . . more . . . CAFE - Small Group - Check Understanding (VIDEO) Small group instruction is a powerful way to take full advantage of our time in the classroom teaching children. When we first began our journey of teaching small groups, we put children together by levels, so they all had the same text. The challenge was, even though it was a small group of students who read at the same reading level, they all had different needs. We had just taken the whole group problem of different children with different needs and made it a small group problem! This video gives a glimpse into Carrie's room as Joan models for Carrie how to group children by need, . . . more . . . CAFE - Whole Group Using 3 Strategies (VIDEO) In this video Janet models 3 strategies in combination. Author's purpose and Text Features help deepen comprehension, and paying close attention to pictures helps expand vocabulary. The story she has selected supports the strategy instruction beautifully. Watch how she introduces these 3 strategies, involves the students in the learning, and then wraps up the lesson for the children by identifing the strategies and their use. . . . more . . . CAFE - Expand Vocabulary - Tune in to Interesting Words - Small Group(VIDEO) One secret to expanding vocabulary is to tune into interesting words. In this video, Joan and Carrie, a K-2 teacher, meet with a small group of students. Together they learn and practice the strategy of paying attention to words that are interesting or unique and then using prior knowledge and context to figure out the meaning of the word. The selected text is a poem. Poetry can be a great resource for teaching strategies. These students are reading at different independent levels, but are able to learn . . . more . . . CAFE - Lesson 3-Beginning the Literacy Cafe Menu: Tune in to Interesting Words (article) When introducing the Café Menu to our students, we consistently begin with the same three strategies: Check for Understanding to build Comprehension; Cross Checking, to increase Accuracy; and Tune in to Interesting Words for Expanding Vocabulary. The first lesson under Expand Vocabulary - Tune in to Interesting Words sounds something like this, regardless of our students age: . . . more . . . Introducing Small Groups to Guide Readers (VIDEO) Whew! For many of us, the hustle of getting our fall assessments done is finished! But what's next when it comes to linking these assessments to our instruction plans? In this discussion with K-2 Multiage Teacher Carrie Osterloh, Joan and Carrie talk about how to use these assessments to begin forming flexible groups. . . . more . . . Recording Assessment Data (DOWNLOAD) We were talking in our staff room this week about how each year it seems as though we have more to teach and more assessments to give. One of our new teachers was talking about the disconnect she feels between the assessments we are asked to give, what we do in our classroom and the growth we see in our students. She went on to say that it feels difficult to monitor growth, real growth. When asked what she meant by 'real growth' she simply said, "You know, are they getting better at reading?" Ahhh, out of the mouths of our young teachers, simple pearls of wisdom! . . . more . . . CAFE - Cross Checking - Ready Reference Guide The accuracy strategy of Cross Checking is one of the first four strategies we teach, or reinforce, to all of our students. It is one of those fundamental and essential strategies we find all kids benefit from knowing. If you aren't sure of what the strategy is, or how to teach it, download this Ready Reference form. It is one of our guides that you will find for each of the CAFÉ Strategies. . . . more . . . CAFE - Lesson 2 - Beginning The Literacy Cafe Menu: Cross Checking (Article) Introducing the Literacy Café Menu: Cross-Checking, Whole Group Strategy Lesson Two After the first introductory lesson to the Café Menu, Comprehension, Check for Understanding, we like the second strategy to go under a different heading on the board. So we chose something that fits under Accuracy, Fluency, or Expanding Vocabulary. The strategy you choose to introduce will depend upon your group of students and . . . more . . . Q: Could I see a sample of your schedule? A: We know that every classroom, school, school district and even state has its own idiosyncrasies with daily classroom schedules. Some years we get the most wonderful schedule ever, and other years - not so much. Seeing the way other teachers have scheduled their day can open up a whole new way of looking at our schedule, or it can affirm the decisions we have made. Check out these schedules below. We hope you have created your own coveted schedule!! . . . more . . . CAFE - Whole Class Instruction - Then and Now (ARTICLE) When we were younger teachers, our whole-class instruction was driven by a basal reader and the lessons included in the program. They were l---o---n---g lessons where we imparted a lot of information to the entire class. Right after the lesson students went to practice what we taught, usually with a ditto or worksheet which was conveniently and helpfully provided as part of the program package. The next day, we'd teach a different l---o---n---g lesson, and students again practiced the strategy or skill we'd yammered on about with another ditto or worksheet. . . . more . . . CAFE - Adding Strategy Cards to the CAFE Menu Our system for posting the reading strategies we've taught our students has evolved over the years. Looking back, it represents a continuum of our own learning regarding strategies and best practices in teaching and learning. Let us take you on a quick journey. When we first developed the visual aid of the CAFÉ Menu in our classrooms, we listed the strategies on a white board as we taught them. Next we got very artistic, spending hours creating strategy cards on the computer, com . . . more . . . CAFE - Check for Understanding - Ready Reference Guide (DOWNLOAD) Gail was discussing the strategies on the CAFÉ Menu when Cindy, a second grade teacher announced, "I could teach these skills and strategies if I only knew what you meant by each title. And how do I know my interpretation of the strategy is the same as my teaching partners? Wouldn't it be helpful to our students if we were using the same definitions and language?" . . . more . . . CAFE - Debrief Check for Understanding and Coaching (VIDEO) We often stop and reflect on our own learning after teaching a lesson. Joan and Natalie just revisited "Check for Understanding" during Read to Someone in Natalie's K-2 multiage classroom. Joan introduced checkmarks, to help remind partnerships that besides reading, they have another important job to do, which is to think about their reading and "Check for Understanding." . . . more . . . CAFE - Lesson 1 - Beginning The Literacy Cafe Menu: Check for Understanding (ARTICLE) We both love a good recipe. When someone cooks or bakes something we like, we ask for the recipe -- and then when it's given to us, we ask for even more advice. Are there any special tips we should know before baking in our wet Seattle climate? Are there any ways the veteran chef has changed the recipe to make it even tastier? We get as much detailed advice as we can before trying a new recipe. It's a funny thing though -- we want as many details as possible so the recipe will turn out well, but we inevitably end up adjusting the original to make it our own. . . . more . . . CAFE - Whole Group Cafe Lesson in the Fall (VIDEO) What if your students have already worked with The Literacy Cafe Menu? Will it look different in the fall? This video features Pam and her students, early in the year. . . . more . . . Daily 5 - Caleb Shares His Writing (VIDEO) Wrapping up a session of Daily 5 with a purposeful and focused sharing time is a powerful way to review the strategies taught during the day and to review strategies previously covered. Sharing time also provides students with an opportunity to reflect on their own work, share their progress, and celebrate the growth of others. In order to keep interest high, we typically follow a few different sharing formats. . . . more . . . CAFE - Literacy Cafe Menu Bulletin Board Headings (DOWNLOAD) We have received overwhelming requests from members to make available downloads of the Literacy Cafe headings we use on the bulletin board in our classroom. So here they are! There is a link below to each heading, one large 8x10 and one small 5x8, for you to download and print off if you wish. This is the only component of our Cafe Menu Bulletin Board that is teacher made. All of the strategy cards are created by students. We used to make the strategy cards on our computer, complete with beautiful fonts and clip-art, but now we don't. We've learned over time that the person who does the most work does the most learning. We sure learned a lot that year we created all the cards. What we learned is that the students didn't actually SEE the cards when we created them. Students never used the cards or referred back to them when they were created by us. Now, the words are in their handwriting and they like looking at the pictures their classmates create to illustrate the strategies. . . . more . . . CAFE - Joan takes you on a tour of the Pensieve, or Conferring Notebook (VIDEO) One thing our colleagues are most curious about is our conferring notebook, or as we have nicknamed it, our Pensieve. This tool holds all of our most important thoughts and notes as we work with our children via whole group, small group and one-on-one conferring. Coming up with the "perfect" system for keeping anecdotal notes is a little like shopping for the perfect purse or briefcase. You know what it's like…you open it, take the stuffing out…imagine your own things in the various pockets and compartments, buy it….only to feel months down the line that there must be a more perfect version out there, and the hunt begins again. . . . more . . . CAFE - Joan and Daniel talk about goals for Maria (VIDEO) In this third of a three part video series, Daniel and Joan work together to set goals for Maria, one of Daniel's youngest ELL learners. After discussing what she already knows, they decide to move her forward by using something Maria is very interested in...the letters in her name. . . . more . . . Cafe - One-on-one Conferring (VIDEO) This is the second video in this series, and we got excited when we watched it for the first time because it is a perfect example of a teacher really knowing and understanding more than their confidence level will let them believe. Daniel is a new kindergarten teacher. Joan offers him a conferring sheet that will scaffold his one-on-one instruction because he has a desire to glean more information from his observations and assessments in order to guide his teaching. You will notice as you watch that Joan doesn't really provide him with new information regarding Maria, but articulates and organizes what Daniel has already shared to confirm the direction he already believed was necessary. . . . more . . . CAFE - Conferring with Maria, a beginning reader: Part I (VIDEO) In this first of a three part video series, Joan and Daniel (a featured teacher on our site) confer with Maria about the letters in her name. Names are important and unique, and many kindergartners come to school with a real sense of urgency to be able to spell, write and read their own names. The conference focuses on the letters and sounds in Maria's name and really meets her zone of proximal development since she knows all the letters in her name except for one. Watch as Joan layers the conference with new learning and a look toward future learning. . . . more . . . Design - Phases of an Environmental Change This download details the phases we go through when making an environmental change in our classrooms or any classroom we help redesign. This is especially helpful if you are already in the particular classroom. If you are moving to a new school, you will skip the part where you move all the furniture out...you have already done that! This form dovetails with our other Design downloads . . . more . . . CAFE - Accuracy, Flip the Sound (VIDEO) Flip the Sound is a powerful accuracy strategy that not only helps students figure out words independently, but aids them in the process of monitoring and thinking about their reading. Joan introduces the strategy to a delightful group of first graders, but it is a strategy that works with older beginning readers just as well in the context of a one on one conference. . . . more . . . Daily 5 - The Daily 5 Linear Graphic (DOWNLOAD) On page 14 of our book, The Daily 5, there is a circular graphic of how we originally visualized this structure. Then our friend, Lynn Senecal from the Quebec school system, showed us the linear representation she created. We love how her brain works and have found her depiction makes the structure clear for people who may struggle with our illustration. We are grateful to Lynn for giving us permission to share her graphic, and for letting us modify it to show how flexible the structure is for meeting the needs of various age groups as well as the differing time constraints facing each of us. . . . more . . . CAFE - Comprehension - Whole Class - Determining The Author's Purpose (VIDEO) How do we help students understand and utilize the strategy of determining importance? Christie tells her students the secret...we have to know why authors write. After turning and talking, Christie's students share out a couple of the authors purposes they discussed. Christie then nudges them to give examples of books and titles that validate their thinking. Our state learning standards require proof of student . . . more . . . CAFE - Expand Vocabulary-Use a Dictionary (VIDEO) In this video, Christie's whole group focus lesson is on Vocabulary. After reviewing the strategies her fourth graders already know and use when they come to a word they don't know the meaning of (read around the word and infer, ask a friend, read the smaller words within, etc.) she introduces the strategy of Using a Dictionary. . . . more . . . CAFE - Expand Vocabulary (VIDEO) In this video, Christie works with a fourth grade student named Herman. She approaches the one-on-one conference with the usual focus on comprehension, and takes time to model a variety of vocabulary development processes and strategies that will help him reach his goal of increasing vocabulary. . . . more . . . CAFE - Literacy Cafe Menu (PHOTO) Thousands of you have asked to see a photo of The Café Menu in our Classroom. Here is a picture of Joan's Café Menu taken in early November of last year. The Café starts with the black heading titles at the top and the colored sheets below. Beginning the first day of school, we start introducing and teaching the strategies from the Café Menu. Once the strategies are taught and modeled for a few days, we have a child take a blank card from the cache of cards located in a clear pocket on the lower left side of the Café board, write up the strategy and post it in its correct place on the board. The Café Menu board is built together. Once each child has been assessed, together we look at the Café Menu and set their goal: Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency or Expand Vocabulary. Each child then takes a small sticky note, writes their name on it and puts it below the Café Menu title that corresponds with their goal. . . . more . . . CAFE - Cross Checking Lesson Plan (DOWNLOAD) Cindy, a teacher at Gail's school, once remarked during a conversation, "I can teach the strategies if you give me a clue as to what you mean by 'flip the sound', or 'cross checking', etc. Shouldn't we all be consistent with our terminology and teaching so we don't confuse the students?" We realized she was right! We all peek at the CAFÉ Menu through the lens of our own background knowledge, and it would be really helpful if we could synchronize our understanding and vocabulary. . . . more . . . CAFE - Steps for Conferring (DOWNLOAD) When people started asking us to share what our conferences with children looked and sounded like, we had to step back and be really cognizant of the elements that created their structure. We began taking notes, writing down exactly what we were doing and saying, and e-mailing them back and forth to each other. As we poured over them, a common thread became apparent…we weren't focusing so much on what they were reading and how they liked it and when they thought they would finish, etc. (an informal conference), but had shifted to a conference that was more like a coaching . . . more . . . CAFE - Accuracy - Modeling How to Confer and Trade a Word (VIDEO) Gail models use of the conferring form during a conference with a second grader named Davis. Davis is just learning about goal setting and beginning to identify the strategies he uses. This conference is a great example of the "Trade a Word" strategy. You'll notice how Gail identifies the strategy for Davis and then layers "Cross Checking" onto his repertoire of accuracy strategies. The structure of a conference and the conferring form are . . . more . . . CAFE - Conferring Sheet Sample - Part I (DOWNLOAD) Our conferring used to consist of in-depth conversations with students which focused on their family, their feelings about reading, elements of story grammar and good summaries. We believed that in order to have a meaningful conference we had to have first hand knowledge of the text so we could hold them accountable for really reading, and not, as Cris Tovani coined, "Fake Reading." We were, to some degree, the reading police. Subtly over time our conferences took on the roll of support . . . more . . . CAFE - Conferring Sheet with Icons - Part II (DOWNLOAD) This form reflects our newest form that we include in our Pensieve. We use it to scaffold teachers who are new to using a conferring notebook. It will help keep your conferences short and focused. This is the blank version of the Sample Conferring Sheet seen in the first part of this series. The icons are intended to be visual reminders of conference components, but if you prefer a form without icons, stay tuned for part three of this series. . . . more . . . CAFE - Conferring Sheet, Reading - Part III (DOWNLOAD) If you prefer a conferring form without icons, here it is. We run them back to back and keep a copy for each child in our pensieve. When the form is full of writing, we replace it with a clean one and transfer the full one to our assessment notebook or student file. These become an invaluable source for celebrating growth . . . more . . . The Literacy CAFE Menu (DOWNLOAD) CAFÉ is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expanding Vocabulary, four research-based components critical to reading. We developed it as a guide and system to focus our instruction, help students set reading and behavior goals, monitor their progress--and do it all without losing our sanity! As teachers, CAFÉ enables us to stay focused on children's needs and goals as well as keep records that help us plan focused individual conferences, flexible small-group instruction and whole-class lessons. This CAFÉ menu identifies the skills and processes we've researched and . . . more . . . CAFE - Holding a Student Accountable for Reading (VIDEO) Do you find that your older students or your reluctant readers of any age are frequently abandoning books? Pam, a sixth grade teacher shows us one way to address this situation with her student Artur. Pam confers with Artur about his goal of reading twenty minutes each night and logging in details about his reading. After he shares many of his reasons for not reading for twenty minutes, Pam gets to the heart of the issue, he continues to abandon books. She sets the expectation that . . . more . . . CAFE - Check for Understanding (VIDEO) Does conferring feel like a mystery or guarded secret to you? Are you wondering what a conference really looks and sounds like? Gail demonstrates that it isn't scary or complicated, just a combination of thinking, modeling, practicing and learning. Using a side by side approach, Gail models a comprehension conference using the strategy of Check for Understanding for Heather . . . more . . . CAFE - Conferring Notes (VIDEO) Heather, a fourth grade teacher, reflects on and shares her conferring successes and challenges. Heather is finding, like so many of us, that she has a handle on her higher needs students, whom she meets with daily, but she is wondering if she is meeting the needs of the higher level readers who don't require such frequent monitoring. The questions she has about how to stay focused on their goals and wondering what to write down when conferring . . . more . . . CAFE - Conferring with a Beginning Reader, Part I (VIDEO) Have you ever been faced with a beginning reader, managed to help them progress in the reading process and then wonder what to do next? In this video, Daniel and Joan take a look at an emergent reader who has made Daniel wonder that very thing. Devlin is a very bright boy with an amazing vocabulary. He easily acquired letter recognition, letter-sound correspondence and knows many sight words. However, Devlin seems to have stalled . . . more . . . CAFE - Conferring with a Beginning Reader - Part II (VIDEO) We are tickled to introduce you to a hysterical kindergartner named Devlin. Joan models reviewing the phonemic awareness strategies of segment onset and rime and then moves into the review of blending the cvc words to build off of what Devlin knows. By the end of the conference, the instructional direction Devlin needed became clear and was recorded onto the Reading Conferring Form. . . . more . . . Daily 5 - Check In with Goal and Strategy (VIDEO) When we first ask students to "Check In", they do it by telling us which Daily 5 they will work on during that round of the Dailys. Eventually we teach them how to "Check In", by naming their Daily, their goal and finally the strategy they will practice. This video takes you into Heather's classroom as she introduces this more sophisticated "Check In". Before Heather introduced this "check in" procedure, she assessed all of her students reading and writing abilities, met with each student to discuss their strengths, helped them declare a goal and identified strategies . . . more . . . CAFE - Reading Writing Checksheet (DOWNLOAD) The reading writing check sheet is a big picture of who we have met with one on one. It is the first sheet in our pensieve and the second form we consult before standing up from a guided group to head off to our first conference during that round of Daily 5. The first form we check is the calendar. We look to see who we have made an appointment with, and make a mental note to visit with that child or those children first. Then we consult our reading writing check . . . more . . . CAFE - Writing Conferring Sheet (DOWNLOAD) This is the writing version of our reading conferring sheet. We run them back to back and keep a copy for each child in our pensieve. When we have filled the form with our conferring notes, we replace it with a clean one and transfer the full one to our assessment notebook or student file. See the links below for more information on conferring as well as conferring sheets that we have made availiable . . . more . . . CAFE - Comprehension - Cause and Effect (VIDEO) As students become more sophisticated readers, Cause and Effect can be a strategy to assist with comprehension. Students are expected to have command over this strategy on many of our state assessments. In this video, Gail uses a simple text with Brayden in order to model Cause and Effect. He quickly adds his thinking and goes deeper with the meaning. As the conference closes, Gail anchors the strategy to comprehension, and shares that we utilize . . . more . . . CAFE - Fluency - Adjust Reading Rate (VIDEO) Kelly models reading fluency and the importance of adjusting rate by including the students opinions as she reads a book four times. They give her a thumbs up, down, or to the side, reflecting their assessment of whether it was too fast or slow. Kelly "adjusts" her rate as necessary, to make the reading smooth and expressive, like a real conversation. . . . more . . . CAFE - Accuracy - Chunking (VIDEO) Do you have a favorite way to teach a strategy? This is one tried and true favorite Kelly relies on when teaching children that many words have little words or chunks in them. This fast paced lesson is interactive, using children's visual, auditory and kinesthetic processing systems to practice the chunking strategy. Consequently, students in Kelly's class often try this strategy first . . . more . . . CAFE - Comprehension - Remember What I Read (VIDEO) The other day Gail was reading with and assessing a first grader named Ben. He read beautifully, with precise intonation and prosody, perfect rate and flawless accuracy. It couldn't have sounded better. Gail was so excited about his progress that she couldn't wait to celebrate with his teacher. She finished up the conference by asking Ben to tell her about what he just read. He looked up at her quizzically and said, "I didn't know you wanted me to think . . . more . . . CAFE - Tips on Conferring with Children (ARTICLE) One of the biggest shifts we made when endeavoring to improve our conferring skills was to truly get up, move about, and start conferring with children one-on-one. We were accustomed to guided reading groups - staying in one area, and asking the children to come to us. Getting up and moving to confer with students can be a little scary at first, but once you begin, it's exciting. The first concern we had, and many teachers share, is about time. How long will each of these conferences take? How can we stay focused, given that there is so much we might tackle with each child? And what exactly is my role in the conference? . . . more . . . CAFE - Word Collector (DOWNLOAD) This simple form is a great tool for the children who are focused on increasing their vocabulary. It makes collecting, learning and retrieving vocabulary easy, helping student's comprehension increase as well as incorporate the new words into their writing and conversations. Whether you use this form or have the students make their own in . . . more . . . CAFE - Comprehension-Teaching Multiple Strategies in a Single Lesson (VIDEO) We have spent the last 2 1/2 weeks in Arizona writing a new book about our Literacy Cafe Menu. As we worked to put the Cafe strategy lessons in writing, we were constantly confronted with the difficulty of focusing on a strategy in isolation. Proficient readers weave strategies together, often without conscious awareness of all they are doing to make meaning of print. In the book, Best Practices in Literacy Instruction, 2007, Cathy Collins Block and Michael Pressley state, "Because reading comprehension is not an isolated process but a network of conscious and metacognitive processes, the newest instructional methods teach multiple strategies in single lessons. .... The research program that supports these lessons has found that even kindergarten students can use multiple strategies after 1 week of direct instruction and the result is normally significantly higher achievement than in control groups." (page 230) . . . more . . . CAFE - Stamina and Fluency Conference (VIDEO) It is the first conference of the year, and after stating that he is able to read quickly, Conner, a sixth grader, defers to Pam to determine his strengths as a reader. Pam looped with her class, so looking back at her pensieve from last year she reminds him of the many skills he showed her before they left in June. He was albe to inferr, understand character development, and comprehend deeply by comparing stories. . . . more . . . CAFE - Comprehension - Summarizing (VIDEO) Pam meets with Nicole to discuss her progress with summary writing. They have met many times before and are very comfortable with each other and the safe, supportive nature of a conference. Nicole is focusing on important details to help her write effective summaries. She is able to determine importance when reading non-fiction, but is less successful with fiction. Through Pam's gentle probing, supportive statements and . . . more . . . CAFE - Comprehension - Check for Understanding Whole Group (VIDEO) Checking for understanding while reading is a comprehension strategy that will enable students to effectively make sense of text. Janet models this strategy with a group of first grade students. Notice how she practices this strategy 4 times and by the last time, the students are chiming in. By modeling and guiding their practice, the students are able to utilize this fix-up strategy . . . more . . . CAFE - Fluency - High Frequency and Sight Words (VIDEO) Sight words are generally considered to be those words that students need to learn by sight because they don't follow regular decoding rules. Reading sight words and high frequency words with ease is one of the top strategies for fluency. Gail helps one of her students gain command over them to support her fluency goal. . . . more . . . The Daily Five (BOOK) The Daily Five (Book) Do you love teaching but feel exhausted from the energy you expend cajoling, disciplining, and directing students on a daily basis? If so, you'll want to meet "The Sisters", Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. Based on literacy learning and motivation research, they created a structure called The Daily Five which has been practiced and refined in their own classrooms for ten . . . more . . . CAFE - Accuracy - Cross Checking Debrief (VIDEO) Kelly and Joan talk together about the conference Joan just had with Jason on his strategy of Cross-Checking in the first of this two part series. They talk over the conferring form that keeps track of the conference, Jason's goals and his next steps. They also discuss the use of sticky notes to help Jason focus on his strategy. . . . more . . . CAFE - Comprehension - Making Connections (VIDEO) Making connections is a comprehension strategy effortlessly used by proficient readers. The trick to teaching this strategy, like many others, isto think aloud so children can hear what is going on inside our heads as we read text. For those of us who teach our youngest learners, this can be a huge challenge. You know how it goes, the book says something about one of the characters getting a bandaid and we are inundated with a slew of hands flying . . . more . . . CAFE - Teacher Reflection about CAFE (VIDEO) Following is a debrief interview with Kelly, a first grade and featured teacher on The Daily Café. In this video, Kelly shares how she uses The Literacy Cafe with her whole group, small groups and individuals. Kelly shares that knowing the Cafe Menu strategies has helped make her teaching more concise, focused and powerful. . . . more . . . CAFE - Accuracy and Comprehension - Backup and Reread (VIDEO) We are always amazed when we model and teach strategies to kids and one of our students remarks, "I didn't know you were supposed to do that!" Because we are proficient readers, backing up to reread when we don't know a word on the first try is such a natural response that we use it without even thinking about it. However, our most struggling readers often don't have this strategy in their reading repertoire. Gail models the simple but powerful Back Up and Reread strategy with one of our young learners. . . . more . . .