Aligning Your Standards to the CAFE Menu

CAFE stands for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary—four components of reading proficiency. The acronym begins with C for “comprehension,” because without comprehension you aren’t reading. It is followed by A for “accuracy,” which encompasses phonics and phonemic awareness. The F represents “fluency,” because reading with automaticity allows the reader to read at an appropriate rate and with expression, and the E rounds things out with “expand vocabulary” to emphasize ways in which we continually learn new words through reading.

The CAFE Menu is a visual aid of reading strategies, organized by these four components. Since a conclusive list of all possible strategies could consist of well over 200 items, and 200 is too many for students to remember and apply in their reading, we focus on a condensed list of strategies—42, to be exact. These strategies were derived from state and national standards and are backed by substantial research.

It is important to note that CAFE is not something you use and teach in addition to what you currently teach. Instead it is a way to organize instruction and make learning visible for students—so they remember and access the strategies throughout the year. So, how does that work? How do you teach your grade-level standards and use the CAFE Menu? You align your standards with the strategies on the menu and teach the strategies to the level of understanding necessary at that grade.

The chart below highlights an example of first-grade standards aligned with the CAFE Menu. In this case, you can see how the standards listed fit nicely with the strategies.

Occasionally you will come across a standard that is not found on the CAFE Menu. In this case you will determine if it is a strategy that readers use or a concept to be learned. If it is a strategy, you can add it to your CAFE Menu. If it is a concept, it will be taught in focus lessons, but it doesn’t need to be posted on the menu.

For example, the first-grade standard CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.1 is Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print. This is not a strategy that readers use to help them get through text as they are reading, and therefore is something that will be taught but not posted on the menu.

However, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.6, Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text, is not a concept listed on the menu, but it is a strategy that could help readers comprehend what they are reading. In this case the teacher might choose to add the strategy Determine point of view or perspective.

Although the CAFE Menu may seem complex, it actually simplifies the introduction of strategies, makes it common practice for students to access strategies throughout the year, and is flexible enough to use with any grade and any curriculum.

When using the CAFE Menu we find it helpful to spend time with the menu and the grade-level standards to determine which strategies we will introduce. The alignment template below may be a great place to start.
 

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