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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Daily 3 and CAFE in full swing!

Only 17 more days and I will have a large portion of my time back and devoted to teaching!  As excited as I am to be getting married, this planning and putting together is taking up A LOT of my time and this poor blog has fallen by the wayside.  I feel like all my posts have been starting with the same apology lately but its true!  I promise, once I'm a Mrs. I will be posting more frequently :o)


Now on to the real topic, Daily 3 and CAFE!  I started implementing the Daily 3 in my classroom at the beginning of this year and the kids are very independent with it now and I LOVE IT!  They know what is expected of them, their options, and how guided reading works during the sessions and how they need to be independent learners and thinkers.  I have noticed lately (and it's an all the time thing, not just during the Daily 3) that my students are becoming more chatty...  I know, you're thinking, "That can't be!?"  Well it is, so we are going to have to have another meeting where we review our I-chart and have some people give me examples of the correct behavior and incorrect behavior.  I know this seems silly for the intermediate grades, but believe me, it's effective!

Here is how it runs in my class:
  • Read to Self
    • Every student is working on their personal stamina goal
  • Word Work
    • Spelling
    • Vocabulary
    • Grammar
    • Phonics
    • Boggle
    • Classroom Journals
  • Writing Connection
    • Literature Response Journals (one due every two weeks - they have a rubric taped inside their journals)
    • Response Prompts
    • Blogs (haven't moved into this yet but we will)
I designate anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour for Daily 3/Guided Reading Groups.  I'll be the first to admit, it's not perfect and I can't always get the scheduling to be what I want with everything we have to do but when we do it, they've got it :o).  I usually work with my guided reading groups for 20 minutes each and give the Daily 3 about 25-30 minutes during each session so they can have meaningful and in depth learning.  I can't expect them to use the strategies I teach them if I don't give them the chance!  When I am not doing a GRG I am walking around and conferring with students independently.

I am currently doing a 3 day workshop for Daily 5 through our county and even though it is geared more towards primary she spoke about implementing the Daily 5 in intermediate classrooms and how it would look differently and be introduced differently.  For example, I wouldn't teach the 3 ways to read a book, I would teach them text features, strategies, etc.  One thing she did say (and helped me feel like I was on the right track) was that intermediate grades would not get to all 5 in a day and our sessions should be about 30 minutes each.  It is going to look a lot different than primary, especially when incorporating read alouds and literature circles.  It's always nice when someone who has been trained and knows what they are talking about tells you, "You are doing exactly what you should be doing!"  Makes a girl feel all tingly inside ;o)

Tomorrow I will post all about CAFE in my classroom and attach the documents my students use to help them remember it all :o)  If you have any links to Daily 5 in the intermediate grades please post below!  I could still use all the help I can get, lol.

Sabra

6 comments:

  1. Hi there!
    I'm a new follower and was so encouraged by your post. I teach fifth grade as well. I have been hearing all of these wonderful things about the Daily 5, but I never knew how to implement it in an intermediate classroom. There never seems to be enough time in the day as it is! I love the idea of a "Daily 3"

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  2. I'm a new follower too. I also teach fifth and use daily 3 and cafe. How do you choose which cafe strategies to teach? Many of them are not needed for most of my students so I'm always picking and choosing and hoping that I'm not leaving out something important.

    Melissa
    www.wildaboutfifthgrade.blogspot.com

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  3. Melissa, I'm going to go more in depth tomorrow about it but we use the Comprehension Tool Kit and the CAFE strategies follow along REALLY well with it! So far I follow along with their lesson pacing in the back of the book unless my CTK lesson has a better match (or I just come up with them on my own). You would be surprised how some of them still need the "easier" ones and you should have seen that lightbulb go off for "good fit books," lol! Thanks for following!

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  4. I love seeing how other teachers run their Literacy block! Thank you for sharing.

    You've been BOOed!

    :) Kaitlyn
    Smiles and Sunshine

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  5. Hello there! Thank you for sharing! I teach fifth grade and am looking to start my own version of Daily 3 in my room this year. I love your three stations, but I was wondering when you meet with the guided reading groups? Is this actually a fourth rotation? I only have about 50 minutes to work with, so I'm trying to figure out something that is doable in my room. Thanks again for your wonderful information!

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  6. This is very helpful. Thank you! Do you have a lesson plan template you can share?

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