The CAFE Book
By Gail Boushey & Joan Moser "The Sisters"

The CAFE Book is the instructional piece that can be paired with The Daily 5 procedures in The Sister's first book. CAFE is the instruction, the assessment, the record keeping, the small grou instruction, and the individual conferring components of a literacy block. CAFE is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary. The sisters describe this system on their website as a system including "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." (http://www.thedailycafe.com). CLICK HEREfor a link to a video of a 1st grade teacher's reflection of the program with the two sisters. 

The CAFE Menu is the goals and strategies that real readers use to become better readers. These are the lessons that we teach in whole group, small group, and individual conferences. To see an interactive version of the CAFE Menu with links to resources for each goal and strategy CLICK HERE! For a link to the standard menu CLICK HERE! 

The two photographs above this paragraph are of my CAFE board this year. These are photographs of the board before the school year began without any strategies posted. The board should be up before the year begins. The great thing about this book is that there are specific lesson plans of how to launch CAFE and The Daily 5 in your classroom from day one. They match exactly what you might read in The First Days of School by Harry and Rosemary Wong. Procedures, procedures, PROCEDURES! The book even gives you sample schedules for primary and intermediate grades.CLICK HEREfor a sample schedule of the first week and beyond. CLICK HEREfor The Sisters' recommendations of how to best organize your classroom.

Whole Group Lessons

The first day begins with 3 read alouds. I love this because the first day is such a scary and uncertain time for students no matter what grade they are in. Reading to children helps to build community and to calm nerves. You can also start teaching on the first day using read alouds! Here is the lesson plan for the first day of school. There is a different lesson plan for the first 26 days that the authors suggest you use launching CAFE in your classroom. CLICK HERE for a list of Great First-Day Read Alouds for Teaching Introductory Strategies.

The book also provides specific lesson plans for each individual strategy. The lesson plans can be adapted for full group, small group, and individual conferences. There is a lesson plan for every single strategy on the CAFE menu. CLICK HEREfor some sample lesson plans for strategies in each goal category. The Interactive CAFE Menu also provides recommended book titles to use when teaching each strategy for free. If your purchase the subscription to the website you can access videos, parent lessons, and additional information. 

Small Group Instruction and Individual Conferencing

One of the best parts about this book is that it covers it all! It is the instruction, the organization, everything! This book covers how to group students by strategy instead of by level in order to best meet their needs. The book also has a method of organizing all of the data for your students in what is called THE PENSIEVE. Click here for more information on this book and how it covers small group and individual conferencing! 

Interview with a teacher using CAFE

This book is supported by research and reading it and implementing it will change your life as a teacher of reading forever. I read this book over Spring Break during my first year of teaching and was able to implement it in part the following week. It raised my awareness of my students abilities and needs as readers and writers and it also built my confidence as a language arts teacher. Read this book...it will change your teaching life!

My teaching partner and me meeting our teaching idols Gail and Joan at the Michigan Reading Association Conference in 2010!