Oh, the choices on the CAFE menu!

In Mrs. Nash and Mrs. Koster's ELA classrooms, you will find a CAFE menu board. CAFE is a way that students and teachers can set goals, conference, and put strategies into practice. As the year progresses, our ELA students will become more involved in the CAFE process. The C stands for Comprehension. This means that you understand what you are reading. The A stands for Accuracy, meaning you can read all the words. F stands for Fluency. Fluency means that your reading sounds smooth and you pay attention to punctuation when reading out loud. Lastly, the E represents Expand Vocabulary. This means that we tune into interesting words and read to increase our vocabulary. The four pieces together combine to become the elements of reading!

Students in both classes have selected, using sticky notes, which piece they believe they need the most help with. Now, we are beginning to conference with students individually and set goals together about what strategies will help them improve in that area! The best thing about the CAFE program is that students are held accountable for their learning. If we show them a strategy we think would be helpful while conferencing with them, we set a time to follow-up with them and see how it worked.

Underneath each piece, we will post strategies that we discuss in reading workshop or in a one-on-one conference. As the year moves on, our list of strategies will grow longer! We are excited to dive into CAFE and DAILY 5 this year in fourth grade!

Readers, which letter did you put your name under on the CAFE board? Why did you select that area? Do you know of any strategies already that could help you improve in that area of your reading?