Welcome to our classroom! This will be a year filled with many new experiences for your child. Each day we will be actively engaged in learning.

We have just begun our Daily 5 and CAFÉ adventure! This is the reading and writing program implemented in our classroom.

Daily 5 is the structure we will use to plan our morning. Children will be busy completing meaningful literacy tasks. The choices will be:

Read to self
Work on writing
Word Work
Listen to reading
Read to Someone

Right now, we are focusing on increasing our stamina to work independently during Read to Self. Within the six weeks, the other choices will be introduced. While the students are completing their literacy tasks, I will be meeting with small groups and conferencing with individual students.

Daily 5 is how we schedule our literacy block. CAFÉ is what we study during this time. CAFÉ is an acronym for the four major components of reading. They are:

C for Comprehension
A for Accuracy
F for Fluency
E for Expanding Vocabulary

The children will learn reading strategies within each category. These strategies will become tools for the children to use to help themselves become better readers and writers. I will keep you informed when new strategies are introduced. Then, when you read with your child at home, you will be able to reinforce these concepts.

It is going to be exciting to watch your child's reading and writing skills blossom throughout the year. If you have any questions regarding this program, please ask. I am always enthusiastic to share what I know about Daily 5 and CAFÉ!

Yoday the children amazed me by reading for 12 minutes with focus and independence!
I introduced Work on Writing yesterday and here is what they looked like today when they all excitedly got to work on individually chosen writing pieces!