Hi! I am a 5th Grade Reading Teacher. We also have a 5th Grade Language Arts/Writing Teacher. I find it to be beautiful. We work hand-in-hand and try to tailor our lessons to what the other is teaching. I teach 125 5th graders and we use the CAFE at a somewhat modified level. The LA/Writing teacher does work on writing and some word work and I do read to self, listen to reading and some word work as well. We rarely do read to others, but I am not opposed to that.
My class period looks like this:
1) The class enters
2) The students work on a Do Now activity while I handle daily business
3) Then I teach a mini-lesson of some nature. Sometimes it is Daily 5 related, other times it is not. (We have the GIFT of having the Daily 5 from K-5, so the fact is, most of the kids could teach it!) So, like this week we are working on story structure/characterization/plot etc.
4) Then they are released to their areas to read. This week they are looking for who is the antagonist/protagonist in their good fit book. They are also talking about where they are in their plot diagram (exposition/conflict/climax etc).
I should say that during these pointed lessons, with middle-schoolers, it's often the Daily 1...read to self. WE DO have free choice times when we are strictly CAFE-ing it, but this week, we are working on some CCCS stuff.
5) During their rounds I confer with students. My CC Pensieve is HUGE because I have 125 kiddos in there! I can get to each student about once every 2 weeks with the time constraints. However, I meet with my barometer kiddos more often. Let me just say at this point, it is rare for them to break stamina, but when they do, I chime and we return for a quick review of the mini-lesson.
6) I haven't done small groups at this point, but we will start that this nine-weeks.
So, in summary, our schedule looks like this:
9:00 - 9:05/10 - Do Now
9:05/10 - 9:20 - Mini-Lesson
9:20 - 9:55 - Daily 1-3 (CAFE or other lesson)
9:55 - 9:58 - Pack up
LOVE. IT.
