The Daily CAFE Discussion Board

Keeping mini lessons short

Germaine_F_Cooley 2016-09-05 17:41:56 UTC #1

I was looking at the lit lessons on the website and many of the books are quite long. I am looking for suggestions on how to read the book and teach the strategy and stay within the time limits based on age? I teach 2nd grade so I am looking at 7-8 minutes for each mini lesson.

Thanks,
Germaine

srea 2016-09-05 20:13:56 UTC #2

Many people have solved this dilemma by reading the book "for pure enjoyment" at your read aloud time. Then, when you are ready for your mini-lesson, you can just review the book and go on. The Lit Lessons are not written for a specific grade level, so you might need to adjust your teaching of the lesson to meet the needs of your students.

Germaine_F_Cooley 2016-09-06 00:24:11 UTC #3

That makes a lot of sense. Thank you, I have been trying to find books that I could use during my morning meeting or at the end of the day before they dismiss. This is my first year using CAFE and I am really excited.

srea 2016-09-06 01:04:54 UTC #4

Good idea! Hope you learn to love CAFE as much as I do. Don't hesitate to ask questions here on the Discussion Board. You'll get lots of good information from lots of teachers with all kinds of experience. Wishing you the best!!

srea 2016-09-09 12:26:42 UTC #5

There's a great article in the Tip of the Week today about this very topic :).

https://www.thedailycafe.com/articles/Do-I-Read-the-Whole-Book-During-a-Brief-Focus-Lesson