Novel Study and Daily 5/CAFE

[lserbus]

I'm planning on implementing Daily 5/CAFE in my 3rd Grade classroom this year. I have previously taught workshop, but this makes so much more sense to me!
However, I would really like to do some whole class novel studies throughout the year, as well as some smaller book clubs. Suggestions for how to do both?

[srea]

I guess my first question would be "Why whole class novels?" Why not find a few different novels (at varying levels) around a theme that would work for your novel study? Look at the CAFE suggestions for strategy groups, and see if you can decide how to make that work.

[elipsitz]

I enjoy whole class novels read aloud as well. I also teach third grade. This will be my first year launching my own version of CAFE and I have decided to dedicate a different lesson in the day/week to this shared novel experience because they need to have the book in front of them. I recently met the author of Jade Dragon and very much recommend the book if you are looking for something new. I also have read Tale of Despereaux with the class. With this said, I will be using my last mini lesson slot of the day to read a chapter book two years above their level - - that was easy to figure out how to include in my plan!

[ingles_l]

I like the idea of a separate time for a shared read aloud. I will be doing the Global Read Aloud (Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane) with my 3rd/4th graders, and will likely have a separate time in the schedule. Activities around the shared book (such as blogging) could happen during Work on Writing and Word Work, but I'm still figuring this out.