Starting the year with Daily 5 and Cafe

[tursteph]

OK. I've read the books and am teaching 4th grade for the first year. How should I introduce Daily 5 and Cafe? Should I begin Daily 5 and then introduce CAFE? How long should this take? Seems like a lot of introduction..........

[Nina_Harris]

I'm in the same boat. Moving from second to fourth. My plans are to introduce the overall concept giving a brief overview of the processes and procedures. But the first lesson I believe with begin with following the steps for developing the procedures for the Daily 5. Good Luck.

[the2sisters]

Have you checked out the Launching Lessons under Daily 5 on the Home Page? How long they take really depends on your class, and how quickly they build up "stamina". It may seem like a lot of introduction at the beginning, but it really will pay off as your kiddos develop that independence and you can work with your groups and conferring without a lot of interruption .

[cmitman]

I am also teaching 4th grade for the first time (moving from K). As I look to the first day of launching the Daily 5 & CAFE, I see two lessons: 3 Ways to Read a Book and Good Fit Books. I was thinking that I'd skip the first one for this age group and focus on choosing 'good fit books.' Does that make sense?

[the2sisters]

I might give the 3 Ways Lesson a go, but maybe with a different twist. When you talk about "reading the pictures", you might show how graphics, illustrations and photos and other text features can give a lot of information before reading.

Talking about "Retell the Story" can reinforce the importance of "close reading", and lead to talks about summarizing, etc.