We LOVE Daily 5 and CAFE!! Our first and second grades use it universally, some 3rd, 4th and 5th but not all. We are at the opposite end of size--we have over 900 kids in our school, with 7-9 sections at each grade level :).
We see our students much more involved in the reading process and working independently. The kids love it, too. If we have an assembly or something, the kids are like, "What?? you mean we miss our Daily 5 today?" We have seen amazing growth in our readers, not only in their reading levels, but in the confidence they have in their reading abilities.
It's also helped our teachers become more aware of conferring with and discovering the specific strategies their learners need.
I also was a first grade teacher for 17 years before moving into reading intervention and teacher support. I do have to pull small groups across grade levels, but have used the principles of Daily 5 and the CAFE strategies in my small groups.
I'll send you my documents this afternoon.
