The CAFE Book: Engaging All Students in Daily Literary Assessment and Instruction (Paperback)

~ (Author), Joan Moser (Author)
Key Phrases: engaging all students, reading conference, comprehension strategy, Stenhouse Publishers, Daily Five, Strategy Groups (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

All readers of any age need instruction and support that helps them become more independent and self-reflective in their work. – Gail Boushey and Joan Moser   In The CAFE Book, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser present a practical, simple way to integrate assessment into daily reading and classroom discussion. The CAFE system, based on research into the habits of proficient readers, is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding vocabulary. The system includes goal-setting with students in individual conferences, posting of goals on a whole-class board, developing small-group instruction based on clusters of students with similar goals, and targeting whole-class instruction based on emerging student needs.   Gail and Joan developed the CAFE system to support teachers as they: ·         organize assessment data so it truly informs instruction; ·         track each child's strengths and goals, thereby maximizing time with him or her; ·         create flexible groups of students, all focused on a specific reading strategy; and ·         help students remember and retrieve the reading strategies they learned.   The CAFE system does not require expensive materials, complicated training, or complete changes to current classroom literacy approaches. Rather, it provides a structure for conferring with students, a language for talking about reading development, and a system for tracking growth and fostering student independence. The CAFE system’s built-in flexibility allows teachers to tailor the system to reflect the needs of their students and their state’s standards. And it’s a perfect complement to The Daily Five, “The Sisters” influential first book, which lays out a structure for keeping all students engaged in productive literacy work for every hour of every classroom day.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Stenhouse Publishers; Pap/Cdr edition (April 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571107282
• ISBN-13: 978-1571107282
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,004 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #2 in	Books > Nonfiction > Education > Elementary School
  #2 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Education > Professional Development

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another homerun for the Sisters!, April 25, 2009

By	James Hiller (Beaverton, OR) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Surely, if you are reading this review, you are probably a fan or a devotee of this book: Daily Five, The, the book that provided a framework for literacy instruction that revolutionized classrooms across the country. After implementing "the Sisters" authentic literacy practices, teachers around the country asked, "What's next?" and the Sisters responded by writing "The Cafe Book". It's certainly a worthy partner of their first book.

Washingtonians Gail Boushey and Joan Moser are veteran master teachers, reflective, and insightful in their approach to the craft of education. This book provides the classroom tested, works in progress reading teaching that is happening in their classroom. The CAFE approach allows children to select literacy goals based on their reading needs (comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and expanding vocabulary), gives a framework for conferring with students, and offers tons of classroom tested tips and hints to make your reading teaching more successful.

The Sisters writing is very transparent, examples of actual "language" they use with the kids, and extremely user friendly. Unlike some other education books, which require hours of time, or a master's degree to understand, the Sisters make their books easily accessible, easily understandable, and easy to put into practice. Not only that, the lessons and ideas are mighty powerful indeed.

Don't worry. If you haven't implemented the Daily 5 into your classroom, the Cafe book can easily meet your needs as it provides yet another framework that can be adapted in your classroom. However, I can see the power of implementing both ideas into the room for true impact. If you are a newbie, I can't highly recommend enough "Daily 5". As a mentor with first year teachers, I've seen the impact of the framework on their daily reading block, and it's been quite amazing.

Not only is the book loaded with pictures, but it comes with a CD that is ready to be used, with copies of the forms they have in the book that can be printed out.

The Sisters are truly on the path of authentic, real life teaching practices. If you are a first year or twentieth year teacher like myself, in kindergarten or in fifth grade, this book will be an irreplaceable feature, and one that's frequently borrowed by colleagues after you brag about its impact, for years to come.

Yes, it's THAT good.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, May 31, 2009

By	D. Roberts - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The CAFE Book is great! Very easy to read and I love the honesty of the 2 sisters. They each share times in their career when they were disorganized and had no clue what they were doing.

The CAFE system is easy to understand and implement. They give you a daily teaching guide for the first 26 days of school. The record keeping system is simple and effective.

This book, along with The Daily Five, is the bulk of my reading instruction.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm Really Excited for Next School Year to Start!!, June 8, 2009

By	A. Sims "Second Grade Teacher" (MI, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I ordered this book and "The Daily 5" on a whim about 2 weeks ago. I had not heard of "the sisters" before, but was intrigued by the premise of their books. Needless to say, I have yet to implement any of "the sisters'" strategies into my second grade classroom, but I am really excited to try it all out next year. Like others have said, the book is an easy read and chock-full of fabulous ideas for set-up, planning, management, and instruction. To put it plainly, their ideas make loads of sense and put individual student's literacy needs under the microscope. I recommend this book to anyone looking for fresh ideas on how to teach/encourage young readers to help themselves when reading.