Books I Can't Plan Without: Daily 5 and Cafe

I have read quite a few educational books in my day and even though I may love some advice or take snippets away. There are only a few books that have stayed on my bookshelves for most of my teaching career. These are the books that I can't plan without. These books help guide my instruction and today I'm going to talk about my top 2 favorites.

The Daily 5 and Café by The Sisters: Gail Boushey and Joan Moser

 

I love the 2 sisters and I love their outlook on kiddos reading and literacy needs. I have always looked at the Daily 5 as being what the kids are doing during literacy time and Café being what you, as the teacher, are doing during literacy time. These 2 books go hand in hand. I have heard people say that Café is too advanced for primary kiddos. I say, "Hogwash!" I've used it in first grade and I am going to use it kindergarten next year.

My favorite quote from these ladies has to be "Fair isn't everyone getting the same thing. Fair is everyone getting what they need in order to be successful." A lot of time, we have 4 rotations of reading groups and they are 15 minutes each. When every group has rotated through, we are done. Everyone is getting 15 minutes. The time is equal but is the education fair? One student might need 30 minutes to grasp a concept and another student need 10 minutes. Hmmm....that doesn't seem fair.

This is not to say that I do not do reading groups. I do and I love them. It is to say; however, that I keep a close watch on how our learning is going. If we are catching on to the concept/skill, we move on. If we need additional help, we keep working. If there is only one kiddo excelling or needing assistance, you can bet your bottom dollar that they are on my one-on-one list.

I found this picture on pinterest from Joe Bower from For the Love of Learning and I thought it brought the point home beautifully.

Here is a freebie poster from The Curious Apple. I might have to make something like this to hang by our rules.

 Along with these books, here are some tools that I created to help me with my own planning for the 2013-2014 school year. You can click here to see more info about this packet or here to visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Daily 5 and Café.