My reading specialist and I have been discussing the benefits of using individual chapters of a book to teach a skill/lesson with the older students. It exposes them to great literature, and can also perk their interest in reading the whole book. **Works especially well with any chapter that is gross or funny :)
*A librarian I spoke with said that it is legal to photo copy a page from children's literature for instructional purposes. So, off I went...
I pulled out this classic...
In the last chapter, Peter's 3-year-old brother, Fudge, swallows his beloved pet turtle. The chapter is shocking and gross, yet very humorous! The kids L.O.V.E. it!
So...we had some highlighter fun by highlighting each speaker's words on the page. These two pages have great dialogue from Fudge, Peter and Mom. It also has TONS of exclamation points and question marks! Great for fluency practice!
After the highlighting, many kids were anxious to volunteer to read in their best *fluent* voices. We had a ball, and they were all cracking up at each other's "Fudge-Voice." It is amazing how a lesson can be so simple and easy, but it is engaging because the literature is good!
I'm sure you have done activities like this, but if you haven't tried this book, it has many great little episodic chapters. Perfect for mini lessons! I would LOVE to hear any specific books/ideas you have used for introducing CAFE strategies.
Sounds great!! I may try this with my class next week! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea...I'll def be using this one:)) Thanks for sharing:)
ReplyDelete4th Grade Frolics
I am very new to using CAFE - I'm doing it as an experiment and the book shows some examples of lessons and strategies, however, after that, do you simply use the CAFE board to organize your OWN strategies?? I am having difficulty decided which strategy to teach before another. Thanks for your input :) Thanks for this great lesson idea
ReplyDeleteThanks ladies! @Mrs. B, I add The Sisters strategies to the CAFE board. I have never added any of my own. I use the CAFE book for ideas for my lesson, however I usually create my own lessons for each strategy. Then, whenever we find ourselves using the strategy again I refer back to it on the menu. We just refer to it all year.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I am the only teacher in my district using the Sisters, so it has definitely been a learning experience:) Thanks for your input!
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