ELEMENTS OF A CAFÉ MINI-LESSON

1. ELEMENTS OF A CAFÉ MINI-LESSON • Identify what is to be taught, and share the “secret to success” with strategy * Café Menu Ready Reference Guide • Teach the Strategy * Must be anchored in text (picture/chapter book, chart paper) • Model, reinforce or explain the strategy for 1-5 minutes • Children practice with partners * Turn and Talk * Teacher listens and observes

2. MINI-LESSON FORMAT • Select student to write/illustrate the Café Menu Strategy Card (first time taught) • Review the strategy * Tell why we use and when it is most useful • Encourage practice during independent reading times • Post the strategy on Café Menu after independent practice time • Continue to connect new strategies with strategies already on the Café Menu * Café recommends at least 3 mini-lessons a day

3. MINI-LESSON LENGTH • Average age of students is the average number of minutes they will be able to sustain attention. • It is recommended in the Café to do 3 to 5 reading/writing mini-lessons daily. • Our lessons need to be: SHORT – FOCUSED - INTENTIONAL . . .The Sisters

4. Resources • The Café Book by Gail Boushey & Joan Moser • Parent Pipeline Newsletters by Allison Behn • Comprehension Interview Adapated from Keene’s Major Point Interview for Reading and Dr. Jan Richardson’s (2002) Presentation Document • Florida Center for Reading Research (www.fcrr.org) • Parent School by J. Jones, Swift Creek Elementary School • Reading Power by Adrienne Gear • I Read It, But I Don’t Get It by Chris Tovani • Super Six Comprehension Strategies: 35 Lesson and More for Reading Success by Lori Oczkus • Nonfiction Reading Power by Adrienne Gear • Reading Strategy Assignments for Grades 6-12 by Learning Focused Solutions • Comprehension Shouldn’t Be Silent by Michelle J. Kelley and Nicki Clausen-Grace • Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis