Shoes and Just Right Books

 Our class has been working hard to incorporate the Daily 5 and CAFE programs into our reading workshop schedule. The Daily 5 is a classroom management system that provides students five different literacy tasks to work through, daily if possible, to enhance their learning experience and help them to be better readers and writers. The CAFE literacy program adds on to that management system while also giving teachers and students a list of literacy strategies to practice and perfect over the course of the school year. 

One of the interesting lessons in the Daily 5/CAFE program is a shoe lesson that helps children relate to the process of choosing just right books. The strategy is called I PICK. 

I
Purpose: Why do I want to read?
Interest: Does it interest me?
Comprehend: Do I understand it?
Know: Do I know most of the words?

The shoes help because students  can relate them to each letter in I pick. What is the purpose of each shoe? I will not wear my flip flops in a blizzard, will I? What kinds of things am I interested in? We know I run, I live where there is winter and summer weather, and I have work shoes and dress shoes. Comprehension relates to my shoe in comparison to other people's shoes. For example, I can work in my running shoe- it fits me perfect... I cannot use my husband John's running shoe- it is huge and I would trip and fall a lot. I could not use my student Sierra's running shoe- it is too small and would crunch my toes. At this point, students explain and understand more clearly why knowing the words is also such an important part of choosing a good book as well. 

This lesson worked out amazingly in class, and I plan to continue referring to our shoe research when students struggle looking for just right books at school. I hope by posting this lesson here, parents are able to understand and refer to these strategies at home, the local library, or even bookstores when helping students look for new books. Thank you!!