Each Reading Workshop session will begin with a mini lesson that lasts approximately 10-15 minutes. During each mini lesson, the teacher
will introduce a specific concept, also known as the teaching point. Most often the teaching point will focus on a reading strategy or
skill. The teacher will explicitly model the skill for the students.
Students then get a chance to practice the skill or strategy on their own or with a partner during literacy centers. This part of the
mini-lesson is called the active engagement.
Mini-lesson ideas will come from the acronym CAFE, which stands for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expanded Vocabulary.
Comprehension
Accuracy
I understand what I read.
I can read the words.
-Check for understanding
-Back up and
reread
-Monitor and Fix-up
-Retell the
story
-Use prior knowledge to connect with the
text
-Create a mental image
-Ask questions
Predict what will happen and use text to
confirm
-Infer and support with
evidence
-Use text features (NF)
Summarize text- include sequence of
main events
-Use main idea and
supporting details to determine
importance
-Determine author's
purpose
-Recognize literary elements
Cause and Effect
-Compare and Contrast
Fluency
Expanded
Vocabulary
I know, find, and use
interesting words
I can read accurately, with
expression, and understand
what I read.
-Cross Checking
-Reads Just Right Books
-Tune into interesting words
-Use pictures- Do the words
-Can read sight words
-Use pictures, illustrations,
and pictures match?
automatically
and diagrams
-Uses beginning and ending
-Read so it sounds like talking -Uses word parts to determine
sounds
-Read punctuation for meaning
meaning
-Blend sounds- stretch the
-Read accurately with
-Use synonyms, antonyms, and
word
expression, and changes in homophones to determine word
-Flip the sound
voice
meanings
-Chunk letters and sounds -Adjusts reading rate to match
-Use a dictionary
together
the text
-Skip the word and come back
Chunks words into phrases
-Try a word that sounds and
looks right