CAFE STRATEGIES
Compare and Contrast
How do we use compare and
contrast?
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Thinking about how things are alike or
different can help us understand new
ideas in text.
It helps us think critically.
Think about similarities, likenesses, and
differences.
How do we use compare and
contrast?
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Compare: Explain how two or more things
are alike.
Contrast: Explain how two or more things
are different.
Compare/Contrast: Explain how two or
more things are alike and different.
What are some example compare
and contrast words?
Comparing Words
Contrasting Words
Like
Unlike
Same as
In contrast to
More
Different from
Similar
Less
Likewise
Whereas
And, as well as
However
Also, too
But
Just as, as do, as did, as does
As opposed to
Both
On the other hand
Example Passage
The grocery store held a contest. Whoever
could guess the correct number of jelly beans in
the big jar would win a prize. There were exactly
372 jelly beans. Two people guessed the right
answer – Joey and Harry. Since there were two
winners, both of them were given a $20 gift
card. Joey decided to spend his prize money on
his favorite foods. He brought vanilla ice cream,
animal cookies, angel food cake, and a
chocolate candy bar. Harry had a different
idea. He wanted to make breakfast for his
family. Harry used his money to buy bacon,
eggs, cereal, and waffles.
What are some example
compare and contrast questions?
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How are Harry and Joey similar?
In what ways are Harry and Joey different?
How do the groceries that Harry bought
compare to the groceries Joey bought?
Determine and Analyze Author’s
Purpose
What is Author’s Purpose?
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The reason an author wrote a piece of
text.
Could be to entertain, persuade, or
inform.
How do we identify the author’s
purpose?
Think about which statement you think the author would agree
with:
 To
tell a thrilling
story
 To tell an
enjoyable story
 To tell a funny story
 To tell
 To explain
 To
teach
 To show
 To change thinking
or ideas
 To convince
 To show how to
 To make you feel
or want
Example Passage
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The giant panda is a bearlike animal that
has thick white fur with black markings on
its ears, limbs, shoulders, and around its
eyes. The giant panda feeds on bamboo
forests at high altitudes in western China. It
also eats bulbs, roots, eggs, and some
small mammals. The cubs are born in late
winter. The giant panda is an endangered
species and is protected by the Chinese
government.
What are some example
Author’s Purpose questions?
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What is the author’s purpose in this article?
What does the author use to get her point
across?
Why did the author write this piece?
Inferring and Supporting with
Evidence
What is inferring?
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Inference questions ask you to figure
something out in the passage. The text will
give you clues that you may have to think
about.
The answer probably will not be in the text.
You may have to predict what will
happen, draw a conclusion, or come up
with an effect.
What can we learn from
inferring?
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Inferring forces us to think more deeply
about the text.
When we make inferences, we are
interacting with the text using our own
schemas and information the author has
given us.
Example Passage
Mary was very proud of her garden. She'd
planted the seeds early in the spring and tended to
the plants every day since then. She pulled the
weeds so they'd have lots of space. She knew that
the plants needed plenty of water, so she watered
them every day too.
Last Saturday her friend Pam called early in
the morning and invited Mary to spend the day at
the mall. They left early and spent the day there,
even taking in a movie. Pam then invited Mary to
sleep over Saturday night too, and she happily
accepted. When Mary arrived home on Sunday
afternoon, her beautiful plants were bent and
drooping.
What are some example
inferring questions?
Example Passage Questions
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What most likely
happened while
they were away?
Why were the
plants drooping?
What will most
likely happen
next?
Other Possible Questions
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Which of the
following
statements is best
supported by the
passage?
Which of the
following sentences
would the author
most likely add to
the passage?
Using Main Idea and Supporting
Details
How do we use main idea?
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We need to be able to pick out the main
idea so that we can summarize passages
or stories.
The main idea is NOT the topic or the
theme.
It is the most important idea about the
topic usually expressed in a sentence.
 Hint:
the topic or theme is usually only a word
or phrase, not a sentence.
How do we identify the main
idea and add supporting details?
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Try starting with the topic of the passage
and add at least one detail to support it.
You can find supporting details right in the
passage, but you may have to infer the
main idea.
 Remember:
you infer using your own schema
and information the author gives you
Example Passage
No one knows how language began, but
one interesting idea is the “bow wow” theory. It
says that people first spoke by imitating the
sounds they heard. A tribe would all use the
same barking sound to talk about a dog.
These are called “echoic” words, or
onomatopoeia, because they echo the sound
they describe. English has more echoic words
than any other language. We know that not all
dogs have the same bark. St. Bernards and
poodles sound very different. Similar to dogs,
other languages use different words.
What are some example main idea
questions?
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In a few words, what is this selection
about?
What would you say is the most important
idea about this topic?
What is the main idea of this passage?
What is your evidence?
Summarizing Text
What is summarizing?
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It’s taking larger selections of text and
reducing them to their bare essentials.
 The
gist
 The key ideas
 The main points that are worth noting and
remembering

Capture the most important parts of the
text, but expresses them in shorter, more
easily remembered version
How do we summarize?
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Summarizing helps us reduce a lot of
information down to the main ideas.
Try using MIDAS
M
– Main idea
 I – Identify supporting details
 D – Disregard unimportant information
 A – Analyze redundant information
 S – Simplify, categorize, and label important
information
Example Passage
It is estimated that over twenty million
pounds of candy corn are sold in the US each
year. Brach’s, the top manufacturer, sells
enough candy corn to circle the earth 4.25
times if each piece were laid end to end.
That’s a lot of candy corn, but that’s nothing
compared to Tootsie Roll production. Over 64
million Tootsie Rolls are produced every day!
But even Tootsie Rolls have got nothing on the
candy industry’s staple product, chocolate.
Confectioners manufacture over twenty billion
pounds of chocolate in the United States each
year. Now that’s a mouthful!
What are some example summarizing
questions?
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What is this selection about?
What are the main ideas of this selection?
What evidence do you have to support
the main idea?
What is not important to remember in the
selection?
Question-Answer Relationship
QAR
What is QAR?
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Question-Answer Relationship
QAR helps us understand different kinds of
questions.
 Right
There – find the answers right there in the
text
 Think and Search – gather info from different
parts of the text and put it all together
 Author and You – use info from the text and
from your own schema
 On my Own – use your own schema – you
don’t have to read the text
How do we use QAR?
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QAR can help us find the answers to
questions faster and more accurately
It helps you make connections to the text
and beyond
All questions are either going to come
from the text (Right There or Think and
Search) or from your head (Author and
You and On My Own)
Example Passage
The first battle of the American Revolution
occurred at Lexington, Massachusetts in 1775.
The American colonists were angry about
numerous taxes issued by the British king. In 1776,
the colonists issued the Declaration of
Independence, a document written by Thomas
Jefferson that outlined America’s intention to
become a new country separate from England.
England wanted to maintain control of America,
and vowed to fight the colonists. The Americans
won many important battles. Many American
heroes emerged during this time. Finally, in 1783,
the British surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia and
a new nation was born.
What are some example QAR
questions?
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Where did the first battle of the American
Revolution occur?
How long did the American Revolution
last?
Do you think you would have enjoyed
being a soldier during the American
Revolution?
What can you infer about American
leaders and soldiers during the American
Revolution from this passage?
Cause and Effect
How do we use cause and effect?
Cause
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A cause is why
something
happens.
A cause may have
more than one
effect.
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Effect
An effect is what
happens.
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An effect may have
more than one cause.
An effect may
become a cause of
something else.
Cause and effect
makes us think about
the relationships
between events.
Signal words:
because, so, as a
result, or since
What are some example cause
and effect questions?
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What happened as a result of this event?
Why would this have happened?
What was the cause of this event?
What do you think the effect of this event
will be?
The United States and
its allies hated the
Soviet Union and its
supporters.
Each threatened to
destroy the other.
They thought
democracy didn’t
help poor working
people enough.
For this reason, they
supported
communism.
Cuba had been a
colony of Spain and
later came under the
“protection” of the
United States.
Even though Cuba
was officially
independent, the U.S.
had a lot of influence
over its government
and economy.
Eventually, Fidel
Castro seized control
of the Cuban
government and
adopted
communism.
This made U.S.
citizens very worried.
In October 1962, the
United States sent
spies to Cuba.
They discovered that
the Soviet Union was
building a nuclear
missile site in Cuba.
Eventually, President
Kennedy decided to
ask the Soviet Union
to remove its missiles
and stop sending
any more to Cuba.
Eventually, President
Kennedy decided to
ask the Soviet Union
to remove its missiles
and stop sending any
more to Cuba.
Luckily, the missiles
were pulled out of
Cuba and the crisis
ended without
bloodshed.
If he allowed the
Soviet Union to keep
shipping missiles to
Cuba
They could attack
the United States at
any time.
He could have sent
the U.S. Army into
Cuba to remove the
missiles.
But, that might
have made Castro
angry and set off a
missile right away.
He warned that if any
missiles were fired at
the United States
from Cuba
He would hold the
Soviet Union
responsible.
Cuba is still
communist, and the
U.S. refuses to trade
with Cuba.
Today, Cuba and
the United States
are still on bad
terms.
The United States and
its allies hated the
Soviet Union and its
supporters.
Each threatened to
destroy the other.
They thought
democracy didn’t
help poor working
people enough.
For this reason, they
supported
communism.
1
Cuba had been a
colony of Spain and
later came under the
“protection” of the
United States.
Even though Cuba
was officially
independent, the U.S.
had a lot of influence
over its government
and economy.
2
Eventually, Fidel
Castro seized control
of the Cuban
government and
adopted
communism.
This made U.S.
citizens very worried.
In October 1962, the
United States sent
spies to Cuba.
3
They discovered that
the Soviet Union was
building a nuclear
missile site in Cuba.
Eventually, President
Kennedy decided to
ask the Soviet Union
to remove its missiles
and stop sending
any more to Cuba.
4
5
Eventually, President
Kennedy decided to
ask the Soviet Union
to remove its missiles
and stop sending any
more to Cuba.
Luckily, the missiles
were pulled out of
Cuba and the crisis
ended without
bloodshed.
If he allowed the
Soviet Union to keep
shipping missiles to
Cuba
They could attack
the United States at
any time.
He could have sent
the U.S. Army into
Cuba to remove the
missiles.
But, that might
have made Castro
angry and set off a
missile right away.
He warned that if any
missiles were fired at
the United States
from Cuba
He would hold the
Soviet Union
responsible.
Cuba is still
communist, and the
U.S. refuses to trade
with Cuba.
Today, Cuba and
the United States
are still on bad
terms.
Sequencing

When we sequence, we put things in
chronologically
 Cause
and effect naturally follows
chronological order
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Signal Words: before, after, first, last, then,
or next