Showera's List: CAFE - Accuracy Videos

Gail models use of the conferring form during a conference with a second grader named Davis. Davis is just learning about goal setting and beginning to identify the strategies he uses. This conference is a great example of the "Trade a Word" strategy. You'll notice how Gail identifies the strategy for Davis and then layers "Cross Checking" onto his repertoire of accuracy strategies.

The structure of a conference and the conferring form are linked below. You might like to practice filling the form out as the conference progresses, or just relax and watch. Kudos to Cindy who does a great job of stepping in during Gail's coughing attack. Great teamwork!

Teaching children to use strategies like a menu when they read can be tricky. In this video, Joan introduces students to the Accuracy Strategy of Skip the Word and then Come Back. However, she points out that it isn't always effective to rely on a single strategy. She draws the children's attention to her use of Back up and Reread and Cross Checking as well.
After the strategy has been modeled several times, and students are recognizing and labeling its use, one child will write the card up and add it to the Literacy CAFE™ Menu bulletin board for future reference.

Chunking and blending sounds are two strategies that really help support emergent readers. In this video, Joan meets with a small group of Kindergarten students as they practice using both strategies at once. She also draws attention to a third strategy which Caleb uses; flip the sound. We've found that when we teach our youngest readers a variety of strategies for accessing text, their accuracy and fluency increases at a much faster rate.

This lesson is equally valuable for older students who are working on accuracy in their own text selections.

Do you have a favorite way to teach a strategy? This is one tried and true favorite Kelly relies on when teaching children that many words have little words or "chunks" in them.

This fast paced lesson is interactive, using children's visual, auditory and kinesthetic processing systems to practice the chunking strategy. Consequently, students in Kelly's class often try this strategy first when accuracy breaks down during reading.

Notice Kelly's beginning blends are student-made. She believes those who do the most work, learn the most.

In this whole group lesson, Pam reteaches prefixes to this group of sixth graders that she had last year as fifth graders. They work hard to remember the essence of prefixes, suffixes and root words and how they might use their understanding of prefixes to help them figure out the meaning of a word.

The whole lesson was a great reminder to us that students need content reviews in order to bring past learning to the forefront of their memories.

We want even our most emergent readers to understand that reading is about making meaning. So this lesson has a dual purpose of blending sounds together and listening for when a word makes sense. It is a thinking skill these students will carry throughout their reading lives.

Joan's enthusiasm makes this lesson feel more like a game and she wisely builds in participation and movement to keep these active little boys engaged. They also focus on vocabulary and she honors home languages by allowing her ELL students to support each other.

"Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Txes M&A Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe." (Anonymous)

Well, we don't know if there is any truth to that being a real study or not, but we do know that we were able to read the paragraph fluently despite the mixed-up letters. It confirms how important it is to teach our students the accuracy strategy of paying attention to beginning and ending sounds. In this video, Kelly uses a nursery rhyme to teach the strategy and reminds her students to ask themselves, "Does it look right, sound right and make sense?"

Phonemic awareness is critical for our beginning readers no matter what age they are. Joan uses several strategies in this small group lesson to help build this essential foundation for reading. They blend sounds together, pull them apart into segments, and play with word families and rhymes. The hand signals provide a visual component to support their learning. The lesson is fast paced and engaging.

The board Joan uses, in case you are unfamiliar with it, is called a Magna Doodle. She's had it for years and the company has come out with swanky new versions with more bells and whistles, but this simple original version is perfect for teaching purposes. You can sometimes find them at toy stores, garage sales, etc. We found this model online at

http://www.abcstuff.com/items/MD001.html

There three videos capture Jeanette, a fourth grade teacher, and Joan discussing the focus of conferring, a conference with Makala and finally the debrief of the conference. Prebrief - quickly set the purpose for their meeting. This video introduces us to Makala who is reading Captain Underpants. While reading she comes to a word she does not know, so she sounds it out, without meaning. Jeanette chooses to focus this conference on 'flipping the sound' of that word Makala missed. Debrief conference.

Flip the Sound is a powerful accuracy strategy that not only helps students figure out words independently, but aids them in the process of monitoring and thinking about their reading. Joan introduces the strategy to a delightful group of first graders, but it is a strategy that works with older beginning readers just as well in the context of a one on one conference. We like the kinesthetic connection provided by the hand signal and find it to be a supportive signal when students are coaching one another.

As an adult, what do you do when you come to a word that you don't know or doesn't make sense? You probably use the strategy modeled in this video called Cross Checking. Cross Checking is an accuracy strategy as useful to emergent readers as it is to adults. It is the process of slowing readers down when they come to a word they don't know, or one that doesn't make sense, and applying the strategy to the unknown word.

In this video, you will see Joan working with Jason, first modeling and then having him practice the steps of Cross Checking: 1) Does what I just read Look Right? (do the letters and picture if available match what I am saying?) 2) Does the word sound right? 3) Does it make sense?

At the end of the conference, Joan gives Jason a sticky note and asks him to make a tally on the note each time he uses the strategy and tells him they will meet again tomorrow to go over his progress and see how often he used Cross Checking. This beginning tool for helping kids with strategy practice is a great way to introduce the power of marking words. In the follow-up to this lesson, Joan will talk with Jason's teacher, Kelly, about the next steps for using this tool.

Next time you are reading and come across an unknown word, become aware of the strategy you automatically use and you will understand the importance of teaching Cross-Checking to students!

Kelly and Joan talk together about the conference Joan just had with Jason on his strategy of Cross-Checking in the first of this two part series. They talk over the conferring form that keeps track of the conference, Jason's goals and his next steps. They also discuss the use of sticky notes to help Jason focus on his strategy.

Kelly is a teacher with high standards for herself and her children. By using the appointment calendar in the front of her Pensieve, she can make appointments with kids, modeled by Joan in the first part of this series, raising accountability a notch higher.