Cafe Hooray!

I just can't get enough of the sisters this fall. Gail Boushey and Joan Moser at www.the2sisters.com/the_daily_5.htm have really started me off on the right foot this year with my second graders. I love absolutely everything about them, from their no nonsense philosophy to their ability to bring the importance of aesthetic to the classroom. It has been such a pleasure to work so directly on reading and writing this first quarter and not feel like I am wasting student's time with filler skill work that doesn't have any context. With all the assessing that dominated my student's time this fall, thank goodness not one extra minute of our instructional time was spent on unimportant paperwork!

I feel like it was my best start in my 15 years of teaching. Now, I ache to adequately record what I've done so I don't forget! I am desperately making notes in my lesson plans about the read alouds I chose and the writing samples I use to model real reading and writing for kids.

So much of my summer and early fall are full of anxiety to make just the perfect recipe for the school year during those first few weeks (months) of school. Jackpot! The Sisters!

Their website, Cafe Book and DVD of helpful templates for recording student progress have knocked me on my behind. I'm so excited, I can't stand it!

Naturally, I'm dying to share my discovery. And slowly but surely I'm beginning to have conversations with other teachers about the power of their approach to literacy in the classroom.

Thank you Joan and Gail for your insight and simple, straight forward management of authentic and individualized learning for the elementary student. You have truly captured the magic ingredients to empower readers and writers to engage deeply in learning.