Prepared Classroom Updates

March 22, 2023

Years ago, we started with . . .

You will soon notice changes to our trainings. You may have already noticed some of them. We are changing up the way we share the principles of Daily 5 and CAFE with educators, and we couldn’t be more excited!

Read on to hear about it and why we decided the change was important and beneficial for you and your students!

Years ago we started with the question,

When I teach one-on-one or in small groups, what are the rest of the children doing?

Research and best practice led us to five ways for students to authentically transfer their learning and the system of explicit instruction that we use to teach them to work independently on these options (and do pretty much anything else in the school and classroom). We called this the Daily 5 Framework.

Then we had three more questions that naturally followed the first:

What am I teaching?                
How am I teaching?                
How do I use my assessments to inform my instruction and to improve student learning?

Again, research and best practices led us to our answers, and we developed a system for assessing, teaching, and accountability. Our system included a visible learning component, the CAFE Menu. So we called our system CAFE, for brevity’s sake.

For many years we have treated these two systems as separate—systems that can be learned and implemented independently. And it has worked for thousands of teachers all over the world.

And, as time has passed, we have discovered that the names Daily 5 and CAFE have lead to misconceptions that have caused confusion. Some educators think that implementing Daily 5 is simply implementing five different centers or rotations into the literacy block, or that there must be five choices. And, some think CAFE is simply the visual CAFE Menu, or that it is a curriculum in which to teach reading. None of these statements are true nor are they fully representative of our approach. Our system is about the how of teaching and learning, more than the what. It is about the process in which you teach your content.

Recently we revisited this process and asked ourselves, How can we improve the way we teach our systems to reflect what we know about how the brain learns and maximize effectiveness? What is best practice in application for teachers and their students?

Our solution?

To interweave the essential components of Daily 5 and CAFE, and create one system. To go deeper into the main foundations and provide time to apply as you learn. To eliminate misconceptions by providing clarity throughout the learning and implementation process.

Our system is the framework for your professional practice. The structure for your teaching. When you learn and apply the fundamentals together, students learn more efficiently and effectively, and you are prepared for it all.

Enter Prepared Classroom.

Don’t miss our next email, where we will dive into what we have been working on. We can’t wait for you to experience this new way to learn the system!

Teach Daily Team

March 23, 2023

Great things coming your way!

Yesterday we shared big news (see above)! We are rolling out a new and improved way to learn the foundations of Daily 5 and CAFE! It’s called Prepared Classroom.

If you have visited our training page lately, you may already have some idea of where we are going. Over the last year, we have released seven in-depth courses on the foundations that make up our system. Two more will be released soon, for a total of nine. We’ve been rolling these courses out as they have been completed. They are too good to hold back! When taken together these courses provide organization, structure, consistency, confidence, and more time to teach. Sound too good to be true? It’s not! You will be prepared for whatever comes your way.

The courses are:

The fundamentals taught in these nine courses will be the foundation for your teaching.

The finishing touches are being added now. (Spoiler alert: Because this is a major breakthrough and an exciting launch, there will be a promo code coming your way!)

You are not going to want to miss it!

Teach Daily Team

March 29, 2023

Options to fit your learning style

We want you to have a Prepared Classroom where students learn more efficiently and effectively and you are prepared for it all.

Because of that, our planning meetings for the new PD have sounded like this:

Teachers have never been busier, because so much is asked of them. How do we make training convenient and easy to fit into any schedule?

What questions have we received that need to be addressed in a new training? Where do we think the gaps in learning are?

How can we improve the way we present information to make sure it is brain compatible for teachers, just like we do with the kids in our classrooms.

How can we directly connect with teachers and continue that support while they apply their learning?

How can we support teachers from all over at the same time without cloning ourselves?

Yes, our planning meetings got long! 🤪

And, out of them came a fresh approach to learning and applying the system based on your individual learning style.

March 30, 2023

Two Ways to Learn More

Are you ready to learn more about the training that is right for you? Let's go!

A Prepared Classroom is within your reach, and it will be available for purchase on April 5. Woot! Put in your funding request now. Use this letter to ask for support.

One last thing! Since you are a part of our launch community, we are offering you a limited-time discount code! From April 5 through April 19, use code LAUNCH for $50 off per person. This deal will be offered only for these first two weeks of launch, so apply for funding or request a PO today, and be on the lookout for an email from us on April 5 to get in on it.

The countdown is on!

Teach Daily Team