CAFE Mini-Lessons

We took two stories we read during our Dental Health week and compared/contrasted them. We found there were several things the same, as well as several things that were different!

Tooth Trouble:

-Wilbur went to the dentist to fix his tooth.

-The setting was outside in the snow.

-Wilbur's teeth were called tusks.

-A tusk broke.

-Wilbur felt better.

-He didn't want to go to the dentist.

Hippo's Tooth Surprise:

-The animals didn't know hippo's tooth hurt.

-They rolled him down the hill.

-When he was bouncing down the hill, his tooth came out!

-The setting was in a jungle.

-Hippo got a headache.

-There wasn't a dentist in the story.

Both:

-They had tooth problems.

-Animals were the characters.
-Animals talked, so they were fiction books.

During an Accuracy mini-lesson, we brainstormed a list of words in each of the three word families we were going to study that week. We studied words in the -it, -ip and -et word families. I was beyond impressed with how many words the class came up with on our first day with these families!

In reviewing a previously taught Comprehension strategy called "Beginning, Middle and End of a Story", we first read a book called Olive, My Love. After reading the story, we filled in the boxes on the board labeled "B" for beginning, "M" for middle and "E" for end. We found three ideas to be true for each section and in filling the different boxes out, we realized not only were we practicing this strategy, but retelling a familiar story and including key details!