You may be thinking, WHAT THE?!? Working on open-ended response questions in 1st grade seems a little crazy? However, what if I told you I have been doing it for a while now, and my students not only have tried the strategy? They have excelled at it! Using the RACE writing strategy was not only a game-changer in my 5th-grade classroom but has also brought significant change to my now 1st-grade classroom!
Why Should 1st Graders Be Expected to Write Constructed Responses?
We MUST set the foundation for tested grades. We’re all in this together.
•Teaches students to cite text evidence and go back into the text
•Models writing that happens in the real world (prompt & response)
•Provides structure
•Because they CAN!
During the Guided Writing portion of Guided Reading, we’re also learning how to respond to questions about a text. We always start with oral writing – sharing our ideas verbally, but also use a RACE (restate, answer, cite evidence, explain) structure to organize our thoughts. It’s an easy acronym to remember, and it is very pointed… it’s hard to get lost in RACE. In 5th grade, I used to RUN (read the question, underline, number) the RACE. In 1st grade, we’re just RACEing (with a wrap-up sentence on the end)! 😉 For my more developed readers and writers, they RACECE to beef up their writing.
What exactly is the RACE writing strategy?
RACE is a strategy to help students learn how to respond to a text, and they also learn how to quote the reading or how to support their thinking with evidence from the text.
- R(restate): At the beginning of Peter’s Chair,
- An (answer): Peter felt mad because thay were panting ol his stuf pink to giv to his sistir. Peter felt very mad.
- C (cite): At the ind of the storey Pete sed “Dad lets pant the chair for Susie.”
- E (explain): This tels me that Peter wus hapey at the end (for) his sister.

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I appreciate you teaching this in first grade! We just revisited the process in my 4th-grade classroom last week. It is a great strategy that students can use for life.