When You Need to Drive a Nail Into a Piece of Wood, What Tool Would You Select? Would

RACER When you need to drive a nail into a piece of wood, what tool would you select? Would you use a screwdriver, a saw, a pair of pliers, or a hammer? You would obviously use a hammer because it is a tool specifically designed for that task. When writing it is just as important to utilize the proper strategy for the task you have been given. Every job requires the proper tool. RACER is a strategy, or tool, you will use as a writer when you are given an informational text/ non-fiction reading and are asked to respond to an open ended question. RACER is not a strategy you should use when writing a narrative, a research paper, a persuasive (opinion) essay, or an expository essay.

Understanding the Prompt- It is important that before you begin writing that you understand what you are being asked and how to properly respond.

Restate the Answer the Cite Examples from the Explain how the Raise new question question Text (cite a page or paragraph example supports your insight number) topic (Topic Sentence)

*Additionally, if the prompt asks two specific questions, then you must respond by creating two RACER paragraphs. Sample Prompt #1: In Oh Rats! by Albert Marrin , how does the author prove that rats are champions at survival? 1. How many RACER paragraphs are required for this response?

2. We will use different color highlighter markers to indicate the parts of RACER parts in the paragraph response that follows. a) Orange - Highlight where the writer has cited evidence to support their answer. b) Yellow - Highlight where the writer has explained how the example supports their answer. c) Pink - Highlight where the writer has restated the question. d) Green - Highlight where the writer has answered the question. In the book Oh Rats! the author proves that rats are champions at survival. He gives a lot of different examples of how rats have adapted to various environments. The body of a rat is built to get the food and nutrients needed to stay alive. Their jaws are incredibly powerful. On page 10 it states that, “Rats gnaw through iron cabinets to get at food, and concrete to get to various minerals.” This shows that rats’ jaws are built to keep them alive since they can bite down with incredible force. The fact that their teeth can gnaw through iron and concrete shows just how strong their jaws and teeth are. In the animal kingdom, rats could be considered the super powered species.

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Practice Prompt #1: How does having three branches of government help the country smoothly and fairly govern? Cite evidence to support your claim.

Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances Excerpts from: Marsh, Carole. Common Core Lessons &Amp; Activities: Branches of Government. Print.

1. To prevent the government from becoming too powerful, the new Constitution divided powers and responsibilities among three distinct branches of government. This separation of power includes the legislative branch to write the laws, the executive branch to carry out and enforce the laws, and finally, the judicial branch to interpret and apply the law in the courts.

2 The Constitution established three distinct branches of government and gave each branch its powers. However, the Constitution limits the powers of the three branches. A system of checks and balances ensures no one branch of government is able to abuse its power or become too powerful. Each branch has responsibilities and authority, but actions are checked and approved by the other branches. RACER Graphic Organizer

Restate the question (Topic Sentence)

Answer the question

Cite Examples (Evidence) You can cite more than 1 example, but you then need to explain both examples. In paragraph 2, The author states that… I know this because, in paragraph___ it said... The text also states...

A second example from the text...

The author also states... Explain how the example supports your answer This example supports my answer because, … This proves that… This demonstrates… *At least two sentences.

Raise new insight

In government… The Constition…