1. Bellwork (“Do-Now”) Monday, September 12th
In the last row of your Roots Log located in the back of your composition notebook, record the following root, definition, and example words:
auto
{self}
automatic autograph
[When using a toaster, the [When she saw the movie star,
toast automatically pops up.] Meg wanted his autograph.]

2. Monday Word Wall Word: transitions
Word: transitions What It Is: Part of Speech: noun Explain in your own words what Definition: words or phrases that connect transitions are. ideas, sentences, or paragraphs

3. RACES R = Restate Topic A = Answer C = Cite Specific Evidence
Take Your Writing To The
RACES
R = Restate Topic
A = Answer
C = Cite Specific Evidence
E = Explain – How does the evidence support the topic?
S = Sum It Up

4. RACES We will use the RACES writing strategy to write short responses.
R= Restate the Topic
Means: Reword or restate the topic and make it into a statement as part of
your answer. Your R and your A go together in ONE sentence!
Examples:
If you were asked, “What color is the sky?”, you would NOT simply answer, “Blue”. Instead, you would answer, “The color of the sky is blue.”
If you were asked in a writing prompt to explain reasons why people bully in the article “Tales of Bullying,” then you would NOT simply answer, “Because they are insecure.” Instead, you would restate the topic: In the article “Tales of Bullying,” people bully others because________________. Now we’re going to add our A!

5. RACES
A= Answer
Means: Understand and answer the question you are being asked or the writing prompt to which you are being instructed to respond. Your R and your A should be combined into ONE RA sentence!
Example: If the writing prompt is to explain reasons why people bully in the article “Tales of Bullying,” then your RA sentence would look something like this:
In the article “Tales of Bullying,” people bully others because bullies feel insecure about themselves.

6. RACES C= Cite Specific Evidence
Means: Cite evidence from the text to support your RA statement. This
must be relevant evidence! (This is your I and your C from your ICE strategy
citing evidence.)
Example: According to the text, “Some kids bully because they want to fit in.”

7. RACES
E= Explain—
Means: Explain how the evidence supports the topic. This is your reasoning for why
your answer is correct.
Example: This proves that bullies lack the courage to be individuals instead of going along with the crowd.

8. RACES
S= Sum It Up
Means: Sum up the explanations for the evidence you used to support your
topic in different words.
Example: In conclusion, bullies make others feel bad about themselves simply because it makes them feel more popular.

9. RACES
So when you write with your RACES strategy, it should look something like this:
(RA statement) In the article “Tales of Bullying,” people bully others because bullies feel insecure about themselves. (C) According to the text, “Some kids bully because they want to fit in.” (E) This proves that bullies lack the courage to be individuals instead of going along with the crowd. (S) In conclusion, bullies make others feel bad about themselves simply because it makes them feel more popular.
BUT you have to use TWO pieces of evidence in your response. Therefore, you should have TWO C’s and TWO E’s!

10. RACES
BUT you have to use TWO pieces of evidence in your response. Therefore, you should have TWO C’s and TWO E’s! The basic structures should now look like this: (RA statement) In the article “Tales of Bullying,” people bully others because bullies feel insecure about themselves. (C) According to the text, “Some kids bully because they want to fit in.” (E) This proves that bullies lack the courage to be individuals instead of going along with the crowd. (C) Additionally, on page 5, it states, “Some people are just insecure or jealous.” (E) It can be inferred that bullies feel the need to put others down because of a flaw within themselves that has nothing to do with someone else. (S) In conclusion, bullies make others feel bad about themselves simply because it makes them feel more popular.

11. Bellwork (“Do-Now”) Tuesday Word Wall Word: transitions
Word: transitions What It Is: Part of Speech: noun Explain in your own words what Definition: words or phrases that connect transitions are. ideas, sentences, or paragraphs What It Is Not (antonym): Picture Representation: Explain in your own words what Draw a picture that represents transitions are not. transitions to you.

12. Pronouns
A pronoun is a word that is used in place of one or more nouns or pronouns.
Examples: 1. When Harry Potter first encountered Voldemort, he was frightened.
He is the pronoun replacing the noun Harry Potter.
2. The swimmers in the 2016 Olympics celebrated when they won several medals.
They is the pronoun replacing the noun swimmers.
The word or word group that a pronoun stands for is called its antecedent.
--The antecedent of he in Example 1 is Harry Potter.
--The antecedent in they in Example 2 is swimmers.

13. Pronoun Practice
Complete the pronoun activity and turn it in. This is for a grade.

14. RACES Practice
Follow along as we go through the Exemplar at the top of the written response page. Mark the parts of RACES as we discuss.
Practice writing a response using RACES and ICE strategies that we have discussed in class.
You will be writing your 1st response to the “Tales of Bullying” article.
You will write your final draft to your response on the sheet with 2 sides of written response spaces.

15. Bellwork (“Do-Now”) Wednesday, September 14th
Greek and Latin Roots:
Turn to your Root Words Log. Using the information you recorded on Monday about the root auto, follow the directions below and fill in the last two columns.
For the column Used in a Sentence, you will write ONE complete sentence using a word containing the root auto. Use correct capitalization and punctuation.
For the column Self-Connection, you can either draw a picture using the root or write another complete sentence describing how you can use this root in real life.

16. Wednesday Word Wall Word: summarize
Word: summarize What It Is: Part of Speech: verb Explain in your own words what it Definition: give a brief statement of the means to summarize. of the main points

17. “The Problem With Bullies”
Read and annotate the article using your annotation notes from ELA.
Keep in mind the response that will be needed at the end: Using textual evidence from the article, “The Problem with Bullies” and your RACES writing strategy, discuss two possible effects of bullying.
When you have finished annotating completely, you may began writing your rough draft response on a sheet of notebook paper.

18. Thursday Word Wall Word: summarize
Word: summarize What It Is: Part of Speech: verb Explain in your own words what it Definition: give a brief statement of the means to summarize. of the main points What It Is Not (antonym): Picture Representation: Explain in your own words what Draw a picture that represents summarize does not mean. summarize to you.

19. Final response
We will look at the exemplar together, notating the parts of RACES.
Now, write your final response on the back of the “Tales of Bullying” page.

20. Free Write Friday
Last summer, going through old family photo albums, you realized that every family photo has a kid in it that you’ve never seen before. Who did you tell about your discovery? How did you figure out what was going on? What happened next?

21. CFA #2
Work on the CFA 2! Good luck! Remember to use the strategies we’ve discussed.