Fifth Graders Are ‘Racing’ To The Top

Photo courtesy of West Babylon School District

The fifth graders at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in the West Babylon School District are working hard on their short responses during the English language arts lesson. The students are using the RACE strategy (Restate the Question, Answer the Question, Cite the Evidence and Explain the Evidence) to create their short-response texts. In Ms. Cardone’s class, students worked cooperatively in groups to compose an exemplar response to a text-based prompt using the RACE strategy and the New York State two-point rubric. Upon completion of their responses, students swapped their papers with another group and used the rubric to grade their classmates’ papers.