MondayI Do
Introduction to RACES
Justice for the Javan Rhino · nonfiction
You model it. Students watch a complete RACES paragraph get built.
11,349+ five-star reviews on TPT
60,572 teachers
Free 5-day RACES mini unit · Grades 1–5
From “The dog was brave.” to a real paragraph — in five days.
Download a complete week of Write to Understand™: a day-by-day pacing guide, fiction and nonfiction passages, graphic organizers, sentence stems, and rubrics. Print it Sunday night. Teach it Monday morning.
- Monday is modeled, Friday is independent — the gradual release is already built in
- Every passage comes with its organizer, stems, and checklist already made
- Print and go — no prep, no planning, no 10 p.m. hunt for a “just right” text
Send me the free week
Five days of reading and writing lessons, ready to print.
Arrives in about a minute. Use a personal email — school filters love to eat PDFs. No credit card, no catch.
Here’s your week.
Five days, already sequenced. This is page one of your download.
TuesdayWe Do
Guided RACES practice
Susie’s Dilemma · fiction
You build one together, organizer on the board.
WednesdayYou Do
Independent RACES writing
The World’s Rarest Cat · nonfiction
They write one alone. This is the day you find out it stuck.
ThursdayWe Do
Introduction to paired passages
The Invention of the Telephone + paired text
Two texts, one Venn diagram, one response.
FridayYou Do
Independent paired-passage response
Paired set · fiction + nonfiction
They put it all together, on their own.
By Friday you’ll know exactly which of your students have it — and which three need small group on Monday.
Everything’s already made
Open the PDF, hit print, teach. That’s the whole setup.
- A day-by-day pacing guide — the one above; it’s page one
- 5 original passages — fiction and nonfiction, written for elementary readers
- A RACES graphic organizer for every passage — the thinking gets held before a word is written
-
Sentence stems for every step
“As shown in paragraph…” · “In other words…” · “Putting it all together…” - A student checklist — capital letters, punctuation marks, correct spelling
- Lined final-draft paper — the plan turns straight into a finished paragraph
- Teacher sample responses — so modeling takes two minutes, not twenty
- Rubrics — one for you, one for them
Prints clean in black and white. No prep beyond a printer.
One-sentence answers aren’t a motivation problem.
They’re a structure problem.
A student staring at a blank line has to invent the shape of a paragraph and fill it in at the same time. Most of them can do one or the other. Almost none can do both at once — so you get:
“Yes, because it says so.”
RACES hands them the shape.
The organizer holds their thinking before a single sentence gets written. What lands on the lined page is a paragraph a rubric can actually score.
R
Restate the question
A
Answer the question
C
Cite the evidence from the text
E
Explain how the evidence proves your answer
S
Summarize
11,349+ five-star ratings. 60,572 teachers.
Write to Understand™ has been in classrooms for years. Here’s what teachers say about the strategy you’re about to try.
11,349+five-star TPT ratings
60,572teachers using it
1–5grades covered
5days, ready to print
“The RACES writing strategy helped my students organize their ideas and write complete paragraphs.”
“This resource has helped my students respond thoroughly with text evidence. The structure makes all the difference.”
“My students loved the stories and felt successful after each activity.”
“The leveled passages and scaffolded response pages helped me reach all learners.”
“I use these all year long!! The graphic organizer is so simple for students to follow along with.”
“This product scaffolds writing allowing students to build stamina in writing. Love this!”
Hi — I’m Courtney ✎
I taught upper elementary ELA, and I built Write to Understand™ because I was living the exact problem it solves. I’d teach a strong lesson, assign the response, and get back “The dog was brave.”
The fix was never another prompt. It was giving students one structure they could reuse until it became automatic — and giving myself a system I didn’t have to rebuild every Sunday night.
I have a master’s in Educational Psychology, a serious weakness for new school supplies, and a soft spot for any kid who lights up when something finally clicks. Everything I make has to pass one test: does it save a teacher time, and does it actually work on a Monday?
Former upper elementary ELA teacher
M.S. Educational Psychology
Creator of Write to Understand™
60,572 teachers served
Courtney
Courtney Bluem · Create Inspire Teach
This is for you if…
- You teach reading or writing in grades 1–5
- Your students can read the passage but freeze on the response
- You want comprehension and writing taught together, not as two subjects
- You need one thing that works whole group, small group, centers, and intervention
It’s probably not for you if…
You’re after open-ended journal prompts with no scaffolding. Write to Understand™ is a structured system — stems, organizers, rubrics — not a blank page.
Before you download
Is it really free?
Really free. No credit card, no trial, nothing to cancel.
What grades is it written for?
Grades 1–5. Teaching kindergarten? Grab the K version instead →
Do I need a color printer?
No. Everything prints clean in black and white.
Will it work for my students who struggle?
That’s who the scaffolding is built for. Every passage comes with its organizer, sentence stems, and checklist, so the support is on their desk instead of in your head.
How fast does it arrive?
About a minute. If it’s not there, check promotions and spam — school filters often block outside senders, so a personal address is the safe bet.
What happens after I download it?
A short series of emails with ideas for teaching constructed response. Unsubscribe whenever you like.
Your Monday is already planned.
Five days of reading and writing — sequenced, scaffolded, and ready to print. Free.
11,349+ five-star ratings · Instant email delivery · Unsubscribe any time