An experienced teacher and author, Carol Behrman helps students develop the sound foundation they need to become proficient writers throughout their lives. Included are a variety of easy-to-use reproducible activity sheets to provide review and application of basic language skills as well as extensive practice in producing the types of writing called for in standardized tests. The steps of the writing process are emphasized throughout. Each set of activities is accompanied by detailed lesson plans and suggestions to the teacher for presenting and implementing the skills and concepts being addressed. Each section is followed by a practice test focusing on the concepts and skills covered in the section, plus answer keys and scoring guides with writing samples. These practical tests will help students prepare for the types of questions they will be asked on actual tests.

Sections 1-5 offer review and practice in basic writing skills.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORD: Covers words often confused, prefixes, suffixes, synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms, similes and metaphors, sensory words, and more.

MAKING MECHANICS AND USAGE WORK FOR YOU: Reviews grammar and usage including punctuation marks, titles, misplaced modifiers, and prepositions.

WRITING SENTENCES: Includes lessons on subjects and predicates, subject/verb agreement, simple and compound sentences, complex sentences, sentence fragments, run-on sentences, and sentence types.

WRITING PARAGRAPHS Guides student writers through writing a topic sentence, writing a concluding sentence, developing a topic, using tense consistently, using transitional words, and staying on topic.

ESSAY-WRITING TECHNIQUES Includes activities in brainstorming, clustering, outlining, developing the topic, avoiding irrelevant details, writing a concluding paragraph, revising, proofreading, and writing a five-paragraph essay.

The activities in Sections 6-9 take the students through the steps in the writing process to develop from six to eight writing samples on various age-appropriate topics in each of the following genres required on state tests:

WRITING INFORMATIVE ESSAYS

WRITING PERSUASIVE ESSAYS

WRITING NARRATIVE ESSAYS AND STORIES

WRITING LETTERS