Learning to write well is an integral part of academic success. Writing Skills builds students' confidence as writers, refreshes their writing skills, and prepares them for standardized writing tests. This standards-based series helps students learn how to write effectively through a wide variety of strategies.

The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade books in this series each have six units, while the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade books have nine units. While the way things are taught in the books is pretty much the same, there are a few more topics covered in the older three books. Topics in common are personal narrative, descriptive story, how-to paper, alike and different paper (or compare and contrast), a short report, and the answer key. One subject only in the lower grade books is a type of narrative - the fable - and the topics specific to the older grade levels are autobiographical sketch, persuasive letter, persuasive movie review, and persuasive essay.

In the beginning of each book there is a lot of helpful information such as the Scoring Rubric for writing, a Writing Conference (which is like a helpful evaluation sheet), a section of diagnostic writing prompts, sample narratives, sample how-to papers, sample persuasive papers, proofreading marks, the writing process, and different types of writing. In each of the six/nine units, a different type of writing is covered, and the work is done in seven stages. First, student's read a model paper, next they respond to the model paper, and then they analyze the model paper. After studying the model paper, they get the writing assignment for that unit, which includes a graphic organizer. They then do their first draft, and once that is complete, they revise the draft and then evaluate their own or another student's writing with the provided writing report card. It is a very straight-forward program for learning about these different writing styles, and the questions in the activities will really help draw the students into their work. Answers are included in these consumable and reproducible workbooks. Grades 3–5: 64 pages. Grades 6–8: 96 pages. paperback 8½" x 11