Book excerpt: Excel Writing Skills provides activities and exercises desig ned to improve the quality of students,, written expression. The exercis es are based on ten common text types in which specific grammar, punctua tion and language skills are used. This book should develop students,, w riting skills for all school subjects. In this book your child wi ll find: exercises based around ten common text types a wide variety of interesting activities fun visual exercis es to stimulate the imagination revision sections throughout fo r constant reinforcement a lift-out answer section The Excel Basic Skills: Writing Skills book is designed to he lp Years 3-4 students develop and increase their creative writing skills . It is a clear and practical guide to writing well-structured, grammati cally correct English. The book is divided into units based on various n arrative and non-fiction text types. Each unit provides a model text, th en a variety of practical exercises that cover the important grammar, vo cabulary and punctuation points to be learned when writing for that spec ific text type. Answers are provided in a convenient lift-out section in the centre. Contents: Narrative - ... Strike me Pin k! Recount -... Diary Entry Information Report - ... Th e Bilby Review Recount - ... History of Cats in Austra lia Exposition - ... Should Pet Cats Wear Bells? Proce dure - How to Make a Paper Folding Cat Preview Explana tion - ... Red Crabs of Christmas Island Description - ... the Sydney Opera House Review Biography - William Charles Wentworth Information Report - ... The Blue Mountains Review Answers