Book excerpt: Preparation for the M-STEP English Language Arts Assessments for 2017-2018! This workbook provides extensive guided practice with a complete range of writing tasks, and will help prepare students for the reading and writing tasks on the M-STEP ELA tests. Students will write in response to passages, as well as write opinion pieces, essays, and narratives. Provides Ongoing Skill Development and Practice - Ten convenient practice sets allow for ongoing skill development - Each practice set contains two reading comprehension tasks where students write in response to passages - Each practice set contains two writing tasks where students write a short story, personal narrative, opinion piece, or essay - Guided writing tasks include hints, planning activities, and review checklists to guide students and encourage strong skill development - Each set includes additional core skills exercises that focus on key writing skills Preparation for the M-STEP English Language Arts Assessments - Helps students gain the skills and experience needed for the M-STEP ELA tests - Provides extensive experience with constructed-response questions - Students learn to understand, analyze, and respond to texts - Prepares students for persuasive, informative, and narrative writing tasks - Encourages students to write strong text-based essays - Tips, planning, and review activities teach the key features expected of student writing Full Coverage of the Michigan Academic Standards - Covers all the types of writing in the state standards, including opinion pieces, informative/explanatory texts, and narratives - Includes exercises for additional writing skills, including completing research projects and gathering information from sources - Provides extensive practice writing in response to literary and informational texts Key Benefits of this Workbook - Flexible format allows practice sets to be completed to suit any schedule - Develops the writing skills that are needed to perform well on the state tests - More rigorous tasks encourage deeper understanding and more advanced thinking - Format allows for review after each set to provide feedback and promote improvement