We finished up Clay's paper today. We did the proofreading, cleaned it up and added some information to round it out. I'm very pleased with Clay's effort on this paper. He's followed instructions very well, did all assignments that I asked, and really tried to write a solid paper. I'm very pleased with his effort and progress.
I asked Clay to write the concluding paragraph for the book report as homework. What he gave me was actually some of the weakest work he's done since we started. He handed in three lines with no punctuation, no structure, and no purpose. We went over how to write a conclusion and what kind of information he should include. His second effort was much better.
Clay has put in a solid effort on the book report so far. He has trouble recalling a lot of the details of the book, but with a little discussion it comes back to him. His writing definitely suffers when he's at a loss for things to say. He tends to revert back to his old habits, which is something we'll have to work on.
Complete a Christmas acrostic poem - using each letter of the word Christmas, write a word that you relate to Christmas (the word begins with each letter such as, for "C' you could write cheer). Then using words relating to Christmas, such as reindeer, snowman, etc. write as many words as possible using letters found in the word, for example, SNOWMAN - man, now, won, etc. Will is very good at making words. Good session.
I finally got the chance to read the book this weekend, and was struck by how far off the story Clay was in our discussions last week. He clearly filled in a lot of gaps on his own. But we were able to make appropriate changes and get to work on the body paragraphs. Clay's 2nd paragraph of the day was an improvement on the first as he got a better idea of what "details" are important to include. We should have him in good shape y
We continued working on the book report today. I talked with Clay about topic sentences for paragraph and how to write the body paragraphs. He's pretty weak on the details about the book, but has a pretty solid understanding of the characters. He should be in good shape for next week.
Clay needs to write a book report on the Juvi 3, so we started working on that today. We talked about the format of a basic 5 paragraph essay, and then focused on the introduction. This is a different kind of writing than I've had Clay do before, so it was tough for him, but with a little help, he finished with a solid opening paragraph.
Finish typing writing exercise "The Big Snow"- next complete an acrostic Christmas poem - using each letter in the word "Christmas" - write a word pertaining to Christmas. Will has done a good job on his writing assignment.
We're still working on writing and editing paragraphs. Clay has a bad habit of not paying attention to his grammar when he writes, which is ok, if he catches the mistakes when he proofreads. His editing has improved, but he still misses 2-3 big mistakes per paragraph. We'll keep working on it.
Go over story "The Big Snow" and make any changes necessary - then begin typing final copy - include cover page. Will seemed to enjoy writing the story once he got used to the idea that everything in it did not have to be "real" - that it was fun to use the imagination and create whatever situation you wanted. Will didn't get very far typing today...only 30 minutes. He is great to work with.
