We started of talking about Clay's trip to Tallahassee, focusing on descriptive statements. I then had Clay write ten chronological sentences with two nouns and verbs each. We then broke each sentence down into subjects and predicates and identified all nouns and verbs. This was a very advantageous exercise for Clay as it clearly showed how little detail he puts into the subject of his sentences.

We started off going over direct and indirect objects. Clay was unclear about them so I explained and worked on his worksheet with him. I then had him write 10 sentences about skimboarding, which he did with very little trouble. When we started it took him a while to write the sentences, today he whipped them out pretty quickly. Before we move on to more complex grammar, I wanted to make sure he was clear on the material we've already covered, so we did a review of subjects and predicates. He had no problems with the exercises at all.

I started the session with our typical Monday review of the weekend. I've noticed Clay has gotten much better at talking about his weekend and giving full details without me prompting him. This is a positive step. We then reviewed the types of sentences, which Clay had a little trouble remembering. But once we went over it, it all came back to him. He did a great job on the practice exercises, especially when I gave him an un-capitialized and un-punctuated paragraph. He had very little trouble identifying the sentences and giving the proper punctuation.

Today we used the first part of class to review basic sentence structure and fragments. Will did very well on this and clearly has improved a great deal since we began. In our first week he had a lot of trouble identifying fragments and complete sentences, but now he breezed through worksheets. We then went over the 4 different types of sentences and how to identify them. This is important for stronger writing and punctuation. It was a little confusing at first, but I think Clay got the hang of it.

Clay was very focused and attentive during today's session and I was very pleased with his effort. We started off talking about his weekend, focusing on fully developing his story. I then had him write 10 descriptive sentences about what he did. This definitely seems to be getting easier for him as we go along. He came up with the 10 sentences pretty quickly and they were solid.

Clay has done a great job with his homework assignments, and has a solid understanding of basic sentence structure. We're now shifting to focusing on developing more descriptive sentences. We spent the majority of the class going over the importance of adjectives and then worked on writing sentences.

Clay has done a very good job this week. He's been focused and attentive, and has retained all of the information we have covered. Today we worked on compound subjects and nouns. This is critical for developing full-bodied, descriptive sentences. Clay seems to be having no problems thus far.

We started off the session talking about the long weekend. I had Clay tell me stories about what he did, and we focused on being as orderly and descriptive as possible. Clay has definitely opened up and did a pretty good job relaying the information. We then reviewed subjects and predicates, and worked on identifying compound nouns and verbs.

Clay seemed a little more focused and attentive today. We started focusing on breaking a sentence into the subject and predicate, and once he got the hang of it, he seemed to do pretty well.

Clay and I had a very good introductory conversation. I read the story he's been working on to get a sense of where he's at with his writing, and I had him read a little to gauge his reading level. He's very low skilled in reading and consequently doesn't like to read or write. We talked about reading on a regular basis, and I recommended that he read and article on ESPN every day. We then started working on basic sentence structure and knowing the difference between a complete sentence and a sentence fragment. My plan is to start at the very basic level and build Clay's skills up.