Big Writing!

So what is Big Writing? You may have been a little confused when your child suddenly starts chanting...

"What have we got to remember?

...THE V.C.O.P!"

Here is short guide to Big Writing, so that hopefully it all makes sense!

Chad Vale introduced Big Writing at the beginning of this year (2005-6), after trialling it at the end of the Summer Term. A relatively 'new' way of teaching writing, it focuses on 4 main aspects of the writing process and gives the children the skills to improve their own writing through self assessment, sharing of work and fun, learning games throughout the weekly 2 hour writing session.

The Four Elements

Vocabulary: every class has a 'Vocabulary Wow Words' board where new and impressive words that the children have used are shared for everyone. Examples include 'magnificent', 'scandalous' and 'deadly' in Class 2, and 'preposterous', 'formidable' and idiosyncrasy' in Year 5. The children are encouraged to use these words where appropriate in their writing.

Connectives: every class has a 'Connectives' board, where powerful connectives (joining words) are displayed. Children are encouraged to use these in their writing.

Openers: every class has an 'Openers' board, with good openers (sentence starters) that the children can choose from. We also teach ways of improving a basic sentence e.g. 'The children climbed the hill slowly' to a better sentence by changing the word order; 'Slowly, the children climbed the hill.'

Punctuation: every class has a clearly displayed 'Punctuation Pyramid' showing the levels of punctuation. Children are taught the names of the higher level punctuation from Year One onwards and learn to use them in their writing.

Big Writing lessons are also characterised by candles lit in the classroom and Mozart playing through a CD player while the children write to enhance the special experience.

What the children say:

"It's brilliant because you get to write, and I like writing!"

Annemeik (Class 4)

"It's good because I like the candle and we get to use special handwriting pens and listen to Classical music."

Oraza (Class 4)

"I think its really, really good because you get a longer time to write your stories, it's relaxing because of the candle, the classroom lights are off and the music."

Hanna (Class 4)

"I like it because it's fun and you get to write stories. We like VCOP because it helps us to improve our writing."

Constance (Class 6)

"Big Writing is quiet and I like writing stories."

Duncan (Class 6)

"Big Writing is fun because I get to be imaginative and write stories."

Anisha (Class 6)

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