BIG write
“If a child can’t say it, they can’t write it”
Mawnan School
March 2011
Background
• It is a philosophy about writing which was
originally devised by Ros Wilson.
• It is based on the premise that talk is essential
to writing. If they can’t say it, they can’t write
it!
• Provide children with the confidence to ‘have a
go’ with a positive ethos for writing.
• Raising standards in writing through 4 generic
targets.
Encouragement to…
• Talk about their writing.
• Find exciting words and use these in their writing.
• ‘Borrow’ exciting words and phrases from other authors.
‘WOW’ words.
• Have a go at using interesting examples of punctuation.
• Once a week in their classrooms, write for an extended period
of time.
• Re-read their own writing and find ways to make it better.
• Understand what they need to do next to improve.
• Use self assessment (2 s and a
!) to develop awareness
of their writing and targets.
The Key Features
‘VCOP’
Vocabulary
Connectives
Openers
Punctuation
Every week the children concentrate on the 4
elements of Big Writing
Victoria Visualiser and her
Wow words!
Victoria’s Super Powers
Victoria has the power to help people
really see how things look.
She holds the secret of how characters
and places really feel.
Although, words for sights and sounds
are her favourite weapons she knows
the importance of taste, touch and smell
too.
Victoria knows how to pick just the right
nouns or verbs to give writing real power
over a reader.
She uses adjectives and adverbs to
hypnotise people in to really seeing and
feeling a piece of writing.
Captain Connective
The Captain’s Super Powers.
The Captain holds the team together and
without him writing can be repetitive and
boring holding no power over the reader
at all.
His greatest power is to link ideas
together providing a net to catch any
reader.
The Incredible Opener!
The Incredible Opener’s Super Powers.
The Incredible Opener is a master of disguise. Sometimes, he jumps up and
tells the reader when something is happening. Suddenly, he is adverb.
Although, can be a link between ideas just like Captain Connective.
Alternatively, he can express
an opposite idea. On dark,
windy nights, when even the
wolves stay in their dens, he
can be a whole phrase!
He may seem like a bit of a
Joker, but don’t be fooled he
helps add structure. It’s his
job to hook the reader in and
keep him reading.
Dr. Punctuation
Dr Punctuation’s Super
Powers
The Doctors basic weapon
is the power to stop and
start a sentence. If capital
letters and full stops are
missing, or in the wrong
place writing is weak. It will
not have the power to grab a
reader.
His control over the reader
is reinforced by the use of
commas to separate ideas.
They work well when
combined with connectives
and openers.
He reveals what characters actually say with speech marks.
Does he ask questions? Of course, that’s a great weapon for hooking a reader.
He does not use his best weapons too often or their effects weaken. But, wow!
An exclamation mark makes a reader think.
An ellipsis makes a reader wonder…
Kung Fu Punctuation!
Working towards
white
White
(. A)
Yellow
(. A , )
Orange
(A . , ? ! )
Purple
(A . , ? ! “ “)
Blue
(A . , ? ! “ “ … () )
Green
(A . , ? ! “ “ … () – ‘ )
Brown
(A . , ? ! “ “…() – ‘ :)
Black
(A . , ?! “ “…() – ‘ : ;)
Capital Letter: hands above
heads, palms together, silently.
Full stop: throw a short, righthanded punch at the air in front of
you.
Make the noise, Ha!
Comma: with your right arm bent
so that your hand is in front of
your face, make a short twisting
motion at the wrist to signify the
comma shape.
Make the noise, Shi!
Impact on lessons
‘VCOP’ will be built into daily lessons:
- Use as a starter/ warm up activity
- Prompts for writing
- As a plenary
- ‘Levelling Up’ work as a class using VCOP
EXAMPLE TIME!!!!
The Learning Environment
• ‘Working Wall’ display boards clearly showing VCOP.
• VCOP triangles on learning mats
• Examples of recent work that has effectively used
VCOP.
• The wall will not be a ‘perfect’ and finished looking
masterpiece! It should be a ‘work in progress’.
How it works
• Big Writing will take place once a week.
• The whole school do Big Writing at the same time
(there may be a few occasions when it is not possible
due to excursions!).
• The children write in a special Big Writing book which
has their targets in the front.
• When the children have written their work they will
complete a self-assessment before their teacher
marks it.
• The marking will ensure that each child in school will
know what they need to do to improve and reach the
next level.
Extended writing opportunities with
Big Writing
• Reception ‘talk’ about their writing and start
putting down words in the Summer term.
• Year 1 write for 20 minutes.
• Year 2 write for between 20 – 30 minutes.
• Year 3 write for 30 minutes.
• Year 4 write for 30 minutes.
• Year 5 write for 30 – 40 minutes.
• Year 6 write for 40 minutes.
The Method…on the day of the BIG write
•
Focus & text type will have been introduced the day before in class and as ‘Talking
Homework’ with parents.
•
First 30 minutes of fast, fun, lively oral activities linked to what’s expected in their
writing.
•
Followed by 10 minutes of planning time Planning time used to refocus the pupils’
thoughts on the stimulus & text type for writing.
BRAIN BREAK TIME
•
Second 20 - 45 minutes is for writing
•
To finish…Children are to read what they have written and complete self
assessment marking ladder before handing their work in to the teacher for
marking.
2
s and a
!
How can you help as a parent?
Talking Homework
•Each class will be set a ‘talking homework’ the night before the Big Writing task
each week.
•The concept is that they talk about what they might write and share ideas as a
family.
•They DO NOT write a draft or even notes at this stage. They will be given
planning time in class the following day.
Other ways to provide support at home:
Encourage your children to READ.
Encourage your children to TALK.
Encourage your children to spot WOW words and perhaps write them down in a
book at home or on a piece of paper.
Encourage your children to borrow words or phrases which they like from
books, magazines, television programmes.
Encourage your children to WRITE
ASK your child what target they have to improve their writing this half-term.