VCOP At Oakley College we use VCOP throughout literacy to raise standards in writing. VCOP stands for: Vocabulary, Connectives, Openers and Punctuation. If children write with a balance of these 4 areas in their work, they will produce writing of a high quality. In literacy lessons we teach the children how to use each aspect of VCOP skilfully, and with purpose. We encourage them to assess their own work in terms of VCOP. Their writing targets are also based on VCOP, and when the children do a piece of ‘Big Writing’ we are looking for VCOP in their writing when we mark and assess it.
Vocabulary Level 1 They use some simple adjectives – colour, size, emotion. For example ‘The red car.’ Level 2 They use more complex adjectives, For example, ‘beautiful’, ‘fierce’ Level 3 They use adjectives, adverbs and simple similes for description, For example, ‘gigantic’, ‘teeny’ or ‘determined’ ‘quietly’, ‘softly or ‘sadly’ As quiet as a mouse. Level 4 They use adjectives, adverbs and similes for descriptive effect. They use powerful verbs, For example ‘Trudging’, ‘Meandering’ and ‘Bellowing.’ Level 5 They use adjectives, adverbs, similes, and powerful verbs for descriptive effect. They use metaphors, For example, ‘A wave of terror washed over him’.
Openers Level 1 They use ‘The’, ‘My’ and ‘I’ to open sentences. Level 2 They use time connectives to open sentences, For example ‘First’, ‘Next’, ‘After that.’ Level 3 They use time connectives to open sentences, For example ‘Eventually’, ‘Just then’ They use adverbs to open a sentence, For example, ‘Suddenly’ or ‘Angrily’ Level 4 They use time connectives to open sentences, For example, ‘Early’, ‘Meanwhile’, ‘While’ and ‘’Later’
They use adverbs and verbs to open a sentence, For example, ‘Swiftly, the man left the room.’ ‘Running towards the door, the man felt petrified.’ Level 5 They use time connectives to open sentences, For example, ‘At that moment’, ‘Subsequently’ and ‘Afterwards’ They use adverbs and verbs to open a sentence. They use a question as an opener to draw the reader in.
Connectives Level 1 They use ‘and’ to join sentences. Level 2 They use ‘but’, ‘then’ and ‘so’ to join sentences. Level 3 They use ‘while’, ‘then’, and ‘also’ to join sentences. Level 4 They use more sophisticated connectives, For example, ‘although’, ‘however’, ‘nevertheless’ and ‘as well as’ to join sentences. Level 5 They choose and position sophisticated connectives to suit the purpose, For example, ‘despite’, ‘whereas’ and ‘as revealed by’.
Punctuation Level 1 They use capital letters and full stops. Level 2 They use capital letters, full stops and question marks. Level 3 They use capital letters, full stops, question marks, exclamation marks and commas in lists. Level 4 They use capital letters, full stops, question marks, exclamation marks, commas in lists, commas to separate clauses, ellipsis, apostrophes and speech marks. Level 5 They use capital letters, full stops, question marks, exclamation marks, commas in lists, commas to separate clauses, ellipsis, apostrophes, speech marks, semi-colons and brackets.
Each classroom has a punctuation pyramid with the expected punctuation clearly displayed for each writing level, to give the children a visual reminder of their punctuation target.
