Big writing

Big Writing is a whole school initiative to develop children into independent and expert writers.

Big Writing focuses on the four key aspects of quality writing:

• Vocabulary - every child is encouraged to widen their use of language, in order to make their writing richer e.g. ‘He walked down the stairs in the night' - not that interesting!  However, by developing vocabulary: The tall, thin man crept furtively down the stairs under the cover of the dark, quiet night' is a far more interesting sentence to read!  Children are encouraged to notice, learn, borrow and use interesting words; these are celebrated in the form of ‘wow' words
• Connectives - or joining words, are really important for ensuring writing is cohesive and interesting.
• Openers - by varying the way you open sentences, writing becomes more engaging to read.
• Punctuation - the ‘icing on the cake', so to speak!  Children are encouraged to use appropriate punctuation to lift their writing off the page e.g. ‘We were sailing hard at 23 knots (very fast!) through perilous and ice cold waters.'

Big Writing begins with the thought process and discussion of the writing task - you may have experienced the ‘TALKING HOME-WORK'.  TALKING HOMEWORK - is just that! A chance for your child to talk about what they are going to write in the BW lesson e.g. play, diary, biography, report etc.

TALKING HOMEWORK IS A CHANCE FOR:

• Your child to think through and discuss initial ideas for their BW (the homework will always offer support in this).
• To get their writing ideas clear in their heads by thinking and discussing the order of what they will write. Will it make sense?
• A chance for you to be involved in their development as expert writers.
• The most important reason for the talking homework is to develop their thought process...

If they can't discuss and verbalise their ideas, how can we expect them to write them down?

The ingredients that make a Big Writing Lesson:

1. Lots of experience beforehand of writing the particular text type chosen for The BW e.g. story, report, play, recount.
2. A short lesson about what the children will be writing for their BW lesson the following day and a chance to read through some good examples of similar writing (we call this ‘hooking in').
3. Talking Homework - discussed in class and sent home (important discussion and planning time).
4. A lively, fun lesson that focuses on the VCOP and generates ideas for the BW.

5. An undisturbed writing session, with candles, Mozart, writing paper, special pens (year 3 and 4), and electric silence!

6. Reading the writing with a partner and helping each other to make improvements.

7. Setting targets for how to make progress, next time they write.