O is for Openers, P is for Punctuation

In tonight’s staff meeting we will go through the last two components of VCOP…then we’re almost ready for the Big Write.

Openers Fluency Tasks/Stocking Fillers

Dice Openers – Roll a dice, the number that is rolled equals the amount of words in the sentence. Could be used to write an entire story or a variety of openers for the beginning. An alternative is to write on a blank dice different types of sentences that could be used for the opener.

Sentence Building – Give students the opener and then students complete the sentence or story. Alternative is giving students the second half of a sentence and students need to write the opening section.

Pass It On – Oral language activity. Students are given a simple sentence. Students build on to create a story. Students must start their sentence with the last word of the sentence before.

Once Upon a Slime – Andy Griffiths

This book is in the library. Has a lot of story openers. Worth a look!

Opener Scavenger Hunt – Allow students to look for openers in their Just Right texts.

Puntuation Fluency Tasks/Stocking Fillers

Clap for Caps – Read a text with the students but do not show them. When students think the text needs a capital letter then they clap/stand up/click their fingers. Could be used for different types of punctuation.

Kung Fu Punctuation – Rather than practising the moves for the different kinds of punctuation get the students involved and active during whole class read aloud. When students see different punctuation as the text is being read they perform the relevant move.