Vocabulary, Connectives, Openers and Punctuation (VCOP)

Our school follows the UK curriculum so using VCOP is a big part of our Literacy program. It's broken into four parts: vocabulary, connectives, openers and punctuation. It's progressive so young children can access it and it encourages getting to 'the next level' as well. This makes differentiation super simple.

It's easy to have all 4 components available from the beginning of the school year (on display, for instance) but you can focus on one at a time in your word-level work. It can then be incorporated into your lesson's success criteria.

Lots of websites provide great resources so it is easy to incorporate VCOP into your classroom decor and make high-quality resources available at your student's fingertips. I really like the VCOP pyramids. Once put together and laminated, they can be set out on tables during independent writing time and referred to during guided writing.

The top of the pyramid is the most basic. Students move down the pyramid for a challenge. Teachers could add to the "Vocabulary" section so the words reflect what is being discussed in class. 

These are some of my favourite. Click on the images to visit the site's VCOP resources.