Writing and the California Common Core K-5

We have been talking standards recently on my K-8 private school campus.  We are trying to figure out where we are hitting the mark and if we are neglecting any fundamentals.  This is especially challenging in the lower grades where all of the standards are the responsibility of the classroom teacher. 
So much of working with the standards involves understanding the work we are doing in class in terms of the language used in the standards. In our staff discussion we came to the question, are we covering the needed standards in terms of writing and technology?
So I sat down with the Common Core as adopted by California and looked at the K-5 standards.  Here is what I noticed.

Technology is mentioned under “production of writing” as early as Kindergarten.  “ With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing”  This standard is the same for grade K-3.  This standard is met in many ways in grades K-3, from making videos, to composing labelled pictures, to creating an interactive scene in Scratch Jr.   When we use tools like Google docs or Drive we are meeting this standard.  Even messaging each other in Minecraft can meet this standard.

Image by Wes Fryer PhD

In fourth grade the standard expands to include “Using the internet” and typing a full page at a single seating. (appx 6.25 words per minute) In fifth grade the typing standard rises to 12 wpm.

Collaboration with peers and digital publishing are both met through our use of Google docs and when we ask students to read each other’s work and respond or contribute.

My take away is that writing needs to be able to connect to multiple audiences in the class and even beyond class.  When we use Google docs, we are using collaborative writing tools.  The greater challenge in the standards seems to be the one that asks us to “write routinely over extended time frames”