Whose Penguin Flag was flown in Antarctica and a Performance Task Freebie?

I'm Whose Penguin flag was flown in Antarctica? Well, Well, Well, it was the 2nd Grade Robots. We have been working on a writing unit of study on Penguins.

The students have been very excited and interested in this unit of study it has helped them grow into more diverse writers and it has helped me harness and develop my google facilitator skills.

We started using Google Apps for our informational writing and it has been quite amazing. I thought I was merely preparing my students for SBAC testing in third grade but Whoa was it so much more.

The biggest take away for me to invest more time into learning Google Apps for writing was the students eagerness and ability to edit and revise in Google Apps.

Day 4

Here is a quote" I know, I know you won't spell it for me. My teacher is not my spelling resource google is my spelling resource. I will type it in and see if I get a red line."

Day 7
Same girl new day, she was eavesdropping in on my writing conference with her neighbor then she chimes in with this gem. " You know what Chris, you need to use google as a spelling resource. Let me show you. You type your word, then you press space. See you have a red line. It is spelled wrong. Go to Tools Spelling and Google will help you. Look there it is that is how you spell it, click and it is now in your writing.
Soundtrack in my head"Girls hit your Hallelujah, (WHOO) Girls hit your Hallelujah (WHOO).
Don't believe me just watch!"Bruno Mars( FYI sometimes these soundtracks don't just stay in my head I actually sing them in class but I think it is okay it creates joy in learning and helps me connect with my little guys at a neat level(I know the songs they hear in mom's car, or uncle house).

 I mean yes, how many times have I gently paraphrased  words from Lucy Calkins." Have a partner read your writing to make sure it make sense to readers, that the words are written neatly and spelled correctly." to end up with their writing partner saying I don't know what it says and the writers so discouraged they just give up and correct one or two words and submit the piece with little revision. ( This is not to knock Calkins, I feel she is a real genius and this is often an effective strategy) Google has created a safe environment for partners to help with revision and tools that are easy to implement multiplying the reach of Calkins as computers usually do. Thank you Google for Education.  Well, because the students have amped up their writing game I amped up mine I took the time to develop my skills using Doctopus a google add on. So, I began to learn from a tutorial how I can better use Doctopus. Here is the tutorial that helped me. Click here 
So, I did a test run with our Performance task assessment. Which I borrowed from Lucy Calkins Pathways to Writing it is truly a great tool and aligned to SBAC. Here are the Anchor Chart pieces I used: Performance Task Anchor Chart Freebie Combined with Google apps and Doctopus I feel really empowered as an educator to be able to meet my students needs.

We are second row 1st flag. La Verne Science and Technology.

Well, to sum up the unit and provide a little bit of art and global connectedness to this unit the we created a flag and sent it up to the Antarctic to an Adelie Penguin research Center. Our Flag was hanging Jan 15-16 and we just got it back in the mail. This was a fun an exciting piece to our writing. If you are interested in doing this next year here is the link: Classroom Penguin Flags Website
Check us out!!!
Soundtrack in my students heads: " We are so fancy, you already know. We are in the fast lane from LA to Tokyo, We are so fancy, Cant you taste this gold. Remember our name"
I just love it when I can make my students understand how big yet how small the world is and that they can be a connected so many parts of the world through learning. Happy Penguins,Happy feet, Happy Learning!