Hello,
Just FYI, there are some great resources that you might want to take a look at for future reference for our students who are not yet in the Keyboarding program. Found some of these very interesting and useful.
Many states, including my home state of Massachusetts are moving to computer-based testing which include novel test items that require students to drag and drop items, highlight text, and type proficiently. While many praise the new “21st century assessments”, teachers are left wondering how to best prepare their students so that the assessment is a measure of what kids know, not how skilled they are at using devices. This post is not intended to support or criticize these next-generation assessments, but rather to provide teachers with websites and activities that support students’ development of typing, touchpad and mouse skills.
Typing Practice
§ Introduction to Keyboarding (K – 2) – Students in grades K – 2 begin by learning which hand to use to strike letters on a keyboard. Practice sites support letter recognition and indicate which hand kids should be using with a color, for example “purple” letters, use left hand, green letters use right hand. Tip: Support students by providing two different colored wrist bands to help kids keep track of which hand to use.
§ Monkeypaws KeySeeker (K – 2): Practices letter recognition and begins to familiarize kids with where those letters are located on the keyboard.
§ ABCYa Keyboard Zoo (K-2): Practices letter names or sounds while exposing students to letter location and which hand to use to strike each key.
§ Beginner Keyboarding Practice (Gr 3 – 4) – Students in grades 3 & 4 should begin to use the correct hand position (home row) and practice using the correct fingers to select keys.
§ Typing Club (K-2): Login in with Google or Office 365 accounts, lessons focus on specific keys and track speed and accuracy. An on-screen keyboard appears on the bottom half of the screen to show students the correct hand position and which finger should be used to strike the keys. Progress is tracked if students sign in to their free account. Tip: Install Adblock Plus Chrome extension to avoid distracting advertisements.
§ Math Quiz (Gr 4-6) Practice typing numbers while improving fact fluency.
Mouse/Touchpad Skills
§ Basic Mouse/Touchpad Skills (K – 2) – Students in grades K – 2 practice clicking, dragging and dropping using a mouse or touchpad.
§ Base Ten Fun (K-2): Students drag and drop base ten blocks from toolbox to work space to make the number shown on the screen.
§ Click the Bubble (K-1): Students practice moving the cursor with the mouse or touch pad and clicking to pop bubbles.
§ Code.org/learn (K-8): Engage students with wide variety of block-based coding games that develop students’ computational thinking while allowing them to practice drag & drop skills. Use the left sidebar to filter by age and device availability.
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