This document provides guidance on proper keyboarding techniques for middle grades students. It discusses maintaining proper posture with feet flat, back straight, elbows at sides and fingers curved over keys. It recommends using quick down-and-in thumb motions and keeping eyes on the copy, not the keyboard. The number row keys and symbol keys layout are shown and guidelines for spacing around symbols like periods, commas, quotes and parentheses in documents are outlined.

1. Keyboarding – Number and
Symbol Keys
Execute the touch method in
operating number and symbol keys

2. Keyboarding Middle Grades 2
Posture and Technique Review
 Sit up straight
 Feet flat on the floor
 Body centered in front of the computer
 Elbows naturally by side
 Fingers curved
 Wrists low, but not touching the keyboard
 Quick, snappy strokes

3. Keyboarding Middle Grades 3
 Quick down and in motion of the thumb
 Right pinky used for the enter key; other
fingers remain on the home row
 Examine the number keys carefully to form a
mental picture of the layout.
 Keep your eyes on the copy (what you are
typing from, not the keyboard and your
fingers)
 Place your fingers on the center of each key
with the fingers slightly curved
 Strike keys firmly and release them quickly
Posture and Technique Review--continued

4. Keyboarding Middle Grades 4
Home Row Keys Review

5. Keyboarding Middle Grades 5
Keyboard Fingering Layout
Number and Symbol Keys
~
#
3
$
4
%
5
^
6
Tab Q W E R T Y U I
:
LK
}{
PO
Backspace
+
=
_
-
)
0
@
2
!
1
(
9
*8
&
7
Caps Lock
Shift
D
Ctrl
JF G H
Z
Enter“
SA
><
MNBVCX ?
Shift
CtrlAltSpacebarAlt
A S D F J K L ;

6. Keyboarding Middle Grades 6
Spacing Around Symbols
 . (period)—space once after when used with abbreviations or
initials, space twice after at the end of a sentence
 , (comma)—space once after
 ; (semi-colon)—space once after
 : (colon)—space twice after except when stating time
 ? (question mark)—space twice after at the end of a sentence
 * (asterisk)—no space between word and symbol
 ! (exclamation point)—space twice after at the end of a sentence
 @ (at)—one space before and after except in an email address
 # (number/pound symbol)—no space between figure and symbol
 $ (dollar sign)—no space after
 “ ” (quotation)—no space after beginning, one space after ending

7. Keyboarding Middle Grades 7
Spacing--continued
 - (hyphen)—no space before or after
 — (dash)—no space before or after
 / (slash or diagonal)—no space before or after
 + (plus)—one space before and after
 > (greater than)—no space before or after
 < (less than)—no space before or after
 ( (left parenthesis)—no space after
 ) (right parenthesis)—no space before, one space after
 = (equals)—space before and after
 ’ (apostrophe)—no space before or after
 & (ampersand)—space once before and after
 % (percent)—no space before