Sample slides from my workshop, "Little Hands in the Computer Lab: Teaching Pre-Touch Typing Computer Skills to Kindergarten and First Grade Classes."

1. Little Hands in the Computer Lab Introducing pre-touch-typing skills to kindergarten and first grade classes (Photos deleted to protect student privacy. )

2. Name _______________________________ Color the letters in your name!

3. Name _______________________________ Color the letters in your name! Color the left-hand letters red. Color the right-hand letters blue.

4. Many curriculum choices for older elementary students. But few for kindergarten and first grade.

5. Challenges faced by early elementary students in the computer lab:

6. size

7. A kindergartner’s hands Adult hands  

8. Copy text from a book

9. Keyboard

10. Lack of experience.

11. Tools I use

12. Overhead Projector

14. Solo Mouse

15. Solo Keyboard

16. POSTURE

17. INPUT – You talk to the computer. OUTPUT – The computer talks to you.

18. Develop our MOUSE SKILLS

19. Use the mouse to point, and click … drag … and release.

20. Practice making circles and ovals. Get a feel for the mouse.

21. This snowman was made using only the oval/circle tool.

22. Introduce the Space Bar.

23. Attempting to use the thumbprint to hit the space bar results in an awkward and time-consuming motion.

24.  A dot on the thumb helps students find the correct hand position.

25. What does QWERTY mean?

26. Name _______________________________ Color the letters in your name!

27. Name _______________________________ Color the letters in your name! KATE

28. Name _______________________________ Color the letters in your name! KATE

29. Name _______________________________ Color the letters in your name! KATE

30. Name _______________________________ Color the letters in your name! KATE

31. Name _______________________________ Color the letters in your name! KATE

33. Backspace and Delete

34. Anchoring hands!

35. “ Anchoring” the hands on “a” and “;”

36. Our goal is NOT to teach proper touching typing. Our goal is to teach that the hands have a proper resting place when they aren’t working.

37. The divided keyboard

38. Students still aren’t properly touching typing, but by the end of first grade, we have students who can …

40. *Students who are not afraid to use a computer *Students who are ready to begin touch-typing

41. Marti Kramer Suddarth St. Joseph Catholic School 512 N. Mulberry Street Corydon, IN 47112 [email_address]