Lesson #20: What is the last row on the keyboard?

This week is the last week that we will devote to keyboarding in class.  Please know that no student will be proficient in typing with only concentrating on this skill within the months of December and January.  This takes practice!  This is one of the reasons that all of the keyboarding resources we have used are online.  As a parent, I would encourage your students to continue working through these resources.  Computer lab time has been devoted to teaching the basics but practice makes perfect!!

In this week's lesson, we reviewed all that we have learned thus far in keyboarding, such as the following:  how to sit at the keyboard, how to place one's hands on the keyboard, and  the HOME ROW & QWERTY ROW.  I also explained how each finger has to move downward to reach the last row on the keyboard.  I also introduced the shift key.

After finishing the 10 exercises that focus on the last row of the keyboard while combining all the keys they have learned thus far, each student may pick a typing resource of their choice in which to practice.  Since this is the last day in the unit, they can choose a competitive game that tests their speed and accuracy or a final speed test to determine their words per minute.

CHECK OUT THESE KEYBOARDING RESOURCES ONLINE:

(These are also located on Miss Wilmes' eChalk page under "Resources".  CLICK HERE!)

Arcademic Skill Builders

Arcade + Academics = Skill Builders / Practice your typing skills with a group of players!

Home Row Keys Practice

Use this Microsoft Word to practice your home row keys: "asdfghjkl;"

Learn to Type Online

Use this tutorial to practice typing in small sections. There are 10 lessons to introduce a section of keys, as well as allow students to practice what they have learned.

More Typing Games

This website has some more games to practice your typing skills. If you feel like you need to brush up on your typing skills, check out the lesson tab at the top of the webpage. Have fun!

Speed Test #1

Take this test to see how many words per minute you type, as well as how many mistakes you would make. To find out your percent of accuracy, take how many words there are in your section and divide it by the number of mistakes you made. You will get a decimal (for example: .08). Move the decimal over two places and subtract from 100. See if you can beat Miss Wilmes' score: 95 WPM with a 92% accuracy.

Speed Test #2

Test your typing skills to see how fast you can type! See if you can beat Miss Wilmes' score: 101 WMP with 1 missed word.

Test out your WPM!

Typing Tutorials & Games

This website has several typing tutorials, as well as a speed test and a selection of games. Try out this resource to practice your typing skills! See if you can beat Miss Wilmes' score on the speed test: 94 WPM with a 94% accuracy.

Lesson #19: What is your WPM?

Students have been working on a unit focused on keyboarding.  They have learned the HOME ROW and the QWERTY row.  This week, we will review what we have learned, as well as focus on how to determine their Words Per Minute.  The students have seen WPM displayed in their typing exercises.  This week I would like to explain what this is and how one’s WPM can be determined.


WHAT DOES WPM MEAN?
WPM = words per minute
However many words you can type in 60 seconds is your words per minute.  

WANT TO TRY?
Grab a stopwatch or use the app on your iTouch or phone to time yourself for 60 seconds.  You can use my Word Document of "TEST YOUR WPM" located on my eChalk webpage.  The first section is The Pledge of Allegiance.  The second section is the Preamble.  See which section you can type the fastest.  Do you think your WPM increases on one section over the other?  Do you think it makes a difference if you know what you are typing versus a section you do not?  

Lesson #18: What does QWERTY mean?

Curious how the keyboard was formatted?  The keyboard that we use most often throughout the US is called the 'QWERTY' keyboard.  The letters Q W E R T Y are actually the first six letters on the keyboard.

The first keyboard was actually laid out alphabetically.  The reason it was changed to the QWERTY format was not necessarily for speed but because the keys kept on getting jammed when in alphabetical order.  Typewriters were used to type, and since they were very mechanical, they were prone to jamming.  A man by the name of Christopher Stoles who used the typewriter as a newspaper editor and printer actually designed and created the idea in the early 1870s.

The QWERTY layout actually helped to solve that problem, as this new layout spread out the most commonly used keys across the keyboard.  This layout distributed the keys throughout the 10 fingers instead of the "hunt and peck" method used when it was laid out alphabetically.

Lesson #17: How can I learn to type online?

TYPING.  TYPING.  TYPING.

As I explained in class, we will continue the unit on keyboarding until the end of January.   With that said, I don’t expect students to be perfect with typing with only 5-6 weeks focused on keyboarding.  However, all of the typing resources that we have focused on have been online, so that students may practice outside of class anytime, anywhere. Each week, it is my goal to show the students various resources online to improve their typing skills, so that they may continue their learning outside of the classroom walls.

CURIOUS?

Check out the "Resource" section on Miss Wilmes' webpage.  This week, we concentrated on the "Learn to Type Online" tutorial.  We reviewed the HOME ROW keys and made sure to work on our accuracy before moving through each of the ten exercises.  

SMOY Beede Bear

Did you know that SMOY recognizes two teachers a month for doing the ordinary in an extra-ordinary way?  Each month two teachers are recognized by receiving a personal note and the Beede Bear to display in their classroom, in honor of Connie Beede.  When the Beede bears are given, a hard written personal note is also given to state what a wonderful thing the recipient did and how valuable they are to our school.  This month, one of the recipients was Miss Wilmes.

To Cindy Wilmes - The recipient of the Beede Bear is one of our most fashionable bears, but her sense of style has nothing to do with why she is so deserving.  I know that this year has been filled with struggles, between establishing a new position and taking on our own complicated IT issues.  Before school started, Cindy spent hours upon hours, staying late into the night, getting her classroom set up to match her vision of what it should look like -  a fun place for students to learn.  Her love and enthusiasm for teaching is inspiring.  With her passion and excitement in her voice, she captures the children's attention when she talks about things such as avatars, QR codes, and googling.  SHe is always smiling and maintains a positive attitude.  Cindy, you are the kind of person who lights up a room, and we are blessed to have you here, lighting up SMOY.

QR CODE RECAP

Thank you to all the students who made PROJECT QR CODE:  the virtual tour a success!!  If you do not have a smart phone in order to scan all the QR CODES around the school, do not worry!  I have uploaded all of these items onto this blog.  Make sure to scroll down below to look at all of the uploaded items, or you can look on the right hard side of this blog for a detailed list of each blog entry.

Don't forget to check out Miss Wilmes' QR CODE VIDEO for some helpful tips!