Wednesday, September 26, 2007

intro to word processing (MS)

We're using Open Office suite on iMacs in middle school. Introduced students to Writer. Also had students connect to server to open the following practice document and save it to their thumbdrive.

Center This Title

Access this document from the server (instructions provided separately). Save this document onto your thumbdrive. Select File and then Save As. Ensure file is saving as Word doc and specify the location of your thumbdrive. Select Save when you are done.

Create a header with your name and the date and a footer with the page number. Select Insert and then Header -> Default. Type your name in the left hand corner and put the date in the right hand corner by selecting Insert and then Fields -> Date. Select Insert and then Footer -> Default. Select Insert and then Fields -> Page Number.

Put the following items in a list, by highlighting the text below and selecting Bullets.
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3

Change the font of this text to Comic Sans MS by highlighting the text and selecting the appropriate Font.

Change the font of this text to increase its size to 20 by highlihting the text and selectin Font Size of 20.

Select Table and then Insert and Table to insert a table into the document with 7 columns and 2 rows. Put the days of the week in Bold in the first row. Put next week’s corresponding dates in the second row.

Run a spell-check on this document to fix any misspellings by selecting Tools and then Spellcheck.

Use the Drawing tools. Select View and then Toolbars -> Drawing. The Drawing toolbar will appear at the bottom of your screen. Try adding text to your drawing.

Print this document and save it.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Internet Scavenger Hunt - Keyboarding

When was the first practical typewriter invented?

- 1766

- 1866

- 1966


Who mass produced the first typewriter?

- IBM

- Blickensderfer

- Remington

What else did that company manufacture?


What does QWERTY stand for?



What does WPM or GWPM stand for?



What are ergonomics?

- the scientific study of body posture

- the scientific study of keyboarding

- the scientific study of human work conditions

Where is home position on the keyboard?


Where should your feet be positioned while keyboarding?


How often should you give your eyes a break from the computer?


What could cause a repetitive injury?


Who was the first author to submit a type-written manuscript to a publisher?

keyboarding

Again, found some great new resources for keyboarding as well as creating a Keyboarding Internet Scavenger Hunt.

- What are ergonomics?
- Keyboarding History
- Dance Mat Typing
- Touch Typing
- Typer Shark
- Typing Test

Basic Keyboarding goals this year:
4th – correct positioning
5th – 15 WPM
6th – 20 WPM
7th – 25 WPM
8th – 30 WPM

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

internet safety

As usual, I took all the students who will have access to computers (4th thru 8th grade) and spent time reviewing internet safety. I found a new site to use with the kids that was fun & educational @ safe surfing. They also went home with a safe computer user agreements to sign along with their parents or guardians.