Is it too early for my child to begin learning keyboarding skills? When should my child be using correct finger placement on the home row keys? In an age when students have access to a computer on a daily basis at Parsley and many are using them at home, both for homework and for play, parents may wonder if or when their child should be practicing 'proper' keyboarding skills.

     The NC Standard Course of Study has keyboarding skills built in its Computer/Technology Skills curriculum beginning in Kindergarten when students are expected to "identify, locate and use special keys (e.g., arrow keys, space bar, Shift, Enter/Return, Backspace, Delete), letters, and numbers on the keyboard." First grade students "locate and use letters, numbers, and special keys (e.g., arrow keys, space bar, insert Enter/Return, Backspace, Delete)". In second grade, students will "identify and use correct finger placement for home row keys". Due to the development of fine motor skills in second graders, it is recommended that focusing on this skill begin no earlier than the third grading period. Third graders "demonstrate correct finger placement for home row keys" while fourth graders "recognize, discuss, and use proper keyboarding techniques". It isn't until fifth grade that students are expected to "use proper keyboarding techniques to improve accuracy, speed, and general efficiency in computer operation".

     Though elementary students can learn to keyboard, for a student to have the opportunity to become proficient at keyboarding, it takes frequent practice which means 15-30 minutes a day, 3-5 times a week for 6-9 weeks .  In the average school day and week, it is a challenge for 2nd-5th grade teachers to find this amount of time to devote to keyboarding alone. How, then, can your student progress in his keyboarding skills at school?  At Parsley, we currently have two keyboarding programs available to our students: Type to Learn Jr. (K-2nd) and Type to Learn 3 (2nd-5th). 
     Type to Learn Jr. guides small hands to the world of keyboarding by introducing keyboarding basics beginning with posture. They keyboarding skills focuses on young students using two hands to type the letters of the alphabet (upper and lowe case), numbers as well as punctuation and more.  By completing the 25 sequential lessons inType to Learn 3 (within several weeks) , the skills-building instruction focuses on mastery with a social studies and language arts connection.

     Even without numerous blocks of time devoted exclusively to keyboarding skills, students can improve their typing  skills when they are given numerous opportunities to word process.  Teachers often incorporate keyboarding skills when they integrate desktop publishing in language arts, science, social studies and other curriculum areas.  The more opportunities a student has to type something, the better he/she will get.

      At home, you can select any one of the many keyboarding 'games' from our Cool Kid Sites page.  These free web resources for students in K-5 (and up!) make learning fun while practicing important keyboarding skills.

There are many online games that children (and adults) can use to practice keyboarding skills.