Mind Sparks: Website Wednesday

August 28, 2013

Website Wednesday

I hope all my readers and fellow bloggers out there have had a great start to their school year!! We have been in session for almost 2 weeks....but according to my body, it feels like much longer. I always forget how tired I am at the start of the school year. I just can't seem to get down a good routine.....and I just feel worn out! I am plum tired by the time the bell rings at 3:55. I am looking forward to the day when I feel rested....will that ever come?!? Ha!

For this edition of Website Wednesday I am going to provide you with some great keyboarding sites!

But first---let me give you the background story......if you don't care to read it....scroll to the bottom of this blog post for your keyboarding websites. :)

Our district has been pretty thorough about mapping CCSS for both ELA and math. One of the many focuses our district has this year, is on Writing Anchor Standard #6. This standard basically says students need to use technology and the internet to produce and publish writing--hello keyboarding!!!

Before jumping headfirst---our district wanted some specific goals....so we researched some already developed standards. We looked at Davis School District in Utah and Arlington Independent School District in Texas. Click the picture below to take you to their websites---they have some fabulous technology standards!!

Thanks to these awesome districts, our district was able to come up with district keyboarding standards. For example in fifth grade, students will need to master home row keys and type 25 words per minute with at least 80% accuracy. We quickly realized we needed to figure out a way to get these kiddos to type...and they needed to practice often!!!

Unfortunately we don't have a technology teacher at the elementary schools...so we have to squeeze keyboarding into our instructional day. Therefore, our district needed a cheap and easy way to practice keyboarding in lower grades.

Below are some great sites (that we found) to practice keyboarding! The best part is they are all free!!! So if you are in need of keyboarding practice.....here are your websites!

1. DanceMat Typing: