Tue May 21 2013

Pupils in Year 5 will be set ICT: Digital Literacy homework once a week. They will be expected to spend 30 minutes working on activities from those below which will help them to improve their ability to touch type accurately and quickly. Once your child has completed their typing activity they will need you to sign the homework sheet in their planner to show their teacher that they have completed their homework. (If they have lost their sheet, you can print another copy from here)

Should there be an issue with Internet use or home access for these activities then pupils are encouraged to attend ICT Homework club on Thursday between 12:55 and 13:25 in ICT1, or they can work on some of the offline activities listed at the bottom of this page. If you have any further queries please contact your child's Digital Literacy teacher in the first instance or Miss Sugg, Leader of ICTAC.

Online Activities
OnlyTypingGames - A range of typing games to help you learn key placements on the keyboard. There are also several different typing tests for speed and accuracy
TypingClass - Big Brown Bear typing lessons and games teach you how to touch type through a series of fun lessons and games
Learn2Type - A simple typing activity to help improve your ability to find the different letters on the keyboard. Text appears one line at a time, and this activity is not timed
BBCDancematTyping - BBC Dancemat Typing is a fun and interactive typing tutor program with 12 levels, teaching you how to touch type and familiarising you with the layout of the keyboard. You can even print certificates to show your progress through the levels
FreeTypingGames - A range of typing games designed to improve your familiarity with the keyboard and ability to type without looking at the keys
FreeTypingGameLessons - A range of lessons focusing on different keys on the keyboard to help you improve your ability to type quickly and accurately
FreeTypingGameTests - Tests to see how your typing is progressing and whether you are meeting your typing targetsand improving like you want to
TypingTest - A choice of tests to see how quickly and accurately you can type a range of texts with varied punctuation
TypingTestGames - More games to support the development of your typing skills, learning through fun
SenseLangGames - Themed typing games to challenge your typing skills and develop your ability to touch type
SenseLangKeyboarding - Keyboarding skills activitiesusing resources of your choice, including your own text or the BBC News website to develop your ability to touch type quickly and accurately
SenseLangNumericKeypad - These activities are designed to improve your ability to use the number pad on your keyboard quickly and accurately
SenseLangTests - Tests designed to assist you with monitoring the improvement made to your typing skills and which areas still need to be focused on. You also have the option to print certificates to show which skills you have acquired
OnlineTypingGames - A large choice of typing games to focus on the skills that you need to improve the speed and accuracy of your typing and achieve your target
TypingWebTypingTutor - This site provides typing lessons for learning the layout of letter keys and helping you to touch type. You do not have to create an account, although it will offer you the chance to do this, and can just visit the site using the activities as you wish rather than creating an account and saving your progress through the lessons
Send your ICT: Digital Literacy teacher an email telling them about this week's lesson and what you have enjoyed. Do you have an idea for improving the lesson? Have you found a great resource the rest of the class would like to use? If so, tell us about it. Do all of this without looking at the keyboard, you can even put a towel over your hands to make sure that you don't cheat, and see how well you manage to get your message across. You can also send a message to Miss Sugg if you want
Activities that don't need the Internet
Try typing a short story, or a description of the room around you, or a diary entry about your day today without looking at the keyboard. You may find it helps to put a towel over your hands and the keyboard until the end of your typing and then look back at how well you have done
Design a poster which shows which finger you should use to type each letter with. You can draw around your hands and then start to decorate and add detail to your poster from there
Turn your monitor off and copy a section from your reading book. Then turn the screen back on and look to see how accurate your work has been
Ask your teacher for a blank keyboard layout, or print one from here, and then try to write the keys on it in the correct places. Check against a real keyboard afterwards and see how well you did
Write down your name, and then underneath each letter add T (Top), M (Middle) or B (Bottom) to show which row of the keyboard you would find that letter on. When you feel confident with this, you can do this task with any sentence or piece of text that you like - why not try some of the lyrics of a favourite song?