Category: 2nd

You want to practice 10-15 minutes two to three times a week. Even for kindergartners. Choose a fun software program–whichever will keep their attention when they’re young. I use Type to Learn Jr. in my school until half-way through first grade, but there are other good ones. For the older children, I use Type to Learn. I have great results with it. Students are challenged, intrigued, motivated by the prizes and the levels.

Another option is online typing sites. Typingweb is good. It’s a graduated program that keeps track of your progress. If you’re picking an online program as an alternative to software, it’s important to log in so the software remembers what your child has accomplished. If you’re going to use online sites as part of an overall typing practice curriculum, here are some other good sites to try:

1. Keyboard challenge—adapted to grade level http://www.abcya.com/keyboard.htm
2. Keyboard practice—quick start http://www.keybr.com/
3. Keyboarding Fingerjig—6 minute test of ability http://www.jonmiles.co.uk/fingerjig.php
4. Keyboarding for Kids http://webinstituteforteachers.org/~gammakeys/Lesson/Lesson1.htm
5. Keyboarding practice http://www.usspeller.com/keytutor.html
6. Keyboarding—alphabet rain game http://www.powertyping.com/rain.shtml (more…)

This holiday letter can be as simple (for 2nd graders) or sophisticated (middle school) as your students can handle. There are a gamut of skills–

• text
• borders
• pictures (from the internet, from clip art, from a separate file folder on your school server)
• different fonts, font colors, font sizes

I’ve included a grading rubric to guide students in accomplishing as much as they can. Start with the basics (text, a border, some pictures) and add more skills as students get used to the early ones: (more…)

Publisher cards are easy enough for second graders–even early readers. Pick a template, add a picture to personalize, add their name–and they’re done. It takes about 15 minutes. Kids always feel great about creating these greeting cards: (more…)

This is the only project that’s easier than Project 21 (the holiday card in Publisher). There’s no folding and the templates are bright, colorful and exciting for kids as young as second grade: (more…)

Reinforce fiction writing–characters, plot, setting, climax–with a short story in MS Word. Then use color, borders, pictures to enhance the words. (more…)

Drawings are done in KidPix. Assign topics (me, my family, etc) for grades K-1 to reinforce the concept of following directions. With 2^nd grade, use one picture for each of the parts of a story—characters, plot, setting, climax/resolution.  Mix pictures and text.  Younger students can show these to parents at Open House or a parent night using Windows slideshow function (something they can do without assistance after a bit of practice). Second graders can create a PowerPoint slideshow that will knock the socks off of their parents.

This is the first of about six projects in PowerPoint (see sidebar for more). Start with this one and build up to the last. (more…)

Create the drawings in KidPix for grades kindergarten and first. By second grade, you can have students insert them into PowerPoint as a slideshow for Open House. (more…)

Reinforce Dolch words and sentence structure with KidPix text tool and drawing options.

Before you start this project, be sure to go through How to KidPix I and How to KidPix II. (more…)