[LM_NET] HIT: HELP for easy WORD lessons, Part 2 of 2

[Kathy Hintz <kmhintz@YAHOO.COM>]

Again, thanks to all who replied.
  Part 2:
   
  Directions: After completing your friendly letter using the “Letter Generator” at 
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/letter_generator/ you will practice your 
skills by creating a friendly letter addressed to a fourth grade student in another 
class. 
  These are the parts of the letter you write must include: 
  ·                                 Heading, 
  ·                                 Date, 
  ·                                 Salutation, 
  ·                                 Body, 
  ·                                 Closing, 
  ·                                 Signature. 
      
      Open Word and in a Blank Document press Enter four times then type the 
Heading which is the name and address of your friend, then press Enter twice and 
type in today’s date. Press Enter when the month appears, and Enter again when the 
date appears. Press Enter two more times.   
      Now type in your Salutation being sure to use the correct punctuation. Press 
Enter twice.   
      Indent the first line of your paragraph by using the Tab key once.   
      Type a minimum of two paragraphs to your friend, including information about 
yourself, things you like to do, hobbies you may have, sports, music, and school 
activities you participate in, a little about pets if you have any, and vacations 
you have gone on. Press Enter twice between paragraphs and Tab once if Word doesn’t 
automatically do it for you.   
      Press Enter twice when you are finished with your letter and type your 
Closing using the correct punctuation. Press Enter four times.   
      Type your Signature.   
      Use Spell Check by going to Tools – Spelling and Grammar, correct any 
mistakes you might have made.   
      Print your letter.     
      Sign your letter between the Closing and the Signature and check to see if it 
looks like the example letter. 


    
   Get a language arts lesson from their teachers.  Make it accessible so they can 
all pull it up on their computers.Have them go through and highlight all the nouns 
in pink and the verbs in blue. (or whatever part of speech they are working on)   
   Have them type their names and then copy and paste it ten times.  Then change 
the font each time, or the size, or the case.  
   Using the language arts lesson above, show them how to use "Find" so they can 
locate specific words or terms.     
   Have them bring with them one paragraph and type it up.  Then show them the 
editing toolbar.  Have them type up their paragraph and then move one seat to the 
left and edit the previous person's work.  Give them a few minutes and then have 
them rotate again.  Leave time for them to go back to their original seat and read 
comments.  


A while ago, we ran a program where we trained kids to be trainers - 

i.e. to talk their partner through some work in Word without touching the keyboard 
and/or mouse.  Kids were paired, with one taking the role of trainer and the other 
the learner.  The trainer stood behind the learner.  We started with a set piece of 
unformatted text (saved as a template) and then gave basic instructions - e.g. 
highlight the top line, centre it, make the text bold, change the font, and so on.  
The trainer could indicate, using a pencil on the screen, what buttons/icons to 
use, but could not touch the mouse or keyboard.  The learner had to follow 
instructions, not take the initiative.

We found it was fantastic for both kids within a team.  The trainer had 

to be precise, while the learner had to follow instructions.   Roles were reversed 
later.

The first time we did it, we had many boy trainers hopping impatiently 
  
from foot to foot because they couldn't touch the keyboard and just do what was 
required!  That too improved and the kids became very good at telling someone what 
to do.


                       
  How about using 2 columns to create a news article about themselves? 
    Not sure, but you might like some of the lessons I have linked and described at 
my web pages. Here is the URL: http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_mah/documents/mbell.html 


Cyberbee
  
http://www.cyberbee.com/


 

 

 

Here is something successful that I have done with Word for 3rd and 4th 

graders & it's perfect for April because it's Poetry Month. I have one group write 
a cinquain and the other do a haiku. We draft, edit and publish it in word. I teach 
the following basic skills w/this project:

 

1. Header (student name, teacher name, date)

2. Synonym/Thesaurus/Spelling and Grammar Check tools

3. Formatting text: review of font, size, style, alignment and color

4. Word Art (for title)

5. Margins

6. Graphics - I have them add one from clip art;

7. Background Image - I also show them how to add a graphic as the 

background (format picture, image control color to washout if needed, layout behind 
text)

8. Zoom in/out to assess the visual appearance of poem on page

9. Print Preview for a final check

 

-We print them in color and I plaster them on the wall in the hall - 

the kids LOVE this project.

-The poems are short and easy to write, so I can focus them on the Word 

skills that I want them to use.

-I leave the topics open-ended, I just make sure to explain to them 
  
that the topic must be school appropriate & I have never had a problem.


 


Kathy Hintz, SLMS 
Librarian, Etc 
St. Patrick's Aademy 
Catskill, NY 
kmhintz@yahoo.com
   

 
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