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Subjects

• Educational Technology
• Vocational Education
  -- Computers
  

Grade

• 3-5
• 6-8
  

Brief Description

A fun poem activity helps reinforce basic word processing skills.

Objectives

Students will

• explore some of the basic functions of word processing programs.
• practice using those functions.
• complete a work sheet about what they learn.

Keywords

technology, computer, word processing, format, text, formatting text

Materials Needed

• Basic Computer and Word Processing Functions Web site
• What Font! work sheet

Lesson Plan

Brainstorm with students a list of functions their word processing program can perform. They should include on the list typing, saving, and printing text; deleting, inserting, and changing text; copying and pasting text; and so on. Invite students to explore Basic Computer and Word Processing Functions to learn the functions of various tools in their word processing program and to learn the keys and menus they should use to access those functions.

Note: The part of this lesson described above might be completed with students gathered around a single classroom computer, with a projected image of the Web site as the whole class explores it together, with students working at individual computers in a lab setting, or with students working individually at a learning center computer.

Next, introduce a poem to students. If you are a frequent Internet surfer an e-mailer, you have probably seen this poem before. You might have seen it under the title "Ode to a Spellchecker.” The poem begins like this:

I have a spelling checker.
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot see.

You can share the entire poem with students by clicking here. (With luck, you should see in their faces the recognition that this poem was written with tongue in cheek!) Talk with students about a handful of the obvious errors.

Next, hand out the What Font! work sheet and have students follow the directions on it. The activity involves students in practicing many of the word processing skills they have learned.

Assessment

Students will correctly complete all the steps on the What Font! work sheet.

Answer Key:
Note: Directions may vary slightly for Mac users.

1. To find the poem, type the URL into the browser window and hit Enter.
2. To copy the poem, click Edit>Select All; Edit>Copy. To paste the poem into a blank word document, open a blank document and click Edit>Paste.
3. To save the document, click File>Save As, choose a folder, type Spell Checker Poem in the box next to File name, and click Save.
4. To change the Font type from Web to Normal, go to View>Toolbars and click Formatting. Click the down arrow next to Normal(Web) and click Normal in the drop down menu.
5. To change the color of all misspelled words to red, highlight each word, click Format>Font and click the color red in the drop down menu beneath Font color. To change the color of all the words at once, hold down the Ctrl or Apple button while highlighting. Then follow the directions for changing font color.
6. To change the last line of every stanza to italics, follow the directions for step 5, but choose Italic beneath Font style instead of Font color.
7. To correct the spelling, highlight each word and type the correct spelling.
8. To delete the author’s name, highlight it and type your own name.
9. To insert a suggested grade, highlight your name, go to View>Toolbars and click Reviewing. Click Insert>Comment and type the grade you think you deserve. Click Alt+Shift+C to close the reviewing window. To read the suggested grade, place the mouse over the area where the comment was inserted.
10. To save the poem, go to File and click Save. To close the document, click the X in the upper right corner of the document window.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

Submitted By

Linda Starr

National Standards

TECHNOLOGY
GRADES K - 12
NT.K-12.1 Basic Operations and Concepts
NT.K-12.4 Technology Communications tools

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