Keyboarding is an important skill for kids to learn. Whether they are typing a report, texting, or gaming, having general knowledge of the QWERTY keyboard is important. I start working with students on keyboarding as early as kindergarten. We start working on home row and using all of our fingers for typing in 3rd grade. By the time they reach middle school, keyboarding is a part of the computer curriculum. But kids are connected to technology at an early age, so it is important to be familiar at an early age. Our kindergartners start by identifying the letters on the keyboard. First graders work with other keys such as shift, the number pad, space bar, and back space. They also learn Microsoft Word and publish their first reports. Second graders start working on building confidence and speed with locations on the keyboard. The third, fourth, and fifth graders use a website called Dance Mat Typing. This program starts out by teaching home row, then each level adds a couple new letters and teaches which fingers should be used to type them. By the time they reach the final level, they can test themselves by attempting to increase speed and decrease errors. Who knows where keyboards will be in the future? It probably won't be too long until we use voice commands for everything, and keyboards will become obsolete. But like cursive writing, it will always be an important skill that students should master.
