Fun with Kindergarten!

In my school system all students K-12 must log onto the computer with a student ID log in.  This is a real challenge for Kindergarten since the log in requires numbers and letters.  At the beginning of the year they do not know their alphabet very well.  So, this year I came up with a fun game to play with a GIANT keyboard rug that my husband and I made.

The students were given a card with a letter and they then matched that card to the key on the keyboard rug.  My hope is that this will help them learn where the letters are on the keyboard when I begin to teach them their log in information. 

I made my rug by using half of a canvas drop cloth. My husband then helped me draw the keys with a sharpie.  The most challenging part was to figure out how large the keys needed to be.  I made mine 5" x 5" square with about 1" in between each key.

The students I had this week really enjoyed playing the keyboard letter game.  Next I will teach them the location of the numbers and the major action keys (i.e. Enter, Shift, Tab etc.)   After we played the game with the rug they then went to the computers and used alpha strips to locate the keys on their individual keyboards. (The computers were turned off of course).

The full rug is half of a 6'x8' drop cloth

A close up view of the keys

The students matched the letter cards with the key on the keyboard

 

I am looking forward to determine if this method will help them learn their letter locations. I would love to hear your comments on ways I could improve this process.

 

Making Pink Lemonade with Kindergarten!



Danna