At what grade level should kids learn to type?
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Anonymous
| My DS will be transitioning to MCPS for third grade next year. Do you think it would be helpful to start teaching him to type? Do third graders use their chromebooks to submit assignments in MCPS? If this is not necessary, when do typing skills become important for submitting work in MCPS? TIA! |
Anonymous
| Yes, I would have your child do a typing program now. Typing Club was the one my kid used in 2nd grade. |
Anonymous
| 2nd |
Anonymous
DC learned during second grade, and was reasonably proficient by the summer before third grade. This was during the early days of chromebook distribution, and I don't remember if DC had to do any work on a computer in third grade, but certainly by fourth grade it was very useful (and DC was very fluent as well.) |
Anonymous
| DC was in grade 2 and not a fluid typist when the shutdown happened in March 2020, but spent much of grade 3 on Zoom and had to type everything then. Now in grade 4 in person, extended writing is all typed, but other work can be handwritten, too. Grades 2 and under at our school in person are handwriting everything again now, but use Chromebooks for other purposes and activities. (And when I say "handwriting," I mean printing. There were plans to teach cursive but the pandemic made it almost impossible, so DC may never learn to write it, alas. I'm going to make sure that they can at least read it, though.) |
Anonymous
| Do they teach typing at MCPS? |
Anonymous
| And as a PS, my DCs typing improved more not when they used programs or when they had to submit typed work, but when they were typing things they really wanted to type! It can be helpful to let them practice by sending emails to family members, by searching (with supervision and guidance) for things they want to see on YouTube or (pretend to) buy on Amazon, by IM-ing with friends in your family's preferred format, etc. Even playing around with it on a phone can help with keyboard mapping knowledge. |
Anonymous
My DC had a program that they found out about at school, but I don't think it was part of the curriculum in any real way, just kind of a space-filler between activities. |
Anonymous
|
They learned in 3rd at our MCPS school. It wasn't a formal part of the curriculum but teachers would have the kids play typing games at certain times of the day and they all picked it up quickly.
They didn't do anything major on their Chromebooks until 4th grade. Until then it was mostly things like watching videos on Chromebooks and maybe making a slide but the teachers walk the children through it so they don't really need to know how to type as long as they can just peck a little. I would not worry about it PP |
Anonymous
| Early elementary, and make sure they learn proper finger placements! |
Anonymous
| 3rd / 4th if possible |
Anonymous
| I would say learning it by, or during 3rd grade, is important. In 4th grade typing and chromebook use increases and much of the written work is on the chromebook. It is helpful if their fingers are quicker on the keyboard so they can get their thoughts down and not type and peck to find keys. Of course, my current 5th grader did 4th grade almost all remote, so the my idea of the amount of time they spent using the chromebook may be a bit skewed! |
Anonymous
I was told they don't? Which school is teaching formal typing? |
Anonymous
| We did it at home the summer between 4 and 5th. I wish I did it sooner. Lots of free games online you can start with. |
Anonymous
No schools formally teach it. Some teachers go off curriculum and teach it. But, usually the sessions are pretty brief and you need to do it at home. We had a teacher do a few days of typing lessons. |