Typing in elementary?

[Anonymous]

This is our first year at FCPS coming from a different school system. Our fourth grader is having to type his writing assignments. He is muddling through with hunt and peck but it’s a bit of a disaster with a ton of capitalization missed, etc. Does FCPS teach typing? Did we miss it since we just arrived in fourth grade?
I’m wondering if we need to do some sort of online program at home to catch up?

[Anonymous]

Our kids did typing club through second grade on and off during their technology special

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is our first year at FCPS coming from a different school system. Our fourth grader is having to type his writing assignments. He is muddling through with hunt and peck but it’s a bit of a disaster with a ton of capitalization missed, etc. Does FCPS teach typing? Did we miss it since we just arrived in fourth grade?
I’m wondering if we need to do some sort of online program at home to catch up?

They often learn in MS, but a few elementary kids use typing.com for “fun” and to learn. (ES Teacher)

[Anonymous]

I purchased a Typesy subscription for my kids and had them do it daily over the summer (most weekdays, not every day). It's a regular touch-typing class with modules that they can do, one or two modules a day.

[Anonymous]

It drives me insane that my kids have to type for school but we have to add typing to the other things we do over summer and after school.

My second grader was typing sentences for a math assignment at home and was complaining about how tired her hands are. It's like expecting kids to write without teaching them grammar...oh wait they do that too!

[Anonymous]

Its an elective in middle school.
my kids never learned it in ES but oh yes! they spent all day on laptops.

[Anonymous]

Each school has a teacher who oversees the technology use in class. That person can recommend programs for you. It will have to be done at home. I would absolutely email the principal and say that it doesn’t make sense that your child is expected to type with no instruction in that. Tell the teacher that they can’t and ask for handwritten assignments. Push back on this. Bring it up with the PTA. I’ll tell for sure, as a veteran teacher, principals HATE when parents complain, and they really hate it when parents call their school board member to inquire about policies like this. If it’s a bogus wining complaint, they don’t care, but believe me, they care if it is something legitimate like this. And science shows that learning is enhanced by handwriting, not keyboards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is our first year at FCPS coming from a different school system. Our fourth grader is having to type his writing assignments. He is muddling through with hunt and peck but it’s a bit of a disaster with a ton of capitalization missed, etc. Does FCPS teach typing? Did we miss it since we just arrived in fourth grade?
I’m wondering if we need to do some sort of online program at home to catch up?

Nope. My kid was not taught and it was frustrating. There are some online games and program to help a bit but, in the end, it will be on you unless they take one of the business/computer classes in MS as an elective. (Which my kid had zero interest in doing).

[Anonymous]

DC is 7 and is learning typing with typingclub at home and enjoys it. Helps with Lexia, he says.

[Anonymous]

Mavis Beacon is still the gold standard. One of mine could touch-type by 5th, the other still types with two fingers and refused to learn the right way. Both did Typing Club in tech specials ES, too.

I had no idea there was still a class for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids did typing club through second grade on and off during their technology special

[Anonymous]

Dancemat typing