Year 1

Creating media – Digital writing

In this unit students will will develop their understanding of the various aspects of using a computer to create and manipulate text. They will become more familiar with using a keyboard and mouse to enter and remove text. They will also consider how to change the look of their text, and will be able to justify their reasoning in making these changes. Finally, teh students will consider the differences between using a computer to create text, and writing text on paper. They will be able to explain which method they prefer and explain their reasoning for choosing this.

Lesson 1: Exploring the keyboard

Learning objectives

To use a computer to write

● I can open a word processor

● I can recognise keys on a keyboard

● I can identify and find keys on a keyboard

In this lesson the students familiarise themselves with a word processor and thought about how they might use this application in the future. They also identified and found keys, before adding text to their page by pressing keys on a keyboard.

Robbie in Crow Class, enjoyed exploring the keys on the keyboard.

Maryam in Crow Class, typed her name and practised using the Shift key to get a capital letter.

Aadam in Crow claass, loved pressing all the keys and found symbols and letters.

The children also used an image of a standard keyboard to find the letters for their name. Hamza also identified the space size.

Mahad in Crow Class, experimented with altering the size of the text.

"I pressed an arrow at the top to change the size of my letters. It was great fun. I kept going until I got to 100! The letters became enormous!"

Lesson 2: Adding and removing text

Learning objectives

To add and remove text on a computer

● I can enter text into a computer

● I can use letter, number, and Space keys

● I can use Backspace to remove text

Students continued to familiarise themselves with word processors and how they could interact with the computer using a keyboard. They focused on adding text and explored more of the keys found on a keyboard. Finally, they began to use the Backspace key to remove text from the computer.

Hayaa used the shift key to type her brothers name. She was also able to use the space bar to seperate words.

Nelia explored some of the keys to create text and then used the backspace key to delete.

Cora wrote her name and then moved the cursor back so that she could add a capital letter.

Kamal found the keys to type his name. He was also able to delete his choices.

Noah in Chiff Chaff class wrote his name on the chromebook using the keyboard.

Muwada and Zakariya

Zakariya: "My name is long, so it will take me longer to type my name!"

Elloah and Ilyas in Chiff Chaff class worked together to find the keys to type their names.

Cataleya and Roxana

Cataleya: "Lets help each other find the keys to type our names!"

Lesson 3: Exploring the toolbar

To identify that the look of text can be changed on a computer

● I can type capital letters

● I can explain what the keys that I have already learnt about do

● I can identify the toolbar and use bold, italic, and underline

In this lesson the students began to explore the different tools that can be used in word processors to change the look of the text. They used the Caps Lock key to add capital letters to their writing and began thinking about how to use this successfully. They also matched simple descriptions to the related key. Finally, the students began exploring the different buttons available on the toolbar in more detail, and use these to change their own text.

Crow class practised changing the look of the text by exploring the toolbar. They made their italicised their text.

They used the Caps Lock key to write capital letters.

They practised changing the look of the text.

They explained what the keys did and explored changing the text using the 'bold', 'italic' and 'underline' options.

Lesson 4: Making changes to writing

Learning objectives

To make careful choices when changing text

● I can select a word by double-clicking

● I can select all of the text by clicking and dragging

● I can change the font

Year 1 began to understand when it is best to change the look of their text and which tool will achieve the most appropriate outcome. They began to use their mouse cursor to select text to enable them to make more efficient changes. They explored the different fonts available to them and change the font for their lost toy poster.

"We need to use a capital letter for Ted's name!"

Chiff Chaff

Dion and Abdul Hadi

Abdul Hadi: "Don't forget the full stop at the end of your sentence."

Dominic and Ismail

Ismail: "We spelt the number 2 wrong, press backspace!"

Bareera and Iyaad in Chiff Chaff class worked together to write a piece of text about Ted.

Lesson 5: Explaining my choices

Learning objectives

To explain why I used the tools that I chose

● I can say what tool I used to change the text

● I can decide if my changes have improved my writing

● I can use ‘Undo’ to remove changes

In this lesson the students began to justify their use of certain tools when changing text. They decided whether the changes that they have made have improved their writing and will begin to use ‘Undo’ to remove changes. They began to consolidate their ability to select text using the cursor, through double-clicking and clicking and dragging. The students were able to explain what tool from the toolbar they had used to change their writing

Robbie

"I love this! It is easy for me. I know which keys to press. I prefer it to writing with a pencil. I did it sos quickly!"

Maryam

"I prefer using a pencil because it's easier than finding the letters. I need to make some spaces between the words."

Samia

"This is more fun than writing with a pencil. I can find the keys. It looks good."

Mahad

"I can change the size of the letters and use the space bar. You can undo your work easily."

Subhan

"I prefer writing with a chrome book. It's more fun than a pencil and paper and I know where the keys are."

Aadam

"I need to undo it. It's this arrow."

Chikwado

"I like to press the keys and see what happens."

Neasa used the shift key to make capital letters, the space bar to create a space and the return key to move to the next line to write a messsage to her friends.

By the end of this unit of work, Crow class were able to find the keys they needed to make capital letters, undo their work, create spaces and start a new line. Many said they prefered writing with a Chrome book because it was fun, it looked good and they could easily make changes. The trickiest part was finding the letters and using the trackpad to move the cursor.

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