Computer – Third Level

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Course Description — Students will understand basic computer and internet usage and obtain word processing skills, as well as practice in-depth with the following: first grade, typing; second grade, Paint, Publisher; third grade, PowerPoint; fourth grade, Scratch (computer programming); fifth grade, WordPress blogs; sixth grade, HTML; seventh grade, graphic design including photo manipulation; eighth grade, spreadsheets; high school computer courses are listed on the high school page. (Equivalent free software can be used for any of the listed programs.)


Week 1

Welcome to your first day of school! I wanted to give you one important reminder before you begin. Many of your lessons below have an internet link for you to click on. When you go to the different internet pages for your lessons, please DO NOT click on anything else on that page except what the directions tell you to. DO NOT click on any advertisements or games. DO NOT click on anything that takes you to a different website. Just stay focused on your lesson and then close that window and you should be right back here for the next lesson. Okay?

  1. If you didn’t get here through My EP Assignments, I suggest you go there and create an account.
  2. You are going to work on your typing. This site has lots of games. You can pick which ones you want to play. You can start on the easiest levels, but you should try to move up to harder lessons where you are typing words and not just letters. We’ll be working on this for twelve weeks. You can work on your typing any day though.
  3. Choose a game. If you haven’t learned to type, this site has lessons as well, choose Lessons from the top of the page. Typing is a great skill to have!
  4. Internet Safety Reminders: Do not download anything onto your computer without permission. Do not click on any advertising on a website even if it looks like a game to play. Don’t give out your name, address, phone number, email address, photo, etc., online without permission. Do you remember these words: browser, desktop, window, crash, loading, refresh, download? If not, ask someone.
  5. This is the end of your work for this course for today. You are allowed to move at your own pace (this is homeschooling), but it’s intended you complete one lesson each week.


Week 2

  1. We are going to practice typing. Try lesson 14. If you need to, in future lessons, go ahead and start back at the beginning. You can make a free account to track your progress.
  2. Internet safe search — When you want to find something on the internet, you have to be careful how you look for it. Here are some tips. Be as specific as possible in your search. Type as many words as you know that will help you find what you are looking for. That will help keep things you are not looking for from coming up. Also, use kid friendly search engines. You can turn on YouTube’s safe mode by clicking on your profile picture and turning restricted mode to on. You can also ask your parents to turn on Google safe search. Other sites’ safe searches do not work well. You can also turn off advertising, so you don’t see bad images.


Week 3

  1. Try the beginner assessment. Where do you stand? (Or, go back through the lessons.)
  2. Internet Safety — Here are some tips for staying safe when you use the internet. Never sign up for anything online without permission. When a site asks for a username, you are not supposed to give your real name. Make up a pretend name for yourself. Never tell anyone online your real name, address, phone number or email address unless your parents tell you it is okay. Even if it’s a friend online, don’t give them information about yourself unless you have permission.


Week 4

  1. Try intermediate lesson 1. Or, work on going through the beginner lessons.
  2. Internet security — There are different tools that are used for security on the internet. One is passwords. A password is a secret word that you use to let the computer or website know that you are you. The best passwords have letters and numbers in them. I use a really good password for important websites (that you don’t use–like for my bank information) but I use a silly password for websites where it is not important, like to play a game. Use only one or two passwords or you’ll forget which password you used where! So many places ask for passwords now. Choose passwords that are at least 6 letters/numbers long. Sometimes 8 is required.
  3. Another tool is software that protects your computer from viruses and adware. A computer virus is a command that sneaks into your computer and tells it to do something you don’t want it to do, like erase everything on your computer! Adware sneaks advertisers info onto your computer. You probably have anti-virus software on your computer. A free program is called Avast. Your computer should block ads that are called “pop-ups.” Sometimes you’ll see a note that says a “pop-up” was prevented from opening. This was a website trying to force their advertisement on you. Sometimes worse. Most of the time you don’t want to see the pop-up that was blocked, but sometimes you need that pop-up for whatever you are doing. If you want to see the pop-up that was blocked, go and ask a parent if it is okay.
  4. If something should pop up, just look for an X to close it down. It is often hidden. Look in the top right corner. Sometimes you have to click on No Thanks. It’s usually written in smaller letters and in a font that makes it harder to see. They don’t want you to close it and refuse their offer. But you can outsmart them.


Week 5

  1. Try intermediate lesson 2. Or, work on going through the beginner lessons.
  2. Let’s see if you remember what you learned before. Open a new document in your word processing program. Type “I am ready to learn something new.” Change the color and size of the font. Save it as “New” in a folder with your name on it. Ask for help if you can’t remember any of those steps. Insert a picture and clip art into your document and save it. Then click on insert again and choose shapes if that is an option. Choose a shape. Try and “fill” it with a color. Ask for help if you need it. Save it again.


Week 6

  1. Try intermediate lesson 3. Or, work on going through the beginner lessons.
  2. Make a sign on your computer, any kind of sign.


Week 7

  1. Try intermediate lesson 4. Or, work on going through the beginner lessons.
  2. Read these computer rules.


Week 8

  1. Try intermediate lesson 5. Or, work on going through the beginner lessons.
  2. Open your word processing program. You are going to add page numbers. See if you can find where your program says “Page Number.” You might need to click on “Insert” first. See if you can add a number 1 to your first page. You can decide where it should go.


Week 9

  1. Try intermediate lesson 6. Or, work on going through the beginner lessons. (This is replacing Dance Mat Typing.)
  2. If you have the program “PowerPoint” on your computer, open it up and have a look around.
  3. If you don’t, ask your parents about downloading  Open Office and using their “Impress” product to create a presentation or use Google Slides.


Week 10

  1. Try intermediate lesson 7. Or, work on going through the beginner lessons.
  2. Open your PowerPoint from week 9. Today click on layout. Choose one of the layouts–the different ways your page can look.
  3. Type something where it says to “add title.”
  4. Type something where it says to “add text.” Hit enter and add more typing. Hit enter and add more typing.
  5. If there are little icons in one of the boxes, find the one that lets you add a picture or clip art. Choose one and add a picture to your page.
  6. Save it in a folder with your name on it.


Week 11

  1. Try intermediate lesson 8. Or, work on going through the beginner lessons.
  2. Open up your PowerPoint presentation from last week.
  3. Click to add a new slide.
  4. Choose a different layout.
  5. Add a bunch of new slides until you have used each of the different layouts.
  6. Save it.


Week 12

  1. Try intermediate lesson 9. Or, work on going through the beginner lessons. You could take a screen shot of your stars for your portfolio. Print it and give it to a parent. This is your last official typing lesson. You can continue to use the site to practice.
  2. Open your PowerPoint presentation.
  3. Find “Design.” Click on it.
  4. Choose different designs. Click on different designs and choose one for your presentation.
  5. Save it.


Week 13

  1. Choose a game. When you are allowed, you could use these games to practice your speed.
  2. Open your PowerPoint presentation.
  3. Click on “insert.”
  4. Add pictures, word art, and shapes to your slides.
  5. Save it.


Week 14

  1. Open your PowerPoint presentation.
  2. Click on “insert.”
  3. Add a sound. Try and add a sound from the clip art if it is available for you.
  4. Add a recorded sound. You might need to click on sound and record sound. After you record a sound it will show up on your slide as a little speaker. If you click on your speaker, you should be able to hear it.


Week 15

  1. Open your PowerPoint presentation.
  2. Today you are going to “view your slideshow.”
  3. You might need to click on “view” and then “slideshow.”
  4. You can use the right arrow key to change to the next slide.


Week 16

  1. Open your PowerPoint presentation.
  2. Today you are going to add slide “animation.”
  3. Click on “animations.”
  4. Click on a slide. Then click on an animation.
  5. Do it for each slide.
  6. Watch your slide show.
  7. Save your presentation.


Week 17

  1. Open your PowerPoint presentation.
  2. Click on a slide with several lines of typing.
  3. Click on “animations.”
  4. Find “Custom Animations.”
  5. Highlight one of the lines of typing.
  6. Click on “Add Effect.”
  7. Choose one.
  8. Highlight another line of typing. Do the same.
  9. Repeat for each line of typing on that slide.
  10. View your slide show. Use the right arrow key to make the words and new slides appear.
  11. Save your presentation.


Week 18

  1. Open your PowerPoint presentation.
  2. Add more animations to your other slides.
  3. View your presentation.
  4. Save.


Week 19

  1. Let’s make a new presentation.
  2. Open your program and start a blank presentation.
  3. Choose a topic–something like dogs, soccer, piano, cooking…
  4. Make a title slide. Choose a design and color scheme.
  5. Save it in a folder with your name on it.


Week 20

  1. Open up your new presentation.
  2. Today make a slide with lots of pictures on it. Even if your template just has one place for pictures, it will let you add in more. Add in lots of clip art and photographs. Click and drag the corners of the pictures to make them smaller to fit more.
  3. Here’s my go-to place to get clip art, but in PowerPoint, you can click on Insert, Pictures, Online Pictures and it will give you options.
    • You always need to be careful with image websites. Make sure Safe Search is on (Pixabay, Google). You NEVER just scroll through. Look at only the first page where the results will be most similar to what you are asking it to find. Search for the specific thing you want to find. Don’t let it decide for you what you want to see.


Week 21

  1. Open up your new presentation.
  2. Make a new slide. It should have a title.
  3. Add words that come up when you click on the arrow (custom animation).
  4. Add at least one picture.
  5. Save it.


Week 22

  1. Open your presentation.
  2. Add two more slides.
  3. Add animation to the slides so that when you turn the page it comes up in a fancy way.
  4. Save it.


Week 23

  1. Add one last slide to your presentation. (Or add more if you really want to.)
  2. Add pictures and animation.
  3. Save it.


Week 24

  1. View your slideshow.
  2. Now click on “record narration.” Find it under view. (You may have to look around if you aren’t using PowerPoint.)
  3. It will start the slide show. You will read the words on the screen and turn the pages. It will record your voice and record how long you are on each page (so take your time on a page with just pictures.)
  4. Save it when you are done.
  5. View your show again. It should play like a movie.
  6. You can try again if you don’t like how it came out.
  7. Save your presentation.
  8. Show it to someone.


Week 25

  1. Let’s go back to learning about the internet for a moment today. Learn how to make a bookmark on your browser. A bookmark remembers a webpage for you and are usually found along the top of your screen.
  2. This is how I do it. I click on the little picture next to the web address and drag it onto the bookmarks bar. Then I right click on it and choose edit. Then I delete all of the words. That leaves me with just the picture on my bookmarks bar so I can fit lots of them.
  3. Bookmark a website.


Week 26

  1. View the history on your internet browser. See if you can find “history.” It is a list of all of the websites that were visited on that browser. If you want to find a site you were on before and don’t know what it was, you can look in the history to try and find it.


Week 27

  1. You are finished your computer lessons for the year. I’m going to give you some brain teasers to do each week.
  2. Marathon Members  (This is archive so it is slow to load.)


Week 28

  1. Change Range


Week 29

  1. Fruit Salad


Week 30

  1. Trip Chips


Week 31

  1. Sticker Swap


Week 32

  1. Critter Care


Week 33

  1. Candle Code


Week 34

  1. Team Travel


Week 35

  1. Mini Pizzas


Week 36

  1. Potted Plants

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