Computer Skills

About this course

First grade takes the whole picture at a beginner's level. Your student learns what a computer actually is and names its parts, shuts one down properly instead of pulling the plug, and practices single-clicking, double-clicking, and dragging. Typing starts with posture, then the home row and touch typing rather than hunting and pecking, then typing a first and last name, simple words with the spacebar, and the Enter, Backspace, and Shift keys. There is a unit on telling hardware from software that walks through a drawing program, a word processor, saving a file before closing it, and sending a page to a printer. A programming unit introduces the idea of a program as step-by-step instructions, plays a Human Robot game to show why instructions must be precise, teaches sequencing, and then moves to Scratch Jr. and its colored motion blocks. Two units cover internet safety and online manners: what personal information is and why never to give it out, the internet compared to a library with sections that are not for children, kindness in messages, screen-time limits, and closing the screen and telling an adult right away if something frightening appears.

There are 36 lessons across 8 units, each planned for about 20 minutes. A lesson is a page of plain explanation, then a specific Activity to do at the machine, then a closing paragraph that connects the skill to Scripture, and it ends with a ten-question quiz that grades itself. Be aware of one thing when planning your year: units 7 and 8 repeat the computer-basics and typing lessons from units 1 and 2, so the last six lessons are review of material already covered rather than new ground.

This one is genuinely hands-on, and your student will not get much from it by reading alone. You will want a computer with a keyboard and mouse, some drawing program (Microsoft Paint, Google Draw, or anything similar), some word processor (Word, Google Docs, or Notepad), and a printer for one lesson. Scratch Jr. is a free app from MIT and the lesson assumes an iOS or Android tablet to run it on. All the named software is either already on most machines or free, so nothing here needs to be bought. The internet-safety lessons are written as discussions to have with you rather than as things your student goes online and does, and several activities ask for a family conversation or a written household agreement.

What the course covers

• What a computer is and the main parts of one
• Mouse skills: single click, double click, and dragging
• Typing posture, the home row, and touch typing
• Enter, Backspace, Shift, and the spacebar
• Hardware and software, and how they differ
• Drawing programs and word processors
• Saving files and printing a page
• Programs, sequencing, and precise instructions
• Block coding with Scratch Jr.
• Internet safety, personal information, and screen time

What your student will be able to do

• Start up and shut down a computer correctly and use a mouse with control
• Sit with good posture and type from the home row without looking down
• Create, save, and print a drawing or a short typed document
• Build a simple block program in Scratch Jr. and predict what it will do
• Explain why personal information stays private online
• Close the screen and tell a trusted adult when something online is not right

Scope and sequence

All 8 units of Computer Skills for Grade 1, in the order they are taught.

Every lesson, by title

All 36 lesson titles are listed here — nothing is withheld until you download. Open a unit to read its contents.

One whole lesson, exactly as it comes

This is a real lesson taken from the middle of the course — the teaching text, the practice, the homework, and the first three quiz questions with their answers. It is not a marketing excerpt.

What you will need

Drawn from the materials named across all 36 lessons of this course. Most families already own most of it.