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Word Processing

3.2 - Creating

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Intro

Word processing is one of the aspects of 3.2 'Creating'. It is all about creating and editing text.

In Year 4, we continue to focus on changing the look of typed work by changing font, colour and size. We also keep improving their saving and opening skills, introduce them to spellcheck, printer choice and basic image editing.

Framework

3.2 - Creating

  • create and modify multimedia components in one or more languages using a range of software
  • modify and present a range of text, image, sound, animation and video for selected purposes.

Skill by Skill

  • Know when to use a word processor and when to use publishing software.
  • Change font type, size and style.
  • Insert clipart and WordArt to enhance work.
  • Highlight text, and use cut, copy and paste.
  • Begin to use a spell checker and thesaurus, when appropriate.
  • Resize images without distorting.
  • Introduce the Tab key.
  • Find words on a page using the Find function.
  • Print to a variety of printers.
  • Save work in folders with appropriate file names.
  • Confidently save and open documents to and from the cloud.

(EAS ICT Skills Framework)

Vocabulary

highlight     insert     copy     paste     cut     formatting     file names     font    text     resize     crop     cloud     printers     thesaurus     

Activity 1

Rewriting a Fairytale Outline

change a myth

The first activity is all about editing and correcting text. Pupils will play around with a simple fairytale outline, changing some words and phrases to alter the story. Whilst doing so, they will play with text colour, size and font and also use spellcheck to correct all the (hopefully deliberate) mistakes left by you in the original.

Prepare:

  • Write a one paragraph synopsis of a well known fairytale (or even better, a Mabinogion story such as Blodeuwedd).
  • Make sure there are some spelling mistakes in your work.

Activity Tasks:

  1. Pupils should open their own copy of your synopsis of a fairytale (either making a copy of a Word 365 document or by having you share a copy of a Google Doc with them using Google Classroom).
  2. Show them how to spot spelling mistakes (the red line) and correct them (right click usually brings up suggested correct spellings).
  3. Remind them that spellcheck isn't perfect. The wrong homophone will not be picked out.
  4. Pupils alter the tale in an interesting or funny way, for example have Goldilocks meet the three zebras, Red Riding Hood eaten by the Wolf or Blodeuwedd made from bits of food instead of flowers.
  5. Ask them to highlight any words they've changed by changing the font, colour and size of the text.
  6. Pupils add images relating to their amended tale from the web, and practice resizing them from the corners (to ensure they're not distorted).
  7. Then, they save their work to a specific folder, giving it an appropriate filename.
  8. Finally, pupils should print their work to a specified printer.

Remember

  • Discuss how we use word processing for tasks that:
    • Will contain mostly text.
    • Are likely to be printed out.
  • Remind them of the difference between Caps Lock and Shift and what the End and Home buttons do (if on a Windows machine)
  • Teach them how the Tab button shifts text along the line
  • If they don't already know, discuss the difference between saving on the computer (locally) on the server (network) and in the cloud. Maybe even take them to see the school server so they appreciate what it actually is.

Success Criteria

  • I can change the colour, size and font of text.
  • I can insert, resize and crop images from the computer and the web.
  • I can print to the correct printer.

Other Framework Elements

1.3 - Digital Rights

You can have a discussion about copyright of images online and how we should give credit

2.3 Storing and Sharing

Teaching your pupils to save the work in the right folder, with an appropriate filename, saves you so much time down the line! Remember to teach them to open as well as save.

3.1 Planning, Sourcing and Searching

Discuss what keywords to use when searching online for images.

3.3 Evaluating and Improving

Your usual peer-assessment and/or self-assessment.

Vocabulary

font     highlight      text     cut     copy     paste     caps lock     shift     inserting     image     filename     folder

Variation Ideas

Clearly, the fairy tale aspect of this task can be adapted to suit whatever your current topic might be. They could be amending idioms to create new ones, changing baking instructions to bake a monster cake or practising rhyming by amending nursery rhymes. But don't overload them with new language skills. The purpose of the task is to learn formatting and designing skills.

Activity 2

Create a Glossary

This simple task can be repeated often (with a different text) to help introduce new, subject-specific vocabulary. Pupils create a glossary of keywords by using the dictionary and thesaurus tools which are built in to Word or Google Docs.

Prepare:

  • Find or write a piece of text about your new topic. It must contain a number of your topic keywords (most of them more than once).
tudors glossary

Activity Tasks:

  1. Share the text with pupils so that they all have their own copy (either by having them open your version and then 'Save As' in Word, by using 'Make a Copy' in Google Docs or by sharing a copy each through Google Classroom).
  2. Ask pupils to read the text in pairs, changing the colour of any words of which they are unsure of the meaning.
  3. Ask for examples of words pupils have highlighted, making a class list of keywords.
  4. Pupils must use the 'Find' function to find all examples of the keywords in the class list. They can colour them in a different colour.
  5. They should then right click the words and select the Dictionary and Thesaurus options (Word) or Define option (Google Docs) to find the definition of that word and a list of synonyms.
  6. At the bottom of the page they should make a Glossary, explaining the meaning of each keyword in their own words and including a couple of synonyms.

Remember

  • Focus on the important skills here - highlighting and changing font colour, using the Find tool, using the dictionary and thesaurus tools.
  • Not all work has to be printed out. Discuss with your pupils if this work should be printed out or just saved in their server/cloud folder.

Success Criteria

  • I can use the Find tool to locate words.
  • I can get a dictionary definition and a list of synonyms for any word.

Other Framework Elements

3.1 Planning, Sourcing and Searching

Although this element mainly deals with online searches, the pupils here are searching their documents for words and searching an online dictionary and thesaurus.

3.3 Evaluating and Improving

Your usual peer-assessment and/or self-assessment.

Vocabulary

highlight     colour     text     find     dictionary     thesaurus     define     right-click     synonyms

Variation Ideas

You could do a similar activity within a web page. Most browsers have a 'Find' option in their menu and can give a dictionary definition if you right click on a word.