The keyboarding chart is color coded to help you remember which fingers to use with each key.
The middle row of letters (A,S,D,F, J, K, L, ;) is known as the home row. When typing, our fingers begin on and always return to the home keys.
Our thumbs always rest on the spacebar.
Use your “pinky” fingers to press keys such as Shift, Caps Lock, Tab, Enter, and Backspace.
Keyboarding is an essential computer literacy skill.We cannot create an educational environment that requires keyboarding skills and not TEACH keyboarding to students. Franklin Academy supports and encourages keyboarding as a key computer technology core subject with formal keyboarding instruction beginning in the early grades. Our goal is for all students to key by touch using correct technique and meet end of level benchmarks when they leave elementary school. At the elementary level, keyboarding components are taught as early as kindergarten. These include left/right hand identification, letter and number recognition, home row keys, proper posture and finger movement. In the upper grades, keying by touch is reinforced as students practice their skills during computer lab time. Skill is assessed and progress tracked toward achieving benchmark scores. Keyboarding Standards and Objectives are followed in each grade level. Elementary Technology Core Curriculum taught during computer lab time also reinforces keyboarding by giving students opportunities to practice their keyboarding while learning additional technology skills. Parents and teachers need to understand how important keyboarding practice is. Just as learning to play an instrument takes daily practice, learning to keyboard also requires students to practice. Practice materials are available through computer lab managers at every elementary school and are posted on each school's website. Other resources for practice are available on the internet.