Where is home? (Basic intro to home row finger placement.)

Lesson:
Younger students do not have the motor skills to type proficiently using proper keyboarding skills, but this lesson introduces the students to the arrangement of letters on the keyboard and prepares them for future lessons on keyboarding. Repetition is key with young learners, so this activity should be repeated often.

Prerequisites:
• Ability to recognize letters of the alphabet by sight
• Familiar with right and left hand

Students are to follow along as the teacher demonstrates the motions to the song using a digital camera to project her hand placement on the keyboard.

Song:
(To the Tune of : Where is Thumbkin)
“I am pointer, I am Pointer, Where’s my home? Where’s my home?”
(Hold up Index Finger of Left Hand)
“My home is the “F” key, I sit here so happily. F, F, F”
(Place Index Finger on the “F” key and type the letter “F” as it is sung in the song)

“I am Tall man, I am Tall man, my home? Where’s my home?”
(Hold up Middle Finger of Left Hand)
“My home is the “D” key, I sit here so happily. D, D, D”
(Place Middle Finger on the “D” key and type the letter “D” as it is sung in the song)

Continue through the left hand: Ring man (S), Pinky (A), and Thumbkin (Space bar).
Repeat the song for the right hand.