These activities are a few ideas of ways to use AlphaSmart keyboards in your classroom.  This list is by no means totally inclusive.  Depending on how you plan to implement these activities, you might want to consider creating "tents" to give the students instructions.  (View sample "tents")

• Sequential Writing - Students work in small groups.  One student starts a writing activity on the AlphaSmart; types up to 4 lines and then passes to the next person.  Piece gets read aloud, edited by the group after being printed out, etc.

• Sequential Responding - A piece of student work is presented to a small group of students.  Under different files, students respond to the piece in different ways.  The author of the piece will ultimately receive all the comments from the different files.

• Looping - Students free-write in one file.  They then take a word or phrase from the first file and start it in a different file, creating a story or idea that branches off from the initial free-writing activity.

• Group Looping - Same as above, except after the free-writing activity, the keyboard is passed on to someone else in the group who looks for an interesting phrase and uses that to start a new file.

• Invisible Writing - Typing with the window covered, then reviewing.

• Class Act – To help students think about reading assignments, the teacher (in File 1) makes out a list of questions.  After reading a book, magazine, etc., students would read through the questions and answer them in either the same file or other ones.  These answers would be used during class discussion.

• Creating New Word Lists – Use keyboard to record vocabulary words from reading.

• Sentences from Spelling Words

• Activity Journal – Use keyboard to record events, feelings, experiences.

• Names, Nouns, and Verbs

• Field Trip Questions

• Sentence Completion for Understanding

• Procedural Writing

• Guided Science Observation

• Interviewing and Writing a Biography

• Sequence events, put in wrong order, have students cut and paste in correct sequence

• Interviews

• Sort words

• D.O.L. (Daily Oral Language)

• Tests

• Word Walls

• Journal writing

• Writing class or game rules

• Thank you notes to helpers, guest speakers, and other

• Book reviews for the Fayette County Schools Literary Book Club

• Portfolio pieces at any grade level

Keyboarding in Fayette County