First full week of school

This will be a busy week in Computer Applications.  We will accomplish several things, so if you are gone you may need to see me before or after school to get caught up.  Here are some of the things we are going to achieve by the end of the week:

1. You will have learned over 1/3 of the letters on the keyboard, and may be closer to 1/2 of all of the letters.  We will continue to practice what we have already learned and we will be adding several new keys to what we already know.
2. You will continue to practice your keying technique.  Several things to keep in mind while keying:
1. Keep your palms and wrists off the counter top; your fingers are the only thing that should be touching the keyboard/countertop area
2. Your forearms should NOT! be resting on your thighs.  Relax your shoulders, sit back in your chair, and sit up straight.
3. To help you stay comfortable, your elbows should be at your side (or maybe slightly in front of your ribs); elbows are bent at almost a 90 degree angle; the distance from your elbows to your hands should be the distance you sit away from the keyboard.
3. You will be graded on technique
4. You will create a Gmail account.  If you are gone on the day we set up your class you will definitely need to see me (not all classes will get set up on the same day).  If you can bring your cell phone to school this week (and keep it in your locker and on vibrate) it will be very helpful - if you don't have one you can borrow from a friend. When signing up for a Google account you will be asked to verify information - this will be done by text messaging.  
5. You will receive a list of all of the vocab words for this semester (116 vocab words).  We will discuss how the vocab works later this week and at the beginning of next week.  Next week you will have your first vocab quiz over List #1.

Today we are going to review the home row from last week, and then we will add the H (R1) and the E (L2) to what we have already learned.