Summer Learning Loss

Summer is on its way.  Can you smell it in the air?  I can smell it in the fog rising off the lake.  Even out here in the Northland, the snow is all but gone and the first flowers are blooming, little green and purple surprises.  Accordingly, kids all over are feeling that anxious itch for summer vacation.  To be honest, I am too, even though it doesn't mean vacation for me anymore.

Summer has one downside, though.  Summer learning loss.  Studies have found that on average, students lose about one month's worth of learning over the summer.  This number varies across demographics, location, and subject.  In fact, students tend to lose just over two and a half months of math knowledge.  Low income students tend to be set back about two months of reading.

Only about 9% of students K-12 in the US attend summer programs.

So how can you keep your students on track through their summertime adventures?  How about incorporating it into their daily life?  Learning doesn't only happen in the classroom.  Have them pick up a book, and talk with you about it when they've finished reading.  Take them on nature walks and explore the wonder of the world around you.  You can learn together.  Educational computer games are fun for a rainy day, too.  Check out Chester Creek's new educational software packs for computer adventures through science, logic, math, and more! Throw in a LessonBoard to teach them good typing skills while they're at it - a skill sure to come in handy next fall, giving them a leg up over their peers.

I AM the Pro

The last couple days here at work, I have been using a LessonBoard Pro.   This is one of our newest products.  The keys are all colored by which digit one should be using to press them.  I'll admit, although I type reasonably quickly, I do not type well. And there is a difference.  When I type, I use my ring fingers almost not at all.  And my pinkies, I use only for the "stretch" keys, if you will.   So with my thumbs, index, and middle fingers, I type at a moderate pace - about 70 words per minute. I know that sounds pretty fast.  But sitting here at my desk for the last few days, I have been trying to type more correctly.  While the adjustments I am making (paired with the lack of labels) is slowing me down a bit, I can feel how much smoother the typing goes.

This is going to be a learning process.  I only wish I had learned things right in school.  We had typing class, of course, but the software has no idea which fingers you use where.  Since I didn't particularly care either, at that time being a rather average typist for a third grader, I learned some bad habits that I bump up against a million times a day.  They tangle me up, slow me down, and get my letters switched around - ask anyone I email on a regular basis.

So now, I am relearning to type.  And its not as hard as one might think.  But I am so glad I'm not using those typing diagrams from elementary school this time around.  I can actually see where I'm going.  It's sort of like turning the lights on.  And that said, the lack of labels isn't really so bad for me.  But then, I've been using a keyboard hours a day for the last decade.  Pausing to look for the letters is probably responsible for a food third of my normal typos.  Once I get my fingers going the right places, I'll be flying.

Learning to Type

Typing was once a specialized skill reserved for the business, secretarial, and writing communities.    These jobs were high paying and considered high skill.  With the advent of the internet and the propagation of computers into every facet of life, this is no longer an optional ability.  Employers are demanding this skill, even for low-wage, entry-level work.

Learning to type does not have to be difficult.

Finger position and muscle memory are at the core of typing.  Traditionally, a student must first memorize all of the keys on a keyboard and how they are arranged.  Remembering exactly which fingers go on which keys is the next important piece of memorization.  In many classrooms, papers are handed out that diagram proper placement.  This leaves students repeatedly checking screen, keyboard, and chart, losing momentum, and constantly making mistakes.  The color-coded keyboards of Chester Creek present the perfect solution.  Start your children out with a colorful FunKeyBoard or LearningBoard to help them learn key locations.  For even younger kids, we offer the large-key kids’ KinderBoard.  For the budding touch-typist in your life, we offer the LessonBoard.  This keyboard naturally guides learners into correct typing habits by simple color-coding.  We have also just added the LessonBoard Pro to our lineup. Color-coded, but lacking labels, the Pro forces students to memorize location of individual keys, but continues to encourage correct finger placement, reducing the urge to “peek” later in life.  The Pro is actually my personal favorite of all of our keyboards, because it is such an interesting but obvious way to encourage kids and adults to learn more quickly and learn "better."

Kids' Keyboards

Children, in some cases even toddlers, are now using computers at home and in school. However, learning the keys can be very frustrating for a child. All the keys look the same, the typeface is small, and the keys are often hard to reach. Children become discouraged and confused trying to remember the location of specific letters. Chester Creek’s keyboards for kids are great tools. Specially designed, with bold color-coding for vowels, consonants, numbers, and function keys, our children’s keyboards eliminate frustration and stress, providing a valuable, fun, and successful learning experience.

Teaching a child to use a computer at an early age can give them a head-start advantage. Knowledge of computer use and navigation can help stream line the process of creating projects and doing research for school. Later in life, good typing skills can cut work time in half for essays and papers, and in the work environment computer skills are a must.

An investment in your child’s computer skills is an investment in their future. One of the best values on the market today is a keyboard from Chester Creek. Chester Creek produces keyboards that are safe, sturdy, and practical. With boards in both standard and large-key layout, color-coded by character-set or finger placement, CCT has everything your child will need to learn to type quickly and correctly. Additionally, Chester Creek mice are designed specifically with a child’s hands in mind. Smaller and easier to grip and use, a CCT child’s computer mouse is also long-lasting, well-constructed, and color-coded. Our mice come with one or two buttons and with or without a scroll wheel, depending on what you, the consumer, need.

Check out this Blog

Check out this blog by journalist and freelance writer Cindy Downes!

She's taking a look at one of my very favorite CCT products, the LessonBoard Our LessonBoard is coded by finger to help kids and adult alike learn to type in a quick and easy way.  I just wish we had had something like this in my typing class.  We also offer this sweet product as part of a really great classroom bundle, with TinyMouse, Headphones, and keyboard seal.

Buying as a bundle saves you more than $40!

While Cindy mentions covering the keys at a later date with tape, which can be sticky and inconvenient, CCT does also offer the SpeedSkin learning aid, which fit snuggly over the keys and is easily removeable, and will soon be offering keyboard, color coded like the LessonBoard for hand placement, which does not have letter labels at all.  You can expect to see this on the website soon. 

Touch Typing

Touch-typing is a skill wherein the typist does not look at the keyboard, enabling him or her to read while typing.  This significantly increases speed of typing as well as accuracy.

Wikipedia has to say of touch-typing:

Touch typing can efficiently bring an average speed typist to 60 words per minute (WPM) fairly quickly and at the same time increase accuracy by great amounts. Upon learning to touch type, comfortable typing speed is expected to be achieved within a month. The typing speed can be increased gradually with regular practice and speeds around 60wpm could be achieved within a year or so. Many websites and software are available to learn touch typing and many of these are free. Learning touch typing can be stressful both to the fingers as well as the mind in the beginning, but once it is learned to a decent level, it exerts minimal stress on the fingers.

Furthermore,

Studies have also shown that two-finger typists, also known as "Hunt-and-Peck" typists can reach speeds of about 37 wpm when typing memorized text, and 27wpm when copying text.

On the other hand, the average person using the touch type method can reach an average speed of 50 to 70 wpm with some reaching speeds in excess of 80 to 95 wpm. Some touch-typing experts can even reach speeds pf over 120 wpm. (The Benefits of Learning to Touch Type)

One of the biggest obstacles to learning to touch-type is overcoming the urge to peek at the keys.  Many typing teachers have students drape pieces of cloth over the keyboard.  As someone who experienced this in school, I can tell you what many others would: this is a pain in the behind.  Chester Creek has a solution, however.

Our SpeedSkins fit snugly over all standard keyboards, including MacPro keyboards, and covers only letter, number, and punctuation keys.  Additionally, the product is latex-free, durable, and easily washable, making it great for classroom use. 

Ask about our educators' discount!

LessonBoard Teaches Kids to Type

Our LessonBoard is a beautiful, standard sized keyboard for those learning to touch type.  In a computer saturated world, quick typing is key to success in school and in the work place.  The LessonBoard is unique in that the keys are color-coded by finger placement.  Here is what a former computer teacher had to say about our LessonBoard.  Click to read more.

The LessonBoard exceeded all of my expectations. I would even go so far as to say that if you want to teach a child how to type, either at home or at school, this is the easiest way to avoid stress, tears and arguments.

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