Grades K–5
Building the Foundation for Digital Success • Proven to build essential online test-taking skills • Develop keyboarding fluency • Patented Home Row instruction • Privacy and data protection guaranteed • State-of-the-art educator dashboard
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Welcome to Keyboarding Without Tears! In today’s technology-rich society, keyboarding is an essential 21st Century skill all students need to master for success in school and beyond. We know the reasons why our students must become proficient at keyboarding: •
Many schools and districts now use a range of computer-based assessment technologies, and research has proven that students who lack keyboarding proficiency are scoring well under their cognitive abilities.
•
Educators recognize that developing fluency in keyboarding positions students for success.
•
Providing effective keyboarding instruction prepares your students for success in an ever-evolving economy where many jobs include using computers, coding, and confidently communicating.
We know educators struggle with how to teach keyboarding effectively. We can help. Keyboarding Without Tears is a unique, research-proven program that employs a patented approach to help all students in grades K–5 build essential keyboarding skills. Our targeted, game-based curriculum fits perfectly into the developmental progression of writing and builds computer readiness, digital citizenship, and digital literacy skills. We actively collaborate with educators to ensure our program can be easily implemented in all classrooms. We support teachers with extensive professional resources from webinars to user guides, and a customer success team that is available to answer pedagogical questions and provide technical support. We invite you to explore Keyboarding Without Tears—a truly innovative, effective, and fun way to ensure student success. Sincerely,
Terry Nealon CEO, Learning Without Tears
Keyboarding Without Tears fully supports your classroom, whether you are teaching in-person or remotely.
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K e y b o a r d i n g W i t h o u t Te a r s Results-Driven Improvement in Typing Technique, Speed, and Accuracy With Keyboarding Without Tears, students learn foundational keyboarding skills while having fun.
Why Students Succeed: • Unique focus on motor skills with a patented, row-based approach to the keyboard • Game-based activities are engaging
This elementary school keyboarding
and grade-level appropriate
curriculum helps educators meet key
• Cross-curricular connections
ELA standards while teaching
reinforce learning in all subject areas
digital literacy, digital citizenship,
• Digital Citizenship & Literacy features the award-winning curriculum
typing technique, and fluency.
from Common Sense Education
The developmental progression and robust content of each grade level equips students with 21st Century digital skills and prepares them for online test-taking
• Simplified approach with a developmental progression of self-directed and student-paced activities
and life-long digital success.
“Keyboarding Without Tears is a high-quality, well-designed online system that is primarily focused on teaching touch-typing to elementary students. In this regard it is robust, engaging, and effective. Lessons are varied and age-appropriate.” - SIIA CODIE AWARD JUDGE
LWTears.com/TryKWT | 888.983.8409
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Our Philosophy We believe teaching and learning should be simple, effective, and FUN! With our easy-to-teach, easy-to-learn curriculum and your guidance, children develop grade-appropriate technology skills.
“Keyboarding Without Tears generates substantial growth in my students’ ability to effectively engage with technology.” - SAM G., SCHO O L DI RE CTOR
you Foundational Skills Grades K–1
Alphabet Knowledge Grades 1–2
him her Words
ANALOG
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Grades 2–3
Sentences Grades 3–4
Paragraphs & Independent Writing Grades 4–5+
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Our Approach Keyboarding Without Tears teaches keyboarding with a patented, row-based approach. Traditional typing and keyboarding programs use a column-based approach. Our simplified teaching order and color-coded rows help children easily locate letters. These rows are further broken down into six units: three for the left hand and three for the right. This enables educators to build unit by unit, rather than teaching the entire keyboard all at once, ensuring that keyboarding practice develops into a comfortable, natural skill. It’s as simple as... Educator: “Do you see the green row on
Each of the grade-level applications starts with pre-
the keyboard?”
keyboarding skills to set students up with the foundation
Student: “Yes, it’s in the middle.”
necessary to eventually use all keys. This means even
Educator: “That’s called the Home Row. To start typing, you place your fingers on the Home Row. Not sure if you’re in the right spot? Look down.
the schools that choose to begin at a grade other than kindergarten will benefit from learning these critical foundation skills.
The letters G and H should be in between your hands and stand for Go Home.”
ng Left Hand
Right Hand
LWTears.com/TryKWT | 888.983.8409
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Educator Dashboard Keyboarding Without Tears is equipped with a state-of-the-art educator dashboard that enables administrators and educators to: • Manage class settings • Access video support for setup • Review User Guide and preview student activities • Obtain student reports and
Classes & Students Review your class settings, send login credentials for remote students, and set enrichment activities. Individual student settings allows students to skip ahead to week 7 or stop and review.
monitor progress • Enable features to customize the class or student experience
Teaching Resources Explore our User Guide, review the 36-week curriculum overview, and see details on all student lessons and assessments.
Help & Support Search the knowledge base, and review articles and videos for support.
“As a teacher, I can easily see their progress, plan lessons, and support my students’ growth.” LORI M., GRADE 3 TEACHER
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Navigation Everything is on the left-hand side with a dashboard to view your profile and listing of classes for easy access.
LWTears.com/TryKWT | 888.983.8409
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Te a c h i n g R e s o u r c e s & T r a i n i n g Keyboarding Without Tears provides extensive teaching resources and training to help ensure that both educators and students have the best possible learning experience. Inside the Educator Dashboard, you will find the following free teaching resources:
Keyboarding Without Tears also provides: • Admin Console — (For Administrators only)
• User Guide — Learn how to use the
Create, view, and edit your educators and manage product licenses.
program like a pro and implement multisensory lessons and activities.
• Application Access — Quickly access
• Student Activities Preview — See how the 36-week curriculum is laid out and complete Student Activities.
the student experience of the application. • Help & Support — Find quick tips and how-tos for everything Keyboarding Without Tears, including
• Digital Citizenship & Digital Literacy — Gain a detailed view of digital citizenship, digital literacy, and tech readiness activities.
a video library. • Chat and Customer Service — Need more support? We are here to help.
• Finger & Key Reinforcement — View teacher-led lessons that promote correct finger and hand placement for optimal typing habits. • Liked Resources — Create a curated list of your most important documents in one convenient location.
Your Partner In Virtual Professional Learning Attend one of our virtual learning sessions and learn how you can easily weave keyboarding into your K–5 day. You’ll leave with a library of award-winning teaching strategies to help your students succeed with today’s computer-based assignments and testing. LWTears.com/professional-development
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Find Grade-Level Educator Resources: •
Student Activity preview
•
User guide
•
Digital citizenship and computer readiness lessons
Manage Progress Easily and Effectively: •
Evaluate students’ typing speed and accuracy progress with embedded assessments (Spot Checks)
•
Review students’ progress with the 36-week theme-based, cross-curricular activities Set Up Students and Manage Classrooms: •
Easily integrate rosters to multiple SSO solutions
•
Adjust classroom and/or individual student settings according to your needs
Our in-depth User Guide, located in the Teaching Resources, covers: •
Keyboarding Without Tears curriculum
•
Pacing guidelines
•
Assessment information
•
Help and support options
Find Learning Without Tears' commitment to your privacy: www.LWTears.com/privacy-policy
ng. LWTears.com/TryKWT | 888.983.8409
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To p 6 D i g i t a l C i t i z e n s h i p To p i c s f o r K – 5 Students who use Keyboarding Without Tears will also learn how to responsibly navigate the digital world through our collaboration with the award-winning digital citizenship curriculum from Common Sense Education. Key topics of the curriculum include:
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Media Balance & Well-Being
Digital Footprint & Identity
Students go beyond screen time to explore the impact
Students consider the benefits and risks of online sharing
their digital lives can have on their well-being and
and explore how a digital persona can affect one’s sense
relationships while learning to balance media in their
of self, reputation, and relationships.
everyday lives. •
Why media balance is important
•
Learning to pause for people
•
Listening to your feelings on technology
•
How our digital footprints affect ourselves and others
•
How gender stereotypes shape our experiences online
Relationships & Communication Students reflect on how to build positive relationships, avoid risky online talk, and understand why some topics
I took a ph that I wan oto of my friend t to shar e ... now w hat? 1. IS IT A GO OD PH OT O? YES NO
Be proud of the photos that you others! Only show share with people the best of the best.
2. WO UL D MY FR IEN D AG RE E? YES NO 3. CO UL D IT GE T MY FR IEN D INT YES NO O TR OU BL E? Don’t post any photos that might come back to haunt you or your friends. You never know who will see them.
4. IS IT GO ING TO CA US E DR AM A? YES
Then it’s posting. not worth Really.
So my friend
Play nice. You wouldn’t want your friend to broadcast a bad photo of you, would you?
NO
is okay wit h it, but ho w might it 5. AM I AW affect me? AR E TH AT AN YO NE CA YES NO Defond office N SH AR E Well, it's IT? true.
and conversations can best lend themselves to certain mediums. •
How to be safe, responsible, and respectful online
•
How to be good digital citizens
•
Keeping games fun and friendly
Anything copied, and shared with you post online can be a large invis saved, ible audience.
6. WO UL D I BE GR AN DM A OK AY WI TH MY SEE ING IT?
YES NO
If you think it will make your grandma then there’s a good chanc blush, e somebody it inappropri else will find ate, too.
7. A YE AR FROM NO W, WI AB OU T MA KIN G TH IS LL I FEE L GOOD PU BL IC ? YES
NO
Hold off if you’re havin g doubts. Your future self will than k you.
Congratul ati before you ons! You clearly sel f-r self-reveal online, so... eflect
Go ahea d!
Sh ar e & EN
For infor mati visit www .common and reso urce s abou t digita l citiz ensh onse nse.o rg/e duca tors . ip, © 2014 www .comm onse nse.o rg
jo y!
Privacy & Security Students learn how to protect personal information and
Cyberbullying, Digital Drama & Hate Speech Students take on these tough topics and play the active role of upstander to build positive, supportive online communities and combat online cruelty. •
How to stop cyberbullying
•
Learning the power of words
•
Responding when someone is mean to you online
gain a deeper understanding of their data privacy rights, so they can advocate for themselves and others.
News & Media Literacy
•
Feeling safe in your online neighborhood
Students identify credible and trustworthy information
•
Keeping your information private
sources and reflect on their responsibilities as thoughtful
•
Creating a rock-solid password
media creators and consumers. •
Crediting the work of others
•
Knowing your rights and responsibilities
•
How to read news online
LWTears.com/TryKWT | 888.983.8409
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Overview: Grades K–2 A student’s earliest experiences with keyboarding should focus on building a strong foundation through proper typing techniques.
“Students enjoy it. It teaches positive habits like using both hands, correct finger placement, and more. That is great and not something I’ve seen from other programs.” - MAYA J., GRADE 2 TEACHER
Every activity has multiple purposes: • Mat Man Match teaches shape and color recognition while building reading skills. • Puzzle Pieces develops fine motor skills and aids in letter recognition.
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Discover the Home Row!
Find out why children need explicit keyboarding instruction in the classroom. | https://youtu.be/C1MRVbAytMI
Play on mobile.
Our patented keyboard includes yellow, green, and blue rows of keys, making it easy for students to learn finger-key association, ensuring keyboarding becomes a comfortable, automatic skill. Our child-friendly language, colorful illustrations, and game-based lessons help children develop the muscle memory and fine motor skills that are needed to seamlessly transition to two-handed typing.
Kindergarten—Introduce the Keyboard & Mouse
Mat Man® Match gets children ready for keyboarding
Puzzle Pieces is a foundation skill activity that helps
with activities that develop fine motor skills, introduce
with letter recognition and differentiation between
keyboard and mouse functions, and support reading and
capitals and lowercase letters. It provides audio feedback
handwriting skills.
while teaching dragging and dropping skills and building muscle memory. LWTears.com/TryKWT | 888.983.8409
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G r a d e 1— D e v e l o p F i n g e r D e x t e r i t y
Painted Finger Clue uses row-based
Teacher Custom Creation*
practice to teach unilateral hand skills
enables educators to create a typing activity
and the association of specific fingers
for their class with cross-curricular content to
with specific keys.
complement what students are learning in other subject areas.
In Bouncing Vowels, students hold down one key with one hand as they type with the other. When they successfully type the vowel or vowel combination on the screen, it drops down and bounces into the proper side to complete a word.
*Teacher Custom Creation is a teacher enabled activity available in all grades.
T H E E N D R E S U LT In a research study, 70 percent of students in grades K–2 saw improvement in their technique. Good technique is the basis for keyboarding proficiency. In the same study, students using Keyboarding Without Tears had a 43% higher average words-per-minute score than students not using Keyboarding Without Tears.
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Grade 2—Practice Letter Combinations & Build Muscle Memory
In Pick Me! the student is given
In Rhyme Flip, students are
In My Choice Keyboarding,*
the beginning of a sentence and a
presented with several words that
students write their own responses
choice of three images. The student
rhyme. When they finish typing the
to a variety of prompts while
chooses an object, learns the name
word, an image associated with the
practicing their keyboarding skills.
of the image, and then types it.
word they typed is revealed.
In Math Sentences, students are shown a grade-level appropriate math equation. Beneath the equation, students are prompted to type sentences that illustrate the math equation by using numbers and words instead of symbols. This is a great activity for building students’ math content vocabulary and provides number and punctuation key practice.
*Teacher enabled activity available in all grades
70%
OF STUDENTS IN GRADES K–2 SAW IMPROVEMENT ON THEIR TECHNIQUE! LWTears.com/TryKWT | 888.983.8409
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Overview: Grades 3–5 Students in these grades begin sharpening the foundation skills they learned in K–2 by focusing on typing fluency. Immersive activities will enhance students’ speed and accuracy while also building computer readiness and digital citizenship skills.
“My students are able to operate and participate in the program independently and look forward to their keyboarding time.” - KAYE P., GRADE 5 TEACHER
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In grades 3 - 5, lessons help students develop keyboarding fluency and the skills they need for online testing environments. Students become familiar with skills essential to computer-based assessments, including scrolling and selecting from drop-down menus. Activities are aligned with grade-level reading ranges. Third grade starts with review and mastery of second grade work and quickly moves into introducing number and function keys, formatting, and writing paragraphs.
Grade 3 – Sharpen Keyboarding Accuracy & Fluency In On the Stage, students type biographical and fun facts about musicians using capitals, punctuation, and action keys. When they successfully complete the activity, each musician plays a snippet of their music.
In Scrolled Secrets, students are presented with a reading comprehension scenario where they must scroll through a body of text and then answer questions based on their understanding. All of the answers, or secrets, can be found in the body of text.
LWTears.com/TryKWT | 888.983.8409
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G r a d e 4 — B u i l d M u s c l e M e m o r y, A c c u r a c y & S p e e d In Fancy Formatting, students are taught how to use common text formatting tools. They are presented with a fun and interesting subject, prompted to type a paragraph on that subject, and then requested to format some part of the paragraph using bold, italics, or underline functions. In Type to See, students are presented with multiple sentences about a fun, interesting subject. As they complete the sentences, an image of that subject is revealed. In Hear It, Type It,* students listen to audio prompts for words or a sentence about a fun, interesting subject. This enrichment activity helps build note-taking skills. *Teacher enabled activity available in all grades
ASSESSMENT ACCELERATOR Available for 2022-23 School Year New, enhanced support for grade 3–5 students will include even more online testing skills. Assessment Accelerator is a dedicated module with cross-curricular activities that educators can schedule to build students’ skills and confidence in online testing environments. • Equation Builder – Complete the equation to represent the answer. • Graph It – Chart a graph or slide a bar. • Highlight It – Select one or more areas of a graphic image to respond. • Match It – Read a passage then select the answer on a grid or table.
KE
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Grade 5—Reinforce Formatting & Keyboarding Skills
In Write About It, students are presented with a particular theme or subject and required to type paragraphs that expand on that theme or subject. The themes and subjects range from Egyptian ships to famous people in history.
grades In Line by Line, students are presented with fun facts and information about a variety of subjects that they must type line by line.
43%
HIGHER AVERAGE WORDS PER MINUTE USING
T H E E N D R E S U LT In a research study, students using Keyboarding Without Tears had a 43% higher average words-per-minute score than students not using Keyboarding Without Tears.
KEYBOARDING WITHOUT TEARS LWTears.com/TryKWT | 888.983.8409
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Virtual Training Options Are Available To get the most value from your Keyboarding Without Tears experience, we provide virtual training, professional development and school-sponsored training options. You’ll be shown a variety of award-winning teaching strategies to help your students reach for success in today’s computer-based assessments and testing.
“Keyboarding Without Tears is a good balance of fun and structure. I like the scaffolded approach to keyboarding instruction, as well as the integration of content.” - JANE W., GRADE 4 TEACHER
Contact your sales representative today For more information and volume pricing discounts call us at 888.983.8409 or visit LWTears.com/contact/request-quote.
Learn more about Keyboarding Without Tears at LWTears.com/kwt • Test-drive our keyboarding curriculum with online sample lessons. • Download a full research report on the efficacy of our instruction.
Keyboarding Without Tears works with Clever, Google Single Sign-On (SSO), ClassLink OneClick/OneRoster, PCs/Macs, Chromebooks, and iPads. To view a complete list of system requirements, visit LWTears.com/techrequirements. INSKWT 04.2022
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