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Links keyboard awareness to the learning of early literacy skills

Shelf Stock Clearance - Existing stock now available at this reduced price while stocks last!
First Keys 3 is now available.

The second edition of First Keys develops keyboard skills through text matching, spelling and word blends from picture cues. It is suitable for young children or older students with learning difficulties. The user develops keyboard skills through picture matching, letter recognition, word building, and spelling activities. The location of keys is taught by associating letters with pictures and speech. Selections can be made by pressing keys on the computer keyboard, or by mouse clicks from an on-screen keyboard.

Activities

The program has six levels of activity with a very flexible set of options:

• Initial Letter: Match a letter key to the initial letter of a picture prompt.
• Match the text: Type in the whole word or phrase to match the text.
• Build the Text: Text and picture appears, but on the first input the remaining text disappears. The student has as long as they want to look before pressing the first key.
• Fill the Gaps: Show the picture and text, but with gaps missing in the text. These gaps may be fixed letters, vowels or letter blends such as “sh”, “ch”, “ough” etc. The teacher can store their own lists of missing letters.
• Look, Cover, Spell: See the picture and text. After a time (which can be adjusted to need) the whole word disappears and the student must type it in.
• Spell from Picture: Here the word is not seen at all and the student must type in the word, given only the picture.
• Listen and Read: Read the text as a talking book before working on the vocabulary.

Click here for pictures of various activities

Graphics

The program comes with an extensive range of images which include improved versions of the graphics in the original version of First Keys as well as photographs and additional images to illustrate new activity possibilities. It is easy to add your own images and photos and the program accepts a wide range of file formats.

The program is whiteboard friendly and provides a very useful tool to support the literacy strategy.

Keyboard

• The program shows the task with an image of the keyboard.
• The keyboard can display the letters QWERTY or alphabetical layout.
• Numbers and space bar can be shown optionally.
• Letters can be shown upper or lower case and you can choose the font.

The program works by the student pressing the appropriate keys on the keyboard, or by clicking with a mouse on the one shown on-screen. It is also possible to switch off the on-screen keyboard display.

There are visual prompts highlighting the key to press. The point at which prompts “cut in” can be adjusted. The prompt can be shown as a highlight on the key, or as a “picture” related to the letter (eg. an apple on the “a” key).

Tasks

A task consists of a set of words or phrases.

The program takes these in turn and presents them to the student using the activity chosen. The order of the words or phrases can be in the order they were input, alphabetical, or random.

It is possible to use a series of activities so that the student can extend learning. For instance, a task may be set to first “Match the Text” then follow immediately with “Build the Text”.

Requirements and ResourcesexpandClick to collapse

Prices

	Code	Media	Platform	$AUD Price	$AUD GST
	First Keys 2 - Five Machine Licence	Existing stock now available at this reduced price while stocks last! Licensed for use on five machines located on a single geographical site
	bLOFIRKEY05	CD-ROM	Win 98, Win ME, Win 2000, Win XP	$149.99	$0.00