Click Clack Moo - Cows That Type

My last classroom teaching post for awhile - it’s hard to believe!

I just want to share one of my favorite activities I did in my 4th grade keyboarding classes this year - you might be surprised to learn that it has NOTHING to do with computers! My family is really into reading and we have books scattered EVERYWHERE. I order about 5 - 10 books a month from my sister’s day care book order and fell in love with this children’s favorite the moment I saw it last year. I didn’t know at the time that I would be using it in the classroom!

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin (she has other great farmyard books as well) is a really funny book about cows who use an old typewriter they found in the barn to communicate with their farmer. They start making demands for electric blankets, then bring the hens into the mix, and finally duck joins in to help with negotiations. My 2-year-old LOVES this book, but so did the 4th graders. When reading it at school, we spent at least 15 minutes reading this fairly short book because we discussed the history of typing and the differences in a typewriter and a computer, and we had great talks on the meanings of words such as strike (the cows go on strike because the farmer didn’t give them their electric blankets!), ultimatum (the duck delivered the farmer’s ultimatum to the cows), and neutral (the duck was supposedly a neutral party). We also discussed the use of computers as a means of communicating for those with disabilities or language differences. The talks were great - I was surprised at how many kids had actually typed on a typewriter but hadn’t heard of electric blankets!

If I were to do things differently or suggest anything to other elementary tech teachers, it would be to incorporate some more non-tech activities every once in awhile. The kids LOVED having me read to them and since that’s one of my all-time favorite things to do, it made me happy as well. I was talking to one of the 4th grade teachers and told her that reading out loud to the kids is what I loved so much about subbing in elementary and middle school but missed getting to do this year. I’ll take the blame for that and although I don’t plan to teach at the elementary level again, if I sub in the future I may just have to take a few elementary assignments to get my class reading fix! Not like I don’t do enough of it at home with my kids - it’s a HUGE part of our day!

I wrote this as I’m on the way out the door for a weekend up north…….if you want to know more about that, head over here.

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