Activities with Microsoft Word

Here are 3 activities that can be done with Microsoft Word.

1) Shared Story Writing: Students are asked to start writing a story about anything they want. They are given 5 minutes to write and then, unknowingly, are told to swap computers with a classmate. It is then up to the student to continue with another person's story (in a different text colour). After 4 computer swaps, students return to their original story and add a concluding paragraph. Students may then be encouraged to share their stories. The activity is all about getting the kids thinking. They are forced to analyse, interpret and then add to an unfamiliar piece of creative writing.

2) Spell-Check Activity: Whilst in Word students are asked to turn off their monitors. The teacher then reads out the material for the students to type, including various homographs. Turning the monitors back on, students reflect on their dependence of the spell check feature on Microsoft Word. The teacher may make reference to homographs in the English language that spell check won't pick up on when used in the wrong context. This may form the basis of a lesson on homographs. I think its important to have students habitually using traditional dictionaries in the classroom. Teachers may have students include a vocabulary section to their diary or blog. When they come across unfamiliar words or are unsure as how to spell a word, they look it up in the dictionary and add it to their diary.

3) Rebus Writing: Before commencing the activity, various images are added to the child's Word sheet. Students are then asked to write a story and use the images in place of various words. An example is shown below:


Software packages like Kids Pix are perfect for rebus activities:

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Rebus writing may be considered highly effective for level 1 and 2 students because it develops their understanding on how words represent various concepts. This style of writing can also be easily applied within different units of words. For example, during an Indigenous Australia unit of work teachers may include on the page a picture of a digaree-doo, a boomerang, a camp fire, a spear and a kangaroo and have students devise their own dreamtime story using rebus writing.