Grade 8 Units

Unit 1 - CyberCrime in Society

• Students will review the copyright laws. (I.H)
• Students will discuss privacy issues regarding freedom of information. (I.I)
• Students will discuss issues regarding computer crimes. (I.J)

Comments

Conduct class discussions to get these objectives across to the students. Have them volunteer situations that they know about or have heard about to get discussions going.

Unit 2 - Keyboarding

• Students will continue to develop correct keyboarding techniques. (II.B)

Comments

Try to bolster the attitudes to keyboarding by keeping this unit short.

Unit 3 - Keyboard Shortcuts

• Students will use the keyboard shortcuts to accomplish certain tasks. (II.C)

Comments

Just review shortcuts and make sure that all students have a basic library of shortcuts that they use. Encourage students to share favorite shortcuts.

Unit 4 - Word Processor (III.D)

• Students will use the skills that they have learned in the past years to complete their writing assignments on the word processor.

Comments

These skills will be used to complete written assignments for other curriculum areas throughout the course of the year. It may be a good idea to spend one session reviewing the fundamentals to make sure all students are up to speed.

Unit 5 - Database (III.E)

• Students will make any changes necessary to their address database.
• Students will use their address database for a Christmas mailing using labels and mail merge.
• Students will create new databases.

Comments

This unit will work well prior to the Christmas break. Provide them with new information for their databases so that all students are adding records and making changes (i.e. teacher's address, missions, etc.) The new databases will allow the students to review techniques on how to create a database.

Unit 6 - Using Commercial Databases (III.E)

• Students will use commercial databases for research purposes.

Comments

This unit will be used in conjunction with other curriculum areas for research. It is important to provide students with the time to access the information.

Unit 7 - Graphics (III.G)

• Students will learn how to access clip art and bring it into the paint environment.
• Students will learn how to edit clip art images. (i.e. add parts, erase parts, color, etc.)
• Students will be able to export these edited images to other modules.
• Students will create presentations using video editing.

Comments

Students will need to get accurate dimensions of their homes to complete this unit. Have the students draw up a rough sketch with their parents to put the measurements on. This will aid in the drawing at the computer. Encourage creativity with the editing of the images. Only allow color editing if you have a color printer. Teacher may want to specify which images the students work on to prevent a student from choosing an image which is too complex.Standard equipment needed for video editing includes a digital video camera, video editing software, and a great deal of hard drive storage.

Unit 8 - Desktop Publishing (III.H)

• Students will create linked text frames.
• Students will use these frames in columns.
• Students will mix text and graphics to create a newspaper type document.
• Students will add clip art images to the page layouts.

Comments

This unit will reinforce the work done on clip art images. A suggested project would be for the students to create a classroom newsletter.

Unit 9 - Spreadsheet (III.F)

• Students will demonstrate the ability to input text into a spreadsheet.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to format rows and columns.
• Students will use the formatted page to input data.
• Students will create formulas or use calculation functions to do computations with the data.
• Students will use the data in table form to create a simple chart.

Comments

Teacher should have students create a formatted page that the students will use in conjunction with the next unit. Suggest temperatures for one week or time breakdown for one school day. Teachers can direct the students to create formulas that might find an average temperature or a percentage of the day a class time runs in their previously prepared spreadsheet. Direct the students to produce a variety of charts with the same information.

Unit 10 - Web Browser

• Students will begin to use searches to research information. (III.I)
• Students will learn to create their own list of bookmarks. (III.I)
• Students will extend their skills in other curriculum areas by using the web to browse related subjects. (III.I)
• Students will maintain their HTML home page. (III.I)
• Students will use FTP client to upload and download web page files. (III.K)

Comments

Make sure that each student is able to use E-mail, FTP clients, and as the Web browser. This will be a good lead in to any internet use they might receive in high school.