Warm Up Activities for the Computer Lab

Warm Up Activities for the Computer Lab

I LOVE Literacy so it is no surprise that I use books as a warm up activity for almost every technology lesson. Both print and digital books (and even audiobooks) can be used, and reading to my classes is a way to connect with my students. The discussions that come from it are amazing and make me feel like I’m building community even in just 45 minutes once a week.

There are amazing Technology Themed Children’s Books available. I compiled my favorites into a spreadsheet. You can make a copy of it here.

For the past year I’ve been hard at work putting together over 80 eBooks on technology topics. I thought I knew a lot about technology until I started researching to be able to write these books! I have learned so much and it really fuels my desire to teach others. I think students are going to love being introduced to topics with these eBooks.

Here are the ones I have done so far:

Computer Basics eBooks

  • Parts of a Computer
  • Computers
  • The Internet
  • Web Pages
  • Operating Systems
  • How a Mouse Works
  • Using a Mouse or Trackpad
  • Using a Keyboard
  • History of Computers
  • Inputs and Outputs
  • Parts Inside a Computer
  • Taking Care of a Computer
  • Email
  • File Storage
The Computers basics booklets can be use any time of year to introduce these technology topics.

Digital Citizenship eBooks

  • Conflict Resolution
  • Cyberbullying
  • Media Literacy
  • Public Forums
  • Private and Personal Information
  • Social Media
  • Viruses and Hackers
  • Blogs
  • Distance Learning (freebie)
  • Peer Pressure
  • Online Reputation
  • Screen time
  • Online Sources
These digital citizenship booklets make great discussion starters. Read them whole group to introduce students to the terminology that they’ll be using in your internet safety unit.

Online Research Skills eBooks

  • Search Engines
  • Search Results
  • Ads in Search (and Advanced search techniques)
  • Reading a Web Page
  • Evaluating a Web Page
  • Copyright
  • Taking Notes
  • Citing Sources
  • Avoiding Plagiarism
Read the Online Research Skills eBooks to your classes to introduce the terminology they’ll be using for research projects.

People Important to Technology eBooks

  • Ada Lovelace
  • Alan Turing
  • Alexander Graham Bell
  • Annie Easley
  • Benjamin Banneker
  • Bill Atkinson
  • Bill Gates
  • Chester Gordon Bell
  • Christopher Sholes
  • Douglas Engelbard
  • Edith Clarke
  • Ellen Ochoa
  • Elon Musk
  • Gitanjali Rao
  • Grace Hopper (freebie)
  • Hedy Lamarr
  • Jerry Lawson
  • John Atanasoff
  • Joy Buolamwini
  • Katherine Johnson
  • Larry Page
  • Marie Curie
  • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Mary Spio
  • Mary Wilkes
  • Nikola Tesla
  • Philip Emeagwali
  • Sergey Brin
  • Steve Jobs
  • Ted Hoff
  • Thomas Edison
  • Tim Berners Lee
Phew that is a lot of people important to technology! These eBooks make a great introduction to a unit on Technology Careers. Students can even use the Booklets to research a person and then create a research report or presentation on the information.
  • Audio files
  • File Sizes
  • Fonts
  • Image Files
  • Multimedia
  • Software Basics
  • Presentation Software
  • Word Processing Software
  • Spreadsheet Software
  • Algorithms
  • Bugs and Debugging
  • Decomposing
  • Events and Conditions
  • Loops
  • Programs
  • Sequencing
  • Values and Variables

Coming soon is a series on Creativity with Technology!

Pin this post to get back to later:

I LOVE Literacy so it is no surprise that I use books as a warm up activity for almost every technology lesson. Both print and digital books (and even audiobooks) can be used, and reading to my classes is a way to connect with my students. The discussions that come from it are amazing and make me feel like I'm building community even in just 45 minutes once a week.

Leave a Reply