Typing games for Year 5

Choose sentences, numerals or symbols and type for 1, 2 or 5 minutes. You get words a minute, and the share of your keys that were right.

For Year 5 in Australia. In England, Year 5 is in KS2. In the United States, see 5th grade.

How a check works

1. Set the clock. 1 minute is a warm-up. 2 or 5 minutes shows whether you can hold a pace.
2. Choose a kind of text. Sentences, numerals or symbols. The table below shows what each one types.
3. Start when you are ready. The clock waits for your first right key. From then on, a wrong key holds you in place until you find the right one.
4. Read the two numbers. Your rate, in words a minute, and your accuracy: the share of your keys that were right. The stars are for accuracy alone.

Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere. Write the two numbers down if you want to keep them.

What each choice types

The lines come from the game's own stories, which were written in the United States. Now and then a word is the American one, such as "truck" or "yard".

Why sentences, numerals and symbols?

In New South Wales, Year 5 and Year 6 are Stage 3. Under "Software functionalities and typing", the NSW English syllabus for Stage 3 asks students to "Navigate the keyboard with efficiency and accuracy when typing words, numerals, punctuation and other symbols" and to "Reflect on and monitor typing accuracy and rate according to goals and given criteria".

The three choices follow that first sentence. The result gives the two numbers the second one asks a student to reflect on: a rate, in words a minute, and an accuracy, as a share of keys right.

We read the syllabus for New South Wales, and no other state's. Ask your child's teacher what your school expects.

NAPLAN writing in Year 5

The National Assessment Program's website says the NAPLAN writing tests "assess the accurate, fluent and purposeful writing of a text in Standard Australian English", and that all students write the same kind of text "regardless of whether they are a Year 3 student doing the test on paper or a student in Year 5, 7 or 9 doing the test online" (What's in the tests). So Year 5 is the first year the writing test is done online and not on paper.

This page is typing practice. It is not NAPLAN practice, it uses none of NAPLAN's tasks, and a typing speed is not a writing mark. The syllabus's advice to teachers gives a reason of its own for practising: "If handwriting or typing is automatic and fast, the writer can concentrate on other elements of writing."

Words the way Australia spells them

A lap with no clock: ten of these words, in a new order each time.

colour colours humour behaviour endeavour centre theatre organised recognise practise practising summarise specialised minimise maximise customise finalise labelled modelled judgement

Each word is spelled the way the NSW curriculum website spells it: "our" in colour and behaviour, "re" in centre and theatre, "ise" in recognise and summarise. The words use 21 of the 26 letters. A lap never asks for K, Q, W, Y or Z. The longest is "specialised", at 11 letters.

What suits a child in Year 5

• Accuracy first. A quick score with many wrong keys is a habit to slow down and fix.
• The same check each time. Keep to one length and one choice, so this week's number can be compared with last week's.
• A goal of their own. One more word a minute, or two more keys in a hundred right.
• Numerals and symbols last. They are the longest reaches from the home row. The number practice page takes them two keys at a time.

These choices are a starting point for Year 5, not a rule. A child who is still finding the keys can start with the row races or with typing for beginners.

Your keyboard

The game draws a US keyboard. Microsoft's list of default keyboards for Windows gives English (Australia) the US keyboard, so on a Windows computer set up that way every sign in the symbols check is where the picture shows it. On a Mac, the Unicode keyboard chart for Apple's Australian layout shows the same signs on the same keys.

For teachers

The page runs in a browser on Chromebooks, laptops and iPads, with no accounts and nothing to install, so a whole class can use it at once. Nothing typed is saved or sent. Teachers can request free classroom codes for the full game.

Questions