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Microsoft Word Beginner Lessons-Lesson 1:Basic Foundations

© Cheryl Lewis

Microsoft Word is a program within Windows for you to creat documents. These documents can be as simple as a letter or an envelope. They can be as complicated as a document full of hand created graphics and tons of information. It is really up to the user how complicated they want to get with it. For this article we will focus on the basic functions in Microsoft Word that you will want to teach your child.

In Microsoft Word you have your basic menu and toolbars. The toolbars can be customized to suit your needs. I highly recommend keeping them as uncluttered as possible for teaching your child the Word program. To many buttons can be confusing and overwhelming to a little person trying to learn a new computer skill.

Start by showing them how to get around their document in Word. Of course more than likely they are using the mouse without any trouble by now, but it is also a very good point to show them that if they want to get somewhere within a document that this is a tool they can use. Simply put the mouse cursor where they want to type or add something and click. I also recommend that you point out the little bar on the right hand side of the page that has the small up and down arrows. If they click on one of those arrows the document will scroll in that direction making it easier to find their point in the document. Also point out that the arrow keys on the keyboard will move them around the document as well. Once they are comfortable being able to navigate their way around their document you can begin showing them the menu bar.

The menu bar is the gray bar at the top of the page that contains the words File Edit View Insert etc. etc. The function of this bar is to tell the computer what you want it do within the Word program. For the first lesson I would keep the explanations of this bar relatively simple. For example in the menu bar click on File and look in the pop up menu at the different functions available. The functions that you will most likely use here are the New, Open, Save, Save As, Print and Print Preview options. I would have them type in the instructions you give them as their document. This is a great way to help them remember what they are learning and they can print it out and use it for reference in the future. I would give short descriptions of each of these functions.

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