Most students already know these, but they may not know the correct terminology or exact functions. Other students may have had little experience with a desktop computer and may have worked on a parent's laptop, smart phone or tablet computer. Grassroots Design has an "Introduction to Computers" tutorial on hardware that contains useful lecture talking points. Teach optional peripherals by bringing a camera or MP3 device. Demonstrate that information is transmitted from the device to the screen. As a closing activity, allow students to take photos of each other, upload them and perhaps edit them.
Obtain a typing book from the library and do a few exercises. Teach the "home row" and proper keyboarding posture. Afterward, play a few games. Several websites have free typing games, or you can invent your own. Call out letters for the students to type, and at the end of the round, the students with the correct letters on the screen win. With each round call them faster, or even call out whole words, to get a final winner.
Cover working with text, formatting paragraphs and documents, and managing files. Have students type out a poem from a book, and let them play with fonts and formatting. Teach how to insert borders and add a clip art image, and then save and print their document. Make it fun by letting them choose or write their own poem, or use a digital camera to take their own photos.
Explain cells and cell names, and consider a game where students must locate cells quickly. To teach formulas, make up a simple business scenario, like a lemonade stand. Use a fun story format and walk them through logging a handful of transactions. Log each sale by customer name, and use "Sort" to alphabetize entries. Use the "Auto-Sum" to calculate how much they earned. For an older group, use spreadsheet functions to run additional business scenarios like dividing profits and subtracting capital. Run "Auto-Format," then save and print. With a small class, take a laptop out to the street or the hall and have a real sale.
Explain that the Internet is a public place just like a mall or park, and you must exhibit the same caution. Education experts agree that students under fifth grade should not use the Internet unsupervised, and federal law prohibits anyone younger than 13 to transmit personal information. The National Crime Prevention Association's mascot, McGruff the Crime Dog, has PDF resources, talking points on Internet Safety and an Internet safety song.
Use a series of large cardboard boxes to make a model of the elements of the Internet. Cut out a large hole in the sides of each box. Have students be information, and crawl through the holes to get to the computer as fast as they can. Mix it up by having more than one destination computer and multiple pieces of information. Teach students how to put in a web address and explain the elements of a URL. Demonstrate search engine use. With older ones, you might get into basic Boolean searches and advanced Google features. Otherwise, pick a kids website and walk them through exploring the site.
Expose only upper-elementary students to these advanced Internet functions. Web 2.0 refers to modern Internet features that are less about reading websites and more about interacting with others. If your students are primarily younger, skip this and have more supervised Internet exploring. Some topics to cover in a Web 2.0 lesson are: blog, blogosphere, micro-blogging, social networking, podcasts, RSS feeds, wikis and video sharing. If time permits, have a Web 2.0 ethics discussion.