Highlands Students Compete in Typing Tournament

Highlands typists compete.
Shawnee Mission School District

Getting into the tournament spirit, students at Highlands Elementary used their typing skills this semester to work their way to victory.

In a bracket-style competition, fifth and sixth-graders in English Language Arts attempted to achieve the highest words-per-minute to be declared the school’s Ultimate Typing Champion. Watch a video here.

The keyboards that attach to iPad devices were funded by a grant from the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation.

The brackets and the competition helped make learning how to type more fun, sixth-grade teacher Marie Hooker said.

 “The goal is to increase their typing speed and to help students get used to keyboards in preparation for middle school and using MacBooks,” Marie Hooker, sixth-grade teacher said.  

“My typing speed went from 18 words per minute up to 41 words per minute,” noted Gray Hollowell, a fifth-grade student.

The final four competitors included Hollowell, Owen Kratky, Finn Kloster, and Jane Banks.

Finn and Gray advanced to the championship round and Finn claimed the title of Ultimate Typing Champion.

Highlands typists compete.
Highlands student types in competition.
A finalist poses with her typing bracket.
A Highlands typist reacts to the competition.
A group of typists compete at Highlands.