New
New
Year 1

Exploring the toolbar

I can change the style of text in a word processor.

New
New
Year 1

Exploring the toolbar

I can change the style of text in a word processor.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Individual words or sections of text can be selected for editing.
  2. Different fonts can change the look of text.

Keywords

  • Toolbar - the menu you can make choices from

  • Formatting - adding special effects to text to make it stand out

  • Select - make a choice on a computer

  • Font - the way that the letters look

Common misconception

You can use the toolbar to change the text on your screen no matter where you are in a document you are working on.

If you don't first select the text that you want to change, nothing will happen when you use the toolbar as the software won't know what text to apply the changes to.


To help you plan your year 1 computing lesson on: Exploring the toolbar, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Files needed for this lesson

  • L4 Task A 78.06 KB (DOCX)
  • L4 Task B 78.06 KB (DOCX)

Download these files to use in the lesson.

Making mistakes when modelling tasks is important for pupils to see. They should learn that this is a common occurrence in computing and it is easy to go back and undo these changes.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Pupils will need access to a device with word processing software. Examples in this lesson use Google Docs https://oak.link/google.docs

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
What is the key that turns on typing in all capital letters?

spacebar
backspace
Correct answer: caps lock

Q2.
What is not a way to select text?

dragging over the text
double clicking or tapping on the text
Correct answer: clicking once on the text

Q3.
What shows us where the next letter or word will go?

Correct answer: cursor
line
pointer

Q4.
Which key will remove letters?

Correct answer: backspace
enter
spacebar

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
In a word processor, what does this button do?

An image in a quiz
Correct answer: makes the letters dark and thick
puts a line under the letters
makes the letters lean to the side

Q2.
In a word processor, what does this button do?

An image in a quiz
makes the letters dark and thick
Correct answer: puts a line under the letters
makes the letters lean to the side

Q3.
In a word processor, what does this button do?

An image in a quiz
makes the letters dark and thick
puts a line under the letters
Correct answer: makes the letters lean to the side

Q4.
The style of text can be changed by using different ...

frogs
Correct answer: fonts
fronts