Free Computer Clues by Judy Delton Page B

yourselves. Then you’ll have to do three things to earn your badge. The first is to write a short report, using information you find on the Internet. The second is to contact your friends via E-mail. And finally, to celebrate our new badge, we’ll have a treasure hunt. All of the clues will be given to you by E-mail.”
    “What if we want to use a book to do research for our report?” asked Tracy.
    “No books,” said their leader. “Books are wonderful, but this project is all about computers. This is not a book badge. This is a computer badge. You’ll find all your information on the computer, and you’ll do all your writing on the computer.”
    Hands were waving. “Is Internet like a fishnet?” shouted Tim.
    “I already know how to use a computer, Mrs. Peters,” said Mary Beth.
    “What kind of report?” Sonny asked.
    “I’ll tell you all about it,” said Mrs. Peters. “And I’ll introduce you to the machine.”
    “Hello, Mr. Machine,” said Roger, putting his arm out as if to shake hands with the computer. “My name is Roger.”
    The Pee Wees giggled and Mrs. Peters frowned.
    “Next week,” she said, “we’ll pick papers out of a hat. Each paper will have the subject for a report written on it. Each subject will be different. Your reports will be on items found at the fairgrounds here in town. That’s where we’ll have our treasure hunt. The subjects will be things like local birds or buildings or trees.”
    “I don’t like birds, Mrs. Peters,” said Tracy. “I’m allergic to feathers.”

    Molly could think of a million questions. How do you find something on the computer if you don’t know how to spell the word? And how can you write on the computer without a pencil? How can everyone read it? Molly started to get the same scared feeling in her stomach that she got when she was in school and she didn’t understand the directions for a test.
    But why should she worry? Mary Beth was her best friend. And Mary Beth knew about computers!
    “How do you write on a computer?” she whispered to Mary Beth.
    “You need software,” Mary Beth whispered back. “A program.”
    Programs. Software. That was no help at all. Those words didn’t tell her anything!
    “Mrs. Peters will explain it to us,” added Mary Beth.
    Of course! Mrs. Peters said she would help them! Why was Molly so impatient?
    “Now let’s not jump the gun,” said their leader. “First things first.”
    Was
jump the gun
a computer term too? wondered Molly. And what did guns have to do with computers? Her mother didn’t like guns. She would not be pleased if Molly had to use guns on a computer.
    Most of the Pee Wees were frowning. Mrs. Peters pointed to the computer on the desk. It had a screen like a TV and a metal box. There was also something that looked like part of a typewriter. Mrs. Peters wasn’t wasting any time. She pressed two buttons and the machine began to hum and lights began to flash.
    “What program are you using?” asked Rachel. “We are getting a new computer that will have four different word processing programs. One of them has an entiredictionary on it. There’s so much storage on the hard drive that it can hold jillions and jillions of words.”
    Word processing
. Molly had heard about processed cheese. But how do you process words?
    “Right now,” said Mrs. Peters, “I just want to show everyone how to turn the computer on and off.” She explained the two buttons. One for the screen. One for the hard drive.
    “I can’t drive, even if it’s easy drive!” cried Tim. “I’m not old enough to drive!”
    “
Hard drive
does not refer to driving a car,” said Mrs. Peters kindly. “It means the part of the computer that stores information.”
    Molly was glad that there was someone who knew less than she did. Even she, Molly, knew they would not be driving a car!

CHAPTER
            3
The Magic Laptop
    M rs. Peters showed the Pee Wees the little pictures on the screen. Then she