Saturday, April 25, 2015

Excel Activity

One of my most favorite things to teach is Excel.  Unfortunately, our curriculum has changed and I no longer have an entire month to spend on my favorite program.  I used to do an entire unit and the students were writing formulas at the end of it.  Unfortunately, Excel got the axe in our district.

The end of the year is coming up quick and the students are very antsy.  I decided to nix some of the typing practice we are doing and do a quick intro on Excel.

You will need a fun sized pack of Skittles (or M&Ms) for each student.  Because of allergies, I use Skittles.  The dollar store sells six packs for a buck.

I do a quick intro of Excel.  I explain the cell address, how to add borders, change fonts and fill the cells.  I also show them how to resize rows and columns.  I show where they can find graphs and charts and show them some of the very cool formulas you can write.  Then I pass out this sheet. (click link for printable page)


It's a very condensed version of the four weeks of Skittles I used to do.  This introduces the students to a spreadsheet and how to create one, then it sets them loose to explore the program.  I was so surprised at how many students figured out how to add a pie chart showing the percentage of colors they got.  I even had a handful that managed to write a formula to add all the Skittles together.

Next week we're back to typing but I may touch back on the Skittles again before the end of the year.