Spreadsheets
Suggestions for K/1
Building a Foundation
When teaching spreadsheets, the foundation is set away from the computer. The following is a suggested activity:
- Concepts to be presented/reinforced:
- What is a row?
- What is a column?
- What is an address?
(1021 Milton Street is an address for a house on a street; A1 is an address for a cell in a spreadsheet)
- Beginning activities:
- Have students line up in rows, put rows together to identify columns.
- Use manipulatives to reinforce this concept.
- Give students a blank grid with rows numbered, columns lettered. Have them color identified rows and columns. (Color column B green, color row 3 blue, etc.).
How to make a blank 5X5 grid...
- Give students a copy of the houses grid and have them color the houses.
Give oral directions:
Color the house in cell A1 blue.
Color the house in cell B3 red.
Color the house in cell C1 yellow.
Color the house in cell D2 green.
Color the house in cell A4 orange.
Color the house in cell E4 purple.
- Use the houses grid that the students have colored to practice using cell addresses:
What color is the house in cell C1?
In cell E4?
etc.
- Provide paper with blank grid. Have students color the grid according to oral directions:
Color cell A3 blue.
Color cell C2 red.
Continue until grid is filled.
- Variations: Have students follow directions to draw an object in a certain cell,
create patterns, graph data.
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send an email message to: Joan Peebles,
jpeebles@madison.k12.wi.us, at Instructional Technologies
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http://danenet.wicip.org/mmsd-it/
Madison Metropolitan School District
Instructional Technologies: Coordinator, Joan Peebles
545 West Dayton Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53703 USA
Last Modified: 2/20/97