Introduction to spreadsheets

In this two-week unit the students will use a teacher made spreadsheet to learn how calculations work. Then student teams will work together to create their own "store" order form on a spreadsheet. The final part of the lesson is a simulated game show where students "shop" at each others stores, trying to spend an exact amount of money without going over, getting closer to their required amount than any other team.

A lesson plan for grade 4 Computer/Technology Skills

By Christine Weaver

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Related topics

• Learn more about computer/technology skills and spreadsheets.

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Learning outcomes

• The students will be introduced to the basic terminology of spreadsheets (cells, text, calculations) as well as some formatting of cells (borders, shading, etc.) depending on students ability and interest.
• Students will use a teacher made spreadsheet (see attached file ) that works like an electronic order form- listing items to buy and the price of each item- to see how the spreadsheet calculations can automatically figure out the total amount of money spent.
• The students will work cooperatively to create a team spreadsheet and also to “shop” cooperatively at each others “stores.”

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

2 weeks

Materials/resources

Beanie World handout (This is a .rtf file of a spreadsheet. The calculations are not usable after downloading. It could be printed as a handout to introduce how to figure out the total amount spent with, pencil, paper, and calculator.)

Technology resources

• Computer with program like Excel, Clarisworks, or Microsoft Works that has an option to create a spreadsheet for each student group
• printer

Pre-activities

Discuss the following…

• Ask students to list types of stores or businesses that sell items to the public.
• Have students think about how those items are purchased and how stores keep track of orders as well as inventory their items.
• Ask students to think about what they need to consider when figuring out how much they can purchase if they have $5.00 (or other amounts) to spend, encouraging a discussion on sales tax.
• If necessary, use play money to figure out the tax for certain amounts of purchase. This could be a center in the room where students pretend to purchase items using tax.

Activities

1. Handout the Beanie World worksheet as an example of an inventory or store order form. Lead the students through the steps necessary to order something using an order form. Have the students work with you, using an overhead transparency of the form. Lead the students through the steps of calculating the number of items purchased times the item price to determine the total price of each item. Then help the students figure out the tax and grand total for all their purchases.
2. Next using a spreadsheet created by you with item names, prices, and the calculations already finished for the store Beanie World, have students enter the number of items they purchased in the spreadsheet.
3. Have the students printout their spreadsheets to compare with their paper version in order to check for accuracy.
4. Next introduce the students to the terminology of a spreadsheet while the students are looking at the Beanie World spreadsheet.
5. Lead the students through starting a new spreadsheet and help them create calculations. Show them how to check their calculations to see if they are correct.
6. Allow student groups to work on their own spreadsheet.
7. Once all the groups are finished with their spreadsheets, allows teams to “shop” at each others “stores.” (To make it more like a game, the student team who spends as much of its money as possible without going over at each team’s store will be considered “A Winning Team.”)

Assessment

• student worksheets Beanie World and printed spreadsheet of Beanie World
• student teams spreadsheets
• printouts of “shopping days” at each others stores

Supplemental information

Comments

I have tried to attach the Excel file Beanie World so that it would open in Excel as a usable spreadsheet, but could not manage to save it correctly. Please do not let that discourage you- My class loved this unit!!