M&M SpreadSheets

Mrs. Harvey

Name: Becky Harvey

Date: 04/25/12-04/26/12
Lesson Title: M&Ms Excel
Brief Description of Group to be taught: Students all in grade 9. There are fifteen
students. Ability levels vary in everything from typing to navigating the computer and
the internet. There is one student on an IEP. His issue is with reading and following
multiple directions.
Overall Purpose of the lesson: The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to
formatting, formulas and charting in excel.
Relationship of this lesson to curriculum: The goal of the class curriculum is to teach
students how to be more productive with their use of technology. Much weight is given
to the Microsoft Office Suite of Products. This lesson will help students to have a deeper
understanding of how to use the office products.
Standards/Framework:
G9-12: 1.6 Demonstrate keyboarding techniques,1 including the use of keyboard
shortcuts, to complete assignments efficiently and accurately. (For students with
disabilities, demonstrate alternate input techniques as appropriate.)
G9-12: 1.8 Apply advanced formatting and page layout features when appropriate (e.g.,
columns, templates, and styles) to improve the appearance of documents and materials.
SWBAT:Create a spreadsheet, create charts from gathered data, insert formulas to
calculate basic equations and format the page according to written directions.
Materials: Laptop with MS Excel 2003 and an internet connection
Jingcast videos of Teacher formatting and adding charts (Helps IEP student)
Printout of directions with sample final product
Cecklist for grading (provides list of must-haves. Important for IEP student)
Procedures: Students will log onto Gmail to download assignment in color. Assignment
will be handed out as well. Students will watch jingcasts showing them how to format
their charts. Students will proceed to gather data, insert it in a specific format and create
formulas and charts to display their data. At the end of class, students will review their
work using the provided checklist..
Motivational Techniques: Using a candy with the motivation that the class who does
the best work wins the bags will motivate students to try their best in creating their
products. They may not realize this is helping them learn, but in making sure that they do
all the correct steps, they will be performing the necessary tasks that they are required to
learn. I will also be using a jingcast to explain the process. Students connect more
strongly to video images than they do teachers giving lectures.
WrapUp: A brief summary of the lessons in image formatting followed with instructions
on blogging and saving poems.
Assessment: Checklist- all of the elements will be reviewed to see if they were done
correctly.
Differentiation: In addition to explaining the document to be created, a visual (jingcast)
with step-by-step instructions will be provided, as will a printout with directions and
sample. There is also a worksheet for notetaking/basic layout and a checklist to help
those students who have problems following the directions or who get overwhelmed/lost.
Pitfalls/Soulutions:
Jingcast might not work- could walk students through it on the projector
Computers might not work- can have back up computers ready
Since weve had issues with the network, Ill have back up worksheets with relevant info.
.

M&M SpreadSheets

Mrs. Harvey

The Class with the Best End Products

WINS the bags of M & Ms!!! (yummy!!)
Introduction
Not all information is the same. To communicate different kinds of
information effectively you need to graph the information in different kinds of charts.
Some data collections are better represented by bar charts, for example, while others may
be easier to interpret as line charts or pie charts. It is important to select a chart type that
gets the message across in the most effective way. There are no sure-fire rules that
determine which chart type to select for a particular data set, but there are helpful
guidelines. For example, bar charts allow for a comparison of values within a category,
line charts emphasize a progression of change, and pie charts show the relationship of a
part to the whole.
In this lesson, you will learn how to use charts to communicate information effectively by
conducting market research about M&M's. First, you will sort and classify the contents of
several bags of M&M's by color. What makes this especially challenging is the
temptation to eat your inventory of candy. Next, you will record the number of candies
for each color and summarize your findings on a worksheet created in Office Excel. Then
you will convert the numbers into several kinds of charts and make predictions about
color distribution in other bags of candy. You will analyze your data and present your
process and results in a written report.

Student activity
Follow the steps below to guide your students through this lesson plan. See student guide
links at right.

Step 1: "Color distribution"

Step 2: "Create a worksheet"
Step 3: "Add formulas"
Step 4: "Create graphs"

Conclusion
You will be evaluated on the following:
The accuracy of your data collection
The successful completion of a spreadsheet that includes formulas
Your ability to work and solve problems
Your demonstrated understanding of the uses of different charts
The thoroughness and effectiveness of your final report

M&M SpreadSheets

Mrs. Harvey

M&M SpreadSheets

Mrs. Harvey

DO NOT open your baggy of M&Ms. Separate the M&Ms

by color by pushing them to different areas within the bag.
Tally the number of each of the different colors of M&Ms
found in your package.
(1) Open the program: Microsoft Excel.
(Start/Programs/Microsoft Office/Excel)
Add your Name, Period & the date to Cell A1
(2) Highlight Cells B2. Merge the cells using the merge button on the formatting bar.
through F2
Click the mouse in cell B2 and type My M&Ms Colors in the entry bar.
(3) Highlight My M&Ms Colors in the entry bar (or you can just click on the cell) and
change the font size to 14 and BOLD.
(4) Press the enter key to move the information from the entry bar to the active cell.
(5) Click the mouse in cell A3 and type Bag #
In B3:Green
In C3: Blue
In D3: Pink
In E3: Purple
In F3: Yellow
In G3: Total Count
(6) Highlight cells A3 through G3; change the font to size 12 and BOLD.
(7) Skip Row 4 and in Cell A5, list your first bag number.
(8) Count all of your Green M&Ms from your first bag and list the number in cell: B5
Continue to list all of the color counts from your first bag in row 5 under the
appropriate heading.
(9) Use the AutoSum ( button) to calculate the sum of the first bag. This will go in G5.
(the formula should read: =sum(B5:F5)
Once complete, we will be swapping bags and doing the calculations for that bag in
row 7. A third bag will be documented in row 9.
(10) In cell A11, type: Totals: (use Bold and size 14pt)
(11) Using the AutoSum once again, calculate the TOTAL number of each color from
your three bags. You should also do a total for the total count column.
(12) Highlight the cells for each color column (as shown on the example) and using rightclick, format cell, patterns highlight each group in its own color. (ie: green highlighted
in green.) Next, put a thick border around all the cells, and a thin border between them.

Pie Charts

M&M SpreadSheets

Mrs. Harvey

View the jingcast on inserting pie charts. http://screencast.com/t/xFFmIWxHX

Click and highlight the candy counts from your first bag of M&Ms. Click the chart
wizard (see left) on the Standard Toolbar or go to the Insert menu on the Task Bar and
select Chart/Pie chart. Click Next and Next again. In the Title Selection space type Bag
#___. Click on the Data Option tab and select Series Name and Value , then click
Finish.
Change the color of each slice of pie on the chart by double clicking on the slice and
selecting the appropriate color from the Pattern tab color chart. The piece of pie will
change to this new color after you click OK. You should also click on the series name
and change IT to the color name which that slice represents.
Move the Pie chart around the spreadsheet table by clicking on the pie chart and dragging
it to the side. To increase the size of the pie chart, drag down on the bottom and side of
the chart area, and the chart will grow in size.
You should complete four pie charts- one for each of your three bags and one for the
total.
When you have completed your pie charts and put them in the same placement as on the
example sheet, click on Print Preview to make sure that the chart and the spreadsheet will
be printed on one page. Save your work in your folder - call it M&Ms Colors and print
a copy.

How To Reminders:
If you are unable to do something, hit enter or click in a different cell and then try again.
To auto-fill, highlight your cell(s) to be copied and drag the fill-handle (little black
square) on the lower right hand side of your highlighted cell(s)Just click and DRAG
To format a cell or set of cells, highlight, right click and then drop down to format cells.
You can use align to set where your text goes and how it appears within a cell. You can
use borders to outline or patterns to fill with colors.

M&M SpreadSheets

Mrs. Harvey

M&M SpreadSheets

Mrs. Harvey