Third Quarter Continues...

February 29 will be the last day we work on Excel. Monday, March 3rd, 2008 we will start working on our Project "Exploring Our Future Careers". I will give you detailed instructions. The goal of this project is to help you investigate different careers that you may want to consider for your future. You will do some research in the Internet (US Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics' Website http://www.bls.gov/). You will choose at least six possible careers for you and create a Microsoft Word Document, a PowerPoint Presentation, Excel Tables and Excel Charts.

By now you should understand the basic principles of the Excel Program very well. You should know how to create tables, entering basic formulas (calculating the sum, subtraction, multiplication and division of numbers; calculating averages and percentages) and how to format them. You should also know how to create charts in Excel and how to format them. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask Mrs. Feld.

On March 6 we will have an Excel Test. You will create a table, enter formulas and create a chart. I need to know that you understand what we have covered in class so far.

The "Exploring Our Future Careers" Project is due Friday, March 14, 2008. By the end of the Third Quarter you should have completed all of the Keyboarding Skill Builder Lessons. You should have also completed all of the Timed Writings.

In April we will work on the Numeric Keypad Lessons and the Numeric Keyboarding Lessons. In May we will learn how to create Business Letters.

More on Excel

Review: Excel is the Microsoft Office spreadsheet application for storing and analyzing data. It is used in many different ways, for payroll and inventory, for data collection, and for personal budgets and cost calculations. An Excel spreadsheet document is referred to as a “workbook”. An Excel workbook consists of individual worksheets (or sheets).

The Elements of an Excel Worksheet are: the Title Bar, the Menu Bar, the Standard Toolbar, the Formatting Toolbar, the Name Box, the Formula Bar, Sheet Tabs, Scroll Bars, Status Bar, and Worksheet Area. You should know what these elements are and where they are located.

Excel's Automatic Features are: AutoComplete, AutoCorrect, AutoFill, AutoCalculate, and AutoSum. You should also know and understand what these are.

Vocabulary: workbook, worksheet, cell, active cell, column, row, AutoFill handle, cell address or cell reference, cell pointer, absolute cell reference, relative cell reference.

You should be comfortable using the AutoSum function, and entering common formulas - like Addition (Sum), Subtraction, Average, Multiplication, Division, Percentage, and Today's Date. Remember: All formulas must start with an equal sign (=). If you type an equal sign into a cell, Excel assumes that you are about to enter a formula. Any expression in a formula that is enclosed within a parentheses is calculated first.

Third Quarter

On January 28th we began our Third Quarter. This month of February we will be learning Excel (the Spreadsheet Program of Microsoft Office). You will practice several Excel exercises until you can become proficient in creating Excel Tables and Charts, and in using basic formulas and formulas with relative, absolute and mixed references.

February 12: Excel Test

For this test, please review the notes you typed in class "Introduction to Excel" and the papers I gave you: 1) Excel's Automatic Features (AutoComplete, AutoCorrect, AutoCalculate, AutoSum, AutoFill and the AutoFill Handle) and 2) "Spreadsheets and Excel" - with general information (skip "Using the Function Wizard" and "Creating a Chart"). You should clearly understand what each Automatic Feature does in Excel and how to use them. You will also do an Excel Exercise using what we learned in class. Please review the Sum, Multiplication and Average Formulas.