Excel Spreadsheets from A-Z

Teaching has never been more exciting. Students have access to computers at home and at school, and working on the computer feels like playtime to kids—not tedious like learning used to be.

For teachers, too, the environment is changing—as are some of the teaching techniques employed. Today most schools have a district website, a networked system of computers with a dedicated server, and email communication with parents and/or students.

Creative teachers can even create a website just for their class—simply by brainstorming an innovative url, checking to see if that domain name registration is still available, and then arranging for website hosting—possibly under the umbrella of the district or school’s website.

The subjects students are learning are more fun and diverse, as well—and include how to use computer software applications like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. So today’s teachers are always on the lookout for new and original ways to incorporate hands-on learning activities students will enjoy, along with projects that incorporate lessons from multiple curriculum.

The following ideas for Excel Spreadsheets from A-Z integrate learning the Excel software application with spelling, linear thinking, mathematics, geography, health, English, physical education, and other education subjects as well as practical skills like organization and logical thinking—all in a fun way that seems more like play because it focuses on topics that interest kids.

A-   Alphabetize a list. Spelling lists, children's names, and vocabulary lists can all be alphabetized quickly and easily in an Excel spreadsheet. 

B-   Birthdays are fun and everyone likes to celebrate. Have students create a birthday list including first and last name, month, and date of birth for each person in the class. Then show them how to sort the data in various ways, such as to create a chart showing the birthday for each month.

C-   Calculations. Excel spreadsheets are great for performing calculations, like adding columns of numbers and finding averages. Show students how to create a spreadsheet with their individual assignment scores (in percentages) for a particular subject and automate the spreadsheet to recalculate their grade in the class as it changes with each new score logged.

D-   Design an inventory sheet—for a supply cupboard, the refrigerator, or anything else where quantities of the items inside fluctuate and must be restocked. Demonstrate how the inventory sheet can be posted to help determine when items must be ordered or purchased to keep a minimum supply on hand at all times, or how it can be used to periodically check on quantities for reordering purposes.

E-    Elevations. Create a list of high points in the world with their elevations above sea level. Then organize them according to the elevation (using a numeric sort) to see which are the absolute highest points worldwide.

F-    Food. Make a spreadsheet showing everything you eat for a day or a week—with the number of servings and even calorie counts. Total the counts to see how many calories are consumed each day.

G-   Gifts are fun to give and receive. Make a list of the gifts received from Christmas, along with the names and addresses of the gift givers, and a column where you can insert the date a thank you card was sent.

H-   Holidays are fun to celebrate. Have students research U.S. and international holidays and create a spreadsheet listing them for the current year by date.

I-      Invitations. Use a spreadsheet to set up a list of people to invite to a party—along with their mailing addresses. Make a column for RSVPs and how many from each family will attend. Then teach students how to export the data into Word to create mailing labels for the invitations. This same data and spreadsheet can also be used to log gifts received and create mailing labels for thank you notes later.

J-     Jump rope. Have each student in the class jump rope and count how many jumps they complete before they have to stop or trip up. Log each students number of jumps in a spreadsheet, calculate the total jumps for the entire class, organize the data according to the highest jumpers, and use the spreadsheet to calculate how many jumps the average student completed.

K-  Keep a checkbook register—with individual entries for each check and a running total showing the balance left in the account at all times as checks are entered.

L-    Log it. Keep a log of how much money you spend each day for a month—and on what. Create an entry for each expenditure and put it into specific categories so students can see where their money goes.

M- Multiplication tables are a fun challenge to create in Excel. Have students manually enter the factors and then teach students to set up the formulas in the cells to generate the answers in the bulk of the table.

N-  Names of states or provinces and their capitol cities, with populations. Print versions of the spreadsheet organized alphabetically by state, alphabetically by city name, and numerically according to population.

O-  Organize a personal library—of books, movies, or music. Create a spreadsheet detailing a collection of CDs, DVDs, or books with separate columns for author or artist name, album or movie or book name, etc.

P-    People have so much contact information these days—mailing addresses, email addresses, website urls, home phone numbers, cell phone numbers, and more. Prepare an Excel database to keep everyone’s contact information at your fingertips.

Q-  Quit re-typing the same stuff over and over! Have students brainstorm ideas for Excel spreadsheets they could create to eliminate “busy work.”

R-   Rearrange data. Give students a pre-created Excel spreadsheet and ask them to rearrange the data in a particular order using the copy, cut, paste, insert row, and insert column features.

S-    Schedules. Have students create a database mapping out their schedule for the week in hourly blocks.

T-    Time. List the dates, times, and names of movies playing at local theaters. Then organize the movies according to their starting times.

U-   URLs. Make a list of your favorite websites to visit along with the name of the site and a brief description of what you’ll find at that url.

V-   Verify data. Create a spreadsheet (think monthly budget here) with totals in various categories for each month of the year. Set up the spreadsheet to calculate the totals in each row and also at the bottom of each column. Verify that the totals from each direction match.

W- Wish list. Everyone has a list of things they’d like to buy . . . someday. Create a spreadsheet itemizing what you want, the price of each item, where it can be purchased (when you save up the money), and then total the column to see how much money you need to save to buy everything on the list.

X-   X-pect students to get creative and come up with great ideas for how they can use Excel spreadsheets for their own purposes. Give a “wide open” x-citing assignment where students set up their own spreadsheet for whatever specific purpose they desire.

Y-   Yahoo! Cheer on your favorite team. Create a spreadsheet to track games and scores, calculate player averages, and track other important sports statistics.

Z-    Zodiac. Study the signs of the zodiac, log each one along with each student’s birthday, and determine their astrological sign.