Open Excel

Navigation

Try using each of the arrow keys: what happens?

Try using the enter key: what happens:

Try using the tab key: what happens?

Inputting data

Text

Try typing in your name: what if you wanted to fit in both first and last name?

Make column wider by dragging

Try typing in your name two ways: with first and last in one column, and with first and last in two columns

Type in several other names (friends, family members) below your name (note: modify this if necessary, as some of the students may have diffculty with this)

Numeric data

Type in “1234”. What happens when you hit enter? Is this different from what happened when you typed in your name?

Type in “5678” and hit enter. (The point is that numbers are treated differently)

Now type in your phone number, area code and all, and hit enter? What happens? Why doesn’t this get treated as a number?

Deleting

Hit “backspace” once in the current cell

Use the arrow key to hit backspace once and move to another cell, and hit backspace

Double-click in another cell to get a blinking cursor in a specific place and hit backspace

Exercise: Delete everything you’ve typed in except your name. (Assess deleting) Type your phone number next to it. (Assess inputting) You are going to make a mini phone book: Type the names of three different friends or family members below your name. Type phone numbers next to the names (don’t worry if you don’t know the real phone numbers, this is just practice. You can make up phone numbers for now or type in question marks.

Saving

Save your phone book.

Give it a name: phonebook would be a good one, (indicate where) and save it to your folder (indicate where if necessary)

New spreadsheet

Go to the File menu, choose new, and click on Workbook

Exercise: This time, choose something you’re interested in (bands, baseball players, etc: we should know something about interests beforehand). Type in a list of <whatever>.

(Assess saving) Now let’s save this as <somefilename> in your folder. Exit from Excel.

Opening up an existing spreadsheet:

From Start menu, open Excel and then your phonebook (assess)

Exit from Excel, and now open up your other file by finding it in the Exporer and clicking on it. (Assess)

Assign homework: come in with some data of interest (bands, CD, etc.) to record in a spreadsheet. It should be two columns’ worth (explain).