CELL FORMATTING

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Summary
In this lesson students will learn the basics of entering and editing data into an excel spreadsheet. Students will become familiar with formatting cells to be a particular font, size, color, etc. For examples of this lesson see "cell formatting example"

Overview

Skill Level: Beginner Excel

Activity Goals:
Learn the basics of entering and editing data into an excel spreadsheet

Materials Needed:
Computers
MS Excel

Prerequisite Skills:
Basic Computer knowledge
Basic knowledge of MS Word

Procedure

1. Open a new Excel spreadsheet.

Filling in Columns:

2. In Column A1 have students write the title First Name. Highlight the cell and make the text bold and blue. Have students expand the cell to fit the words (by sliding the bar between A and B further to the right.)

3. In Column B1 have students write the title Last Name. Format this cell to be bold and Yellow. Also adjust cell to fit text.

4. In Column C1 have students write the title Age. Format this cell to be bold and Green. Adjust cell to fit text.

5. In Column D1 have students write the title Job Title. Format this cell to be bold and Purple. Adjust if necessary.

6. In Column E1 have students write the title Salary. Format this cell to be bold and Black.

7. In Column A have students list out 8 fictitious first names and in column B list out 8 fictitious last names for each of the first names. These should fill cells A2 through A9 and cells B2 through B9.

8. In Column C have students fill out 8 fictitious ages, Column D fictitious Job titles and in Column E, fictitious salaries. (While filling in the cells students should practice using both the keyboard and the mouse to move between cells.)

9. Go to File>Print Preview and show students how strange this document will appear when it is printed. The lines separating cells disappear. Ask if students know a way to make the boxes reemerge.

Boarders
1. Have students highlight only row 1 which contains all of the column titles. Then go to Format>Cells and click the Boarder tab. Have students fill in the boarders. Make the right, left, and top boarder all thin lines and the bottom boarder a thick line. Explain how to make boarders in between each cell.
2. Again go to File>Print Preview (or click on the corresponding picture on the tool bar). Show students the changes.
3. Add any other boarders that would help clarify the information presented.

Formulas
Students will now add up the ages of individuals listed and their salaries.
1. Have students click on cell C10 and then have them add the ages one of two ways.

• Students can click on the shortcut addition key (capital E-looking key) and then drag the mouse across the cells to add them together.
• Or. In cell C10 students should write =(C2:C9) The : represents-add all cells between C2 and C9. You could also list each cell. For ex: C2,C3,C4… within the parenthesis and that would add each one together as well.
• Repeat this process for Column E, cell E10.

Use this spreadsheet (be sure to save it in each student's folder) to practice formatting and color changes of cells, text etc. Change the borders, text alignment, etc.

Finally. Label this spreadsheet (by right clicking on the tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet that currently says Sheet 1) Rename the spreadsheet Student Info.