Fifth graders in Ms. Corfield’s class at Chamberlayne Elementary have been learning about the different states in social studies. They have also been studying mean, median, mode, range, and stem and leaf plots in math. So Ms. Corfield came up with a great idea that would help students review all of these concepts! One of the benefits of project-based learning is the ability to connect cross-curricular topics in one assignment like this example. First the students had to figure out the number each letter occurs in all the states’ names. They could come up with their own strategies for accomplishing this task (some may even discover online tools like this one that count the occurrences of each letter in whatever you type). Once they had their data, they entered it into a template that I created for them. You can download it by clicking here. The template automatically generates a bar and pie graph of the data. The students had to create a stem and leaf plot of the data themselves. A quick way to do this is to sort the numbers by clicking on the heading of Column B and choosing “Sort Ascending” (afterwards they will need to click on the heading of Column A and choose “Sort Ascending” to put everything back in order). Next, students calculated the mean, median, mode, and range of the data. They could use any of the spreadsheet tools available to them to do this. Some will discover that when they highlight all the numbers, the median (average) is automatically calculated over on the bottom left side of the spreadsheet. Letting students make discoveries like this on their own is far more effective than you pointing it out to them. Here’s a final trivia question for you: Which is the only letter that is not found in any state name?

Fourth graders at Laburnum Elementary have been identifying number patterns which is an important math skill (SOL 4.15), so today I wanted to show them how computers can help create and identify patterns. Since this was the first time many of them had worked with spreadsheets, I gave them a Numbers template to get started. You can download it by clicking here. I just made the cells and the fonts a little larger for clarity. First I explained to the students how the cells work and how they are identified (such as A1 and B2) since that understanding is essential for writing formulas. Next we added the headers “In” (to cell B1) and “Out” (to cell C1) because I wanted to start with simple In-Out formulas. I told them to write a number between 1 and 10 in B2, and then I showed them how to write their first formula in C2. We did an addition formula first: =B2+?. I let them choose another number between 1 and 10 for the “?”. When they pushed Enter, they saw the instant magic of formulas! Next they erased their number in B2 and switched seats with a partner. The partner had to enter numbers into B2 in order to try and figure out what the formula was in C2. Once they figured it out, they wrote the rule in A2. We did a similar process for subtraction =(B3-?), multiplication =(B4*?), and division =(B5/?) formulas. Now that they were familiar with formulas, I had the students create their own patterns using multiple cells. Then their partners had to figure out the patterns and write them in column A. It was a great learning experience, with the students not only gaining a clearer understanding of patterns, but also of how to create spreadsheets. You can see a student sample by clicking the picture.

Numbers is one of those programs on the laptops that is underutilized by many students. However it is a powerful way to teach your students to think and solve problems, especially when developing formulas on their own. A fourth grade teacher at Chamberlayne wanted me to help her students with rounding, and I immediately thought of using Numbers. Earlier I had created a website for rounding whole numbers called “Rounding Robot.” I decided to incorporate that concept into a Numbers spreadsheet so the students could see the formulas and figure out how they worked. Then they could use that information to develop their own formulas. I created a spreadsheet for rounding whole numbers that you can download by clicking here and one for rounding decimals that you can download by clicking here. The spreadsheets have formulas so that students can check their own work. They can even make up their own numbers. If you use this activity with your students be sure to encourage them to try to make their own rounding formula.

Ms. Bradlee, a fifth grade teacher at Chamberlayne Elementary, wanted a way for her students to keep track of their behavior incentive program. She uses a currency of Skittles to reward good behavior, with each color worth a different amount of money. So her students needed to keep a weekly total of their earnings and also the sum throughout the year. I created a template for them to use that you can download by clicking here. But the important part of this lesson is to guide the students through the steps of creating the various formulas. It’s a great way to make math practical and interesting. For each type of Skittle the students had to multiply by the cash value and then add them up. You can see a sample by clicking the picture to make it larger. Notice the complicated formula at the top. The students did that themselves! Now they have a quick way to keep track of their earnings.