Microsoft Office

Purpose: The purpose of this unit is to provide fourth grade students of the John P. Holland School further knowledge of Microsoft Office including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint. Students will expand their necessary skills so that they may implement the tools of Microsoft Office for effective usage within their studies and daily lives. The lessons and activities address standards across the curriculum, in English Language Arts, Mathematics. National Educational Technology and Massachusetts State Technology Standards as well Boston Public Schools Technology Competencies are addressed.

The fourth grade students have been learning necessary and essential Microsoft Office Skills throughout the school year. During this unit students will be provided the opportunity for collaborating, sharing, presenting and communicating. Higher order thinking skills and technology standards will be integrated with students' academic subjects. Lessons will teach appropriate skills while student projects will support acquired skills and grade appropriate curriculum areas. Students will utilize their acquired technical skills to produce brainstorming documents utilizing Inspiration, a Microsoft Word document, a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, and a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. This unit will provide students the chance to put into action their acquired technology skills.

Each activity, essential questions, expectations and rubric will be discussed as a large group.

Follow-up discussion, sharing and questions will be led by the teacher in a whole group setting. Particular attention will focus how acquired technical skills can be used in all academic areas.

Students must complete all parts of the unit for full credit.
•Save all your work on your floppy disk, not on the hard drive.
•Students must have a pass to utilize the computer lab when it is not their scheduled time.

•During group assignments everyone must be respectful of one another.

Activity	Standard (s)
Essential Question: Why is the structure of written language and the ability to utilize this structure effectively necessary when using a word processor?
Activity #1: Students use *Inspiration* to brainstorm ideas about an essay discussing the most important person in their lives.	National Educational Technology Standard: Technology productivity tools: Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity Length of Activity: One hour Instructional Mode: Whole Group and independent
Activity #2: Students create a written essay in their homeroom about the most important persons in their lives.	Massachusetts Frameworks: Composition Strand 19: Writing: Students will write with a clear focus, coherent organization, and sufficient detail. Length of Activity: 1 to 1.5 hours Instructional Mode: Independent
Activity #3: Students bring their written essays to the computer lab and utilize *Microsoft Word* to word-process the essay.	Massachusetts Instructional Technology Standards: 1.17 Identify and use editing and formatting features of a word processing program (e.g. centering, line spacing, margins, cut and paste, fonts, styles, spelling, page numbers). 1.18 Insert images (e.g. graphic, clip art, tables) from other filed into word-processed documents. Length of Activity: 1 to 2 hours Instructional Mode: Independent
Essential Question: How can a multimedia presentation be used to keep an audience informed and engaged in learning?
Activity #4: Students access and review the online PowerPoint in the Classroom tutorial.	Massachusetts Instructional Technology Standards: 1.7 Collaborate with classmates to use teacher-selected Web sites. Length of Activity: 1 hour Instructional Mode: Whole group & pairs

Activity #5:Students use Inspiration to brainstorm ideas about a PowerPoint presentation describing him/herself.	National Educational Technology Standard: Technology productivity tools: Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity Length of Activity: One hour Instructional Mode: Whole Group and independent
Activity #6: Each student creates a PowerPoint presentation describing him/herself.	Massachusetts Instructional Technology Standards: 1.32 Create a slide presentation using appropriate applications. Length of Activity: 4-5 hours Instructional Mode: Group and Independent
Essential Question: How can a spreadsheet created with Microsoft Excel present accurate findings of collected data?
Activity #7: Students access and review the School Spreadsheet Safari.	Massachusetts Instructional Technology Standards: 2.1 Follow classroom rules for responsible use of computers. 2.2 Develop understanding of the school’s rules for safe and ethical Internet use. (Use of Internet in this grade span is under close supervision and determined by district policy.) Length of Activity: 1hour Instructional Mode: Whole group & pairs

Activity #8: As a whole group, students provide the following data: student name, age, country born in, and number of siblings and year of birth. Students are broken into groups to complete a spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel regarding collected data.

Massachusetts Instructional Technology Standards:

1.22 Describe structure and function of spreadsheet (e.g., cells, rows, columns, formulas) and apply formatting features.

1.23 Create an original spreadsheet, entering simple formulas.

1.24 Produce simple charts from spreadsheets.

Length of Activity: 3 to 4 hours

Instructional Mode: Whole class and small group.

Return to the top

Assessment: Rubrics for each activity are included on each individual activity page. However teacher observation notes can prove essential when implementing the rubric grading.

References: References for each activity are included on each individual activity page. The following references are applicable for the entire unit:

Massachusetts Department of Education. (2002). Massachusetts State Frameworks. Retrieved April 1, 2003, http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks

International Society For Technology In Education. (1999). National Educational Technology Standards For Students. Retrieved February 6, 2003, http://cnets.iste.org/students/

November, Alan. (2001). Empowering Students With Technology. Arlington Heights, IL: Skylight Training and Publishing Inc.

Credits: Patricia Harding, 4 Driftwood Drive, Woburn, MA 01801 Click here to email.

Purpose	Description	Activities	Tools & Resources	Assessment
References	Credits