GAIN-Spreadsheets

I have some, although not much, experience with Microsoft Excel, and it seems that Google Spreadsheet is fairly similar, with the biggest differences being in cost and collaboration capability. I do not particularly enjoy working with Excel or with numbers, so this program can be frustrating for me. I expected Google Spreadsheet to be easier to use, but it seemed pretty much the same to me. I had fun doing the colors and lines to make my work look pretty (which was easy), but I did not enjoy the tedious work of entering the numbers. Using the averaging tool was easy once I got the hang of it. It seems that this program is fairly simple to use once one practices a bit, but can be confusing at first (especially for the mathematically challenged!)

To view my grade spreadsheet, please click HERE.

Spreadsheets can not only be useful for teachers in their grading, but also for students' learning, and for meeting Common Core Standards. Google Spreadsheets can help students to understand and organize their data, and can be a great tool in math lessons, as well as other subjects. In elementary school, students do a lot of graphing, and spreadsheets can help them organize the data for their graphs. One third grade Common Core requirement is to "Generate measurement data by measuring lengths using rulers...Show the data by making a line plot, where the horizontal scale is marked off in appropriate units..." A spreadsheet can be used before making the graph. It is also good for elementary students to have basic knowledge of a spreadsheet so that they can be prepared for the upper grades.