Reflection on Spreadsheets

In class, we developed three separate spreadsheet activities. The first was a theoretical gradebook; the second was a theoretical college budget. The final was a magic square in which a 3 by 3 grid needed to have the numbers one through nine with each row, column, and diagonal adding to 15. Because my students are very young, these activities would be beyond their ability level; however, spreadsheets are something that I use in my classroom. I use them to develop math graphing activities and keep a database of reading activities. After our experiences in class, I am encouraged to start using Excel to track students' reading fluency growth. I used spreadsheet in the past with older students and can see the potential in using them with my students. In the coming weeks I am going to do the pictograph idea explained in one of my previous entries as well as work on fluency records for one of my reading groups. My hope is that once I make using Excel a part of one of my groups, I can easily extend this process to my other groups. I am also interested in using pictographs to help one of my lower math groups to better develop their counting and graphing skills.