Tech Tip #37: My MS Word Toolbar Disappeared

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q:  My tools for formatting disappeared from the top of my MS Word (2003). Where’d they go and what do I do?

A:  They do disappear at times, for no good reason. Here’s the simple fix:

• Right-click in the toolbar area at the top.
• Select Format or Standard.
  
• Make sure they’re checked. That’s where 99% of your tools live.
• This is true in all MS Office software
  

Tech Tip #35: My Program Closed Down

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: I was working on my program (writing in Word or making a slideshow in PowerPoint) and it disappeared. Did I lose all my work?

A:  Before you arrive at that decision, try these two steps:

• Check the taskbar. Is your program sitting down there, blinking at you? If it is, click on it to maximize it. Now, all should be OK.
• If the program is closed, re-open the same program. If it’s Word, PowerPoint, Publisher or Excel, a panel shows up on the left prompting you to select one of the auto-saved documents. Pick yours. The program automatically saves every two to ten minutes. You’ve lost some, but not much of your work

Tech Tip #98: Speed up MS Office with Quick Access Toolbar

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: I tend to do the same actions over and over on my  MS Office software. How do I create a customized tool bar with my favorite tools?

A: This one is going to improved the quality of your tech life immediately. It’s so simple, you’ll wish you’d known it months ago.

First, you need Office 2007 or 2010 because earlier versions don’t include the Quick Access toolbar. It looks like this:

Quick Access toolbar--above or below the ribbons. I like below because I can see it better.

Tech Tip #79: Saving Your File so Everyone Can Read it

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: I need to make my Word document readable by colleagues that don’t have MS Word. What do I do?

A:  MS Office 2007 and 2010 makes that easy.

Book Review: Fourth Grade Technology–32 Lessons

Fourth Grade Technology: 32 Lessons Every Fourth Grader Can Accomplish on a Computer

by Structured Learning IT Teaching Team

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the Fourth Edition, updated to MS Office 2007/10 (currently available only as pdf). It  includes many more samples, reproducibles, Web 2.0 connections and how-to’s that are age-appropriate for a second grader. At 126 pages, it’s much more like a tech lab-in-a-binder than a mere 32 projects. The Amazon blurb says it all:

The six-volume Structured Learning Technology Curriculum (Fourth Edition, 2011) is the all-in-one solution to running an effective, efficient, and fun technology program  whether you’re the lab specialist, IT coordinator, classroom teacher, or homeschooler, and is the current choice of hundreds of school districts across the country. Newly updated and expanded, each volume now includes step-by-step directions for a year’s worth of projects, samples, grading rubrics, reproducibles, wall posters, teaching ideas and hundreds of online connections to access enrichment material and updates from a working technology lab. Aligned with ISTE national technology standards, the curriculum follows a tested timeline of which skill to introduce when, starting with mouse skills, keyboarding, computer basics, and internet/Web 2.0 tools in Kindergarten/First; MS Word, Publisher, Excel, PowerPoint, Google Earth, internet research, email and Photoshop in Second-Fifth. Each activity is integrated with classroom units in history, science, math, literature, reading, writing, critical thinking and more. Whether you’re an experienced tech teacher or brand new to the job, you’ll appreciate the hundreds of embedded links that enable you to stay on top of current technology thinking and get help from active technology teachers using the program. Additional items included in each volume are wall posters to explain basic concepts, suggestions for keyboarding standards, discussion of how to integrate Web 2.0 tools into the classroom curriculum and the dozens of online websites to support classroom subjects.

Tech Tip #73: Alt+??? Brings up which Menu Command?

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: I always forget the keyboard shortcuts for the menu commands. Can you give me a list?

A: I’ll do one better. MS Office 07 and 10 makes that easy. Just push the Alt key and it tells you what number or letter is associated with which menu command.

Tech Tip #62: Email from Word (Or PowerPoint or Excel)

In my fifteen years of teaching and tutoring tech, I’ve seen everything–and come up with solutions for all of it. I’ll share those with you. My goal: That students (of all ages) feel empowered not frightened by technology, that it is fun not frustrating. These tips will get you there with you and your kids.

I was helping one of the faculty at my school. She couldn’t print a document (server problems) so I suggested she email it to herself at home and print it there. She started going online to her Yahoo account and I stopped her. Click the email tool on the Word toolbar. She was so excited–an epiphany! What fun to share that with her. She was so happy about it, I’m going to email it to all the teachers in the school (I’m the tech teacher).

Tech Tip #57: How to Create a Chart Really Fast

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Tech Tip #47: Tool Tips

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

This week’s tip: How do I know what all those icons are for on the toolbar (or ribbon)?

Q:  I’m supposed to find a tool on the toolbar, but there are so many and I have no idea what they are for? It’s just as bunch of pictures to me. Is there an easy way to figure this out?

A:  To figure out what a tool does on the toolbar or 2007/10”s ribbon, hover your mouse over the tool (place the mouse above it without clicking). A tool tip will appear with a clue as to what it’s for.

This works in any program with a toolbar or ribbon–MS Office, the internet, Photoshop, and more.

#80: Study Better Together With Excel

This is a summative lesson in Excel. Be sure to finish Excel for beginners before attempting this one.

If the lesson plans are blurry, click on them for a full size alternative.

Tech Tip #37: My MS Word Toolbar Disappeared

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q:  My tools for formatting disappeared from the top of my MS Word (2003). Where’d they go and what do I do?

A:  They do disappear at times, for no good reason. Here’s the simple fix:

• Right-click in the toolbar area at the top.
• Select Format or Standard.
  
• Make sure they’re checked. That’s where 99% of your tools live.
• This is true in all MS Office software
  

FREE Lesson Plans for K-8 Technology

I go back to my classroom tomorrow so I’ve spent most of the last week trying to organize myself. OK, it’s an oxymoron, but I can’t concede defeat the First Day!

I put together a list of my lesson  plans I used last year to integrate tech into the core classrooms. I’m hoping I can share it with the teachers, let them see what worked last year, what they need more of–that sort of thing.

I’m going to share it with you. Here’s hoping it makes your next year go better.

Technology Lesson Plans to Integrate Technology into classroom Units of Inquiry

Tech Tip #35: My Program Closed Down

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q:  I was working on my program (writing in Word or making a slideshow in PowerPoint) and it disappeared. Did I lose all my work?

A:  Before you arrive at that decision, try these two steps:

• Check the taskbar. Is your program sitting down there, blinking at you? If it is, click on it to maximize it. Now, all should be OK.
• If the program is closed, re-open the same program. If it’s Word, PowerPoint, Publisher or Excel, a panel shows up on the left prompting you to select one of the auto-saved documents. Pick yours. The program automatically saves every two to ten minutes. You’ve lost some, but not much of your work

#79: Excel Turns Data Into Information

Sometimes, it takes a picture to really show what you’re trying to say. It doesn’t have to be drawn with pencils or paint brushes. Sometimes, it’s a graph or a chart, formatted to clarify important points.

That’s called Excel. Words and numbers are always black and white and the same size. Excel never is. There are twenty-two Excel skills I teach grades 3-5 that turn Excel into a useful tool in their classroom. This covers the first fourteen.

Weekend Website #13: MS Office

Drop by every Friday to discover what wonderful website my classes and parents loved this week. I think you’ll find they’ll be a favorite of yours as they are of mine.

This is a two-fer, for those who are upgrading from Office 2003 to 2007. Here are the sites that will show you where all your favorite commands have gone in that pesky, confusing ribbon at the top of the screen.

Where Would You Like to Go Today?

Are you here for a lesson plan… Tech tips… Humor? Click the category on the sidebar and you’re there.

I notice lots of readers are clicking on the pictures, hoping it’s a link to a category. I have to confess: I was unable to get the pictures to act as links. I don’t think WordPress can do that. I spent quite a while trying. I can do it if I put each picture in separately (rather than as a two-column album), but it’s difficult to maneuver. Until I solve that you’ll have to visit the Categories section on the sidebar. You’ll get a group of projects on that topic, mixed ages:

Tech Tips

KidPix Projects

Google Earth Projects

Photoshop Projects

Keyboarding Projects

MS Word Projects

Publisher Projects

PowerPoint Projects

Excel Projects

Computer Humor

Tech Tips

Anyone know how to make the pictures in a picture gallery act as links? Hmmm….

#73: How to Graph in Excel

Excel graphs are easy enough for third graders. So try it. Collect your data, enter it into an excel worksheet and push F11. If you have more time, show students how to format the graph. This is a favorite with my third graders.

#74: Mastering Excel (for Beginners)

There are 22 common Excel skills easy enough for fourth and fifth graders. When they’re done, they–and their parents (and you, by the way)–will feel that they’ve accomplished much more.

#12: Create Simple Shapes in Excel

What’s the first thing you think of when I say, Excel. Numbers, right–turning data into information. That is Excel’s ‘killer app’, but the ingenious human brain has come up with another striking use for Excel: Drawing. I spent a long time trying to find a lesson that taught drawing in Excel and/or offered example. I finally gave up and created my own.

#72: An Easy Way to Check Math Homework

Excel formulas give students an easy method of checking their math homework. Insert the formulas, add the numbers and check the results. Here’s the lesson plan:

#75: Tessellations in Excel

Excel will clear up the confusion about tessellations. They are simple, quick and fun. Read on:

#70: How to Keep a Timecard in Excel

This project hides Excel’s power behind a template you create and students fill out at home. If they’re older and more familiar with Excel, involve them in creating the template.

#12: How to Draw in MS Excel

This project can be used to introduce youngers to Excel or excite Middle School kids about the power of what seems to be a data and numbers program. Start with Beginning Graphs here and then move on to this one the next week. Creating drawings in Excel turns into a study of the toolbars and an exploration into tessellations.

#71: Beginning Graphs in MS Excel

Excel makes graphs simple and easy for beginners. Even my parent helpers are amazed at how much students can do with a simple F11 shortkey and a right click.

If the lesson plans are blurry, click on them for a full size alternative.

#72: How to Check Your Math in Excel

This is one of the most popular lessons I teach to Excel beginners. It is relevant, instantly usable and makes sense from the beginning. Before you start this one, be sure to complete Project 70 and 71.

–from 55 Technology Projects for the Digital Classroom. Preview available on Amazon.com and Scribd.com

If you can’t read this, send me an email at info@structuredlearning.net (they’ll forward it) and request a pdf copy

How to Excel if You’re a Beginner–I

An introduction to Excel without the confusion of cells and formulas. Students collect data in the classroom and transfer it to an Excel template in the computer lab. Once you’ve done this one, be sure to try Project 70 and 72–both using Excel for classroom learning.

–from 55 Technology Projects for the Digital Classroom. Preview available on Amazon.com and Scribd.com

If you can’t read this, send me an email at info@structuredlearning.net and request a pdf copy

How to Use Excel to Teach Math Arrays

Grade Level: 5th (or whichever grade you are teaching arrays)

Background: None. This is an intro to MS Excel

Vocabulary: Excel, cell, rows, columns, paint bucket, borders, arrays, resize, formulas

Time: About 30 minutes

Steps:

• Open Excel. Review the basics–how to identify a cell (where the column and row intersect), what’s on the toolbars, especially where the paint bucket and border tools are found
• Resize the cells so they are square. Here’s how you do that:

• Select the cell at the top left where rows and columns intersect. That will select the entire worksheet.
• Set the row height to 25 pixels by clicking the line between row 1 and 2 and dragging it to a 25 pixel size.
• Set the column width to 25 pixels the same way
• When yo click out of the entire worksheet selection, the cells will resize. It’ll look like graph paper.

• Add name, teacher, ‘problem’ and ‘array as shown

• Add the first problem. I’ll use 3*3
• Add the formula underneath it for the answer

= A5*A6 (Excel automatically calculates the answer for the two digits in A5 and A6)

• Fill in 3 cells over and 3 cells down to create the array.
• Use the border tool–all borders to outline each cell in the array

• Have students do two more of your choice
• Have students create one of their own, to confirm that they understand

Extensions

• Fill in the row with ‘Problem’ and ‘Array’
• Change font size for the headings

from the Structured Learning Technology series for K-5

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Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and author of two technology training books for middle school. She wrote Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything and Technology in Education. Currently, she’s working on a techno-thriller that should be ready this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office, WordDreams, or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.