Open Excel and type the letters above in the same places you see them. [I made the columns narrow, but you can wait on that]
- Click on the letter A in gray (column heading), leave your mouse button depressed and drag over to column heading F.
- Put your cursor on the line between any two column headings, click and drag until Excel informs you that you have a column width of 7.00 (54 pixels).
- Click on the number 1 in gray (row heading), leave your mouse button depressed and drag down to row 6.
- Put your cursor on the line between any two row headings, click and drag until Excel informs you that you have a column height of 37.50 (50 pixels).
- Click on the letter E in cell B2, leave your mouse button depressed and drag to the letter a in cell E5. All letters should now be highlighted.
- From the Format menu select Cells, then select the Alignment tab
- Select Center alignment from both the Horizontal and Vertical blocks.
- Click on the Font tab, and select 24 in the size box.
- Click on the Border tab. Select Outside and then also select Inside. Click OK.
The next step will be to color all of the squares without letters in them.
- Click in cell A1 (on your Excel worksheet, not on the picture above), depress the Ctrl key and leave it depressed until you have clicked on all squares that do not have letters in them. If you click and drag you must release the mouse button at the end of a line (but do not release the Ctrl key). Now click and drag another line of cells, until all are highlighted. (Note: The last cell selected will be outlined in black, but not filled with the highlight color. It is selected)
- Release the Ctrl key (but do not click on the worksheet), and click on the Fill Color button on the Formatting toolbar. [I selected yellow.]
Two steps to go! Next you will add comments at the starting letter of each word, to serve as a clue to the word.
- First, the letter e. This one will require a clue for across and a clue for down. Put them in the same comment with an empty line between the two clues.
- Right-click the letter e (in cell B2) and select Insert Comment. Highlight anything that is already in the comment box and type the clues.
- Continue until you have clues written for each word.
Final Step! This step is what makes the puzzle interactive. If a student types the wrong letter in a box, the letter will turn red when the student hits the Enter key. This process is called setting conditional formatting.
- Click on the letter e in cell B2.
- From the Format menu select Conditional Formatting.
- In the Condition 1 window change the middle box to "equal to" and in the long box to the right type the letter e.
- Select the Format button and select a color you wish to use for correct letters. Some people use green (for Go) but I think blue shows up better.
- Click OK.
- With the Conditional Formatting window still open, click the button labeled Add >>.
- In the Condition 2 section, select "not equal to", type the letter e in the box to the right and select the Format button to select the color Red for incorrect letters.
- Click OK. The letter e turns blue.
- With the letter e still selected find the Format Painter button on the Standard toolbar. It looks like a paint brush.
- Double-click the paint brush.
- One at a time, click on each of the other eleven letters. ["Trust me, there is method to my madness."]
- Each of the other letters should now be red, because they have been formatted incorrectly. Right? [Psst! The answer is "Right!"]
- Select the letter g in cell C2
- From the Format menu, select Conditional Formatting. See what pops up? See the Method in my Madness?
The crossword was assessed by the criteria in Design Technology and Computer Tchnology in the MYP Program.
A. Investigate: As I said before, we were assigned to make and interactive crossword puzzle and I got my information on how to make it from http://www.internet4classrooms.com/excel_puzzle.htm.
B. Design: In my crossowrd puzzle, I made it so that when you type in the wrong letter it will trun red and when you type in the correct letter it would turn blue. The background around the letters that are in the cells was black. I chose this baclground colour so that the colours would stand out more.
C. Plan: In planning my crossowrd I found random 10 words from the dictionary that I thought were at the level of the ESOL students and I got the definition of them, them wrote them down. These words were prosperity, conceal, divulge, pacifist, sooth, miser, miscellaneous, demeaning, vivify and affection. By doing this I knew exactly what words I wanted to put in my crossword puzzle and how much space they would take up. I also planned how much I wanted to get done each day so that I would finish quickly.
D. Create a Product/Solution: In creating this crossword I followed the instructions in the website and I used my plans to work efficiently. I also put the direction in which the word went next to the definition I put in so that someone who was actually doing my puzzle would know which direction the word was going. I only took me two classes to finish my project because the first day I planned to at least do all the definitions and the basics of the crossoword. The next classes I formatted everything and made it more decorative.
I liked this assignment even though at times it was a bit tedious, for example, when I had to format all the letters so that they would change colours when needed because everytime I had to go to the Conditional Formatting tool, format the letter then do it again for all of the letters. I liked the fact that this assignment was to make a sort of game. I think it would be a useful tool in the development of the ESOL student's vocabulary.
