Excel Lesson Plan- Expense Budget with Chart
|
|
Students Create and Format an Expense Budget with a Chart
The instructions are for Microsoft Excel 2007 version, but the data and chart can be recreated using any of the various Excel versions or even non Microsoft variants. I have used this successfully with grades 3 - 5 but your mileage may vary.
This lesson builds on the previous bar chart and M&M chart lessons by adding the following requirements:
- Changing the numerical values to the currency format.
- Using the sum function to calculate the total of a column of values.
Instructions:
- Enter your chart title in cell C1.
- Click in cell C1 and drag mouse to cell H1. In the Home tab, alignment group, find and apply "Merge and Center" to the title.
- With the title still selected, on the Home tab, Font group, apply a new font color, font size and font style.
- Enter Items to purchase beginning in cell A3 ending in cell A7. Enter cost values beginning in cell B3 ending in cell B7.
- Type the word "Total" in cell A9.
- Click in cell B9 and the click the Formulas tab on the menu bar. Find and click "AutoSum" in the Function Library group and then press enter to get the total.
- Click in cell B3 and drag the mouse down to cell B9. On the Home tab, number group, find and click the $ sign to convert the number values to currency.
- Click in cell A3 and drag mouse down to select all the labels down to cell A9. Continue to drag across to select all the numerical values on column B.
- Create a column chart. Go to Insert tab > Charts group > Column > 2D Column.
- Format the chart. Click on the chart. Go to Design tab > Chart layouts group > choose a chart layout that will produce a chart title and horizontal and vertical axis labels.
- Fill in the appropriate text for the Chart Title and the axis. "Clothes Expense, Cost and Clothes".
- Click once on the chart to select it. Click a second time on an individual chart piece to select it for a color change. Right click on the selected chart piece and choose Format Data Point. Go to Fill > Solid Fill > Color. Choose a color for your chart piece. Repeat process for each chart piece.
- Deselect the chart. Go to Print preview. The chart may be partially cut off if it overlaps column I or J. Choose Page Setup and change the layout to landscape. Print.
Simple Excel Budget with Chart:
. 
Advanced Chart for Comparison Shopping
