GAIN- Gradebook on Spreadsheets

I was intimidated by the thought of creating an electronic grade-book for this assignment because I only have experience with Microsoft Excel and I have NEVER made a grade-book. I was completely surprised to find that Google Spreadsheets is extremely similar to Excel. I pulled up a new spreadsheet in Google Docs first to check it out and to familiarize myself with the toolbar. Before I knew it, I was entering data, formatting cells, and using the functions to calculate grades. The only tutorial I found that I needed was when attempting to calculate the student's final grades. I was not aware that you could enter such a math problem into a spreadsheet cell and have it formulate your answer. For example, in my "Final" grade column I simply had to enter "=cell*decimal percentage+..." for each category and its given percentage of the total grade. How easy is that? I won't lie, I actually had fun doing this.

Click HERE to view my grade-book spreadsheet.

I need to do some more research to find if I can calculate functions from sheet to sheet. For example, If I were to keep different categories organized on different sheet tabs at the bottom, would I be able to calculate a final grade on the first sheet tab using data from subsequent tabs? This would make accessing specific grades faster and keep my spreadsheets from looking too cluttered and dizzy. 

Google Spreadsheets addresses our Common Core standards for sixth grade. This standard requires that students be able to read a set of data and determine its statistical "center, spread, and overall shape." Students can practically formulate their own set of data, enter it into a spreadsheet, then select what type of chart to display their information. This program stands out among the rest in this regard because students will be able to review their data in the visual display of their choice while maintaining control over the initial data entered. The data could be changed and would thus change the display of the chart to illustrate what the affects may be if there was any type of decline or inflation in measurement or count. Spreadsheets also help teachers meet our Common Core standards for third grade concerning measurement. It is suggested that students can create lineplot charts in the program to understand the fraction measurements represented by "quarter, halve, and whole" numbers on the line.