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Free templates, wizards, and activities for integrating office Into the classroom
 ntegrating Microsoft Office into the classroom has never been easier thanks to free
downloads Microsoft has made available for educators. The tools needed to help teachers
and students gather, analyze, publish, and present material have been bundled into three
folders: Teacher Tools (exe.1660 KB), Student Tools (exe.1430 KB), and Classroom Activities
(exe.1330 KB). These materials are readily available for download and installation on your computer.
Teacher Tools includes more
than 30 timesaving templates for teachers, including grade
books, tests, and lesson plans. Student Tools has more than 30 templates for student use,
including reports, lab sheets, and conversion sheets. Classroom Activities has 10 guided
classroom activities for using Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in the classroom in fun, real-world
ways.
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How do I get started?
 e're going to start by downloading and installing Teacher Tools. In this lesson we will
be focusing on the lesson plan template. With this template, you can create a lesson plan,
save it as an HTML file, then publish it (if you have that capability and knowledge) to the
Internet. Once familiar with the process, you may go back and download the other tools if you
wish.
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Step One
 ou need to have some background knowledge of downloading files to complete this step. If
not, ask someone for help.
- Go to Microsoft Download
for Classroom Tools
- Follow the instructions there for downloading "Teacher Tools" to your computer's hard drive.
- The Teacher Tool folder should be found through the following path: C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\Teacher Tools. You will need to make sure it is.
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Step Two
ou will now need to locate the Lesson Plan Template. If you keep a shortcut to Office on
your desktop, you'll be able to access it easily from there. If not, go to Start, click and hold
until you highlight New Office Document. Release the click and you should see a series of
folders across the top of the screen. Click on Teacher Tools, then on Lesson Plan.
You are now ready to begin typing your lesson plan. It is important you thoroughly read and
understand the prompt in blue print before you begin. You can add and delete whatever you
would like, but must unprotect the document first. Any URL you type will automatically turn
into a hyperlink. Be sure to delete any blue printing before saving or printing.
I have included a sample of an actual unit
(Animal Adaptations)
that I created with this template. One unique
feature of the unit is that it includes all worksheets, tests, and handouts that I will use with
the unit. Some of these files I scanned in, others were already in digital form. By storing all of
these files in the same folder, I have created a virtual filing cabinet. I can store this folder on
my hard drive, my school's server, or on an Intranet. The Intranet would be a section of the
Internet that requires a password for access. This would be necessary for test security
reasons.
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Step Three
hen you have finished typing your
lesson plan, you are ready to turn it into a Web page.
Yes, you can create a Web page with virtually no experience. The magic is in the saving of the
file. Go to File, click and hold until you highlight "Save as HTML", release the click, and save
your plan. I usually create a folder under "My Documents" on C:\ drive.
Your saved HTML file does not have to go out to the Internet. You don't even have to be
online to use it. Just open Netscape Communicator, click on File, and highlight "Open page,"
release the click and browse your hard drive for your saved file. You can open it in
"composer" for editing, or "navigator" for browsing.
As you become more familiar with linking files to a Web page, you can start saving
worksheets, tests, etc. into this folder, then linking them to your page. You might even want
to publish it on the Internet. But, that's another Techalong ...
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Created by Sharon
Sumner, a fourth grade teacher in Missouri.
SCRTEC takes nominations and ideas for Tech-along. Send comments
to the editor.
Tech-along © 1999 SCR*TEC.
This page is Bobby
Approved.
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