Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term v4 - JHS 1
INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEET
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INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEET
Download the Lessonotes Mobile Ghana app for faster lesson access on Android and iPhone.
Subject: Computing
Class: JHS 1
Term: 2nd Term
Week: 7
Grade code: B7.2.3.2.1
Strand code: 2
Sub-strand code: 3
Content standard code: B7.2.3.1
Indicator code: B7.2.3.2.1
Theme: PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE
Subtheme: INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEET
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In today's digital world, we often use spreadsheets to organize information like class lists, budgets for a school event, or even scores for our favourite football team. While this information looks good on the screen, sometimes we need to print it on paper to share it, submit it as an assignment, or put it on a notice board. This lesson focuses on the essential skills of Page Setup. Learning how to adjust margins and page orientation ensures that our printed work looks neat, professional, and is easy to read. It also helps us save paper and ink by making sure everything fits perfectly on the page before we print.
This lesson will focus on the Page Layout and View tabs in a typical spreadsheet application like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. Concept 1: Page Margins What are Margins? Margins are the blank, empty spaces around the edges of a printed page—at the top, bottom, left, and right. Think of it like the frame around a beautiful picture or the border drawn in your exercise book. Why are Margins Important? Readability: They prevent text and data from being too close to the edge of the paper, making it easier to read. Printing: They ensure that the printer doesn't cut off any of your data. Binding: A wider left margin leaves space for punching holes to put the paper in a file or for binding it into a report. Types of Margins: Normal: The default setting, which is good for most documents. Wide: Provides a lot of white space, making the document feel less crowded. Narrow: Puts more data on a single page, which can save paper. Custom Margins: Allows you to set the exact size for each margin (top, bottom, left, right) in centimetres (cm) or inches. How to Adjust Margins (Step-by-step): Click on the Page Layout tab in the ribbon at the top of the spreadsheet window. In the Page Setup group, click on the Margins button. A dropdown menu will appear with presets: `Normal`, `Wide`, and `Narrow`. Click on the one you want. To set your own margins, click on Custom Margins... at the bottom of the dropdown. A new window will open where you can type the exact values for the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right margins.
 *(Teacher to draw this on the board or demonstrate on a projector)* Concept 2: Page Orientation What is Page Orientation? Orientation refers to the direction in which the content is printed on the page. The Two Types of Orientation: Portrait: The page is taller than it is wide (like a standard letter or a portrait painting). This is the default and is best for long lists, like a list of students' names. Landscape: The page is wider than it is tall (like a landscape painting of a wide field). This is best for wide tables with many columns, like a school's weekly timetable. How to Change Page Orientation (Step-by-step): Click on the Page Layout tab. In the Page Setup group, click on the Orientation button. A dropdown menu will appear. Choose either Portrait or Landscape.
Ghanaian Context Example: A list of all JHS1 students and their hometowns would be best in Portrait orientation. A table showing the daily sales of a small tuck shop for a month (with columns for Date, Item, Quantity, Price, Total) would be best in Landscape orientation to fit all the columns. Concept 3: Page Size What is Page Size? This setting tells the software the physical size of the paper you are putting into the printer. The most common paper size in Ghana is A4. If the software setting does not match the paper in the printer, the document might print incorrectly, with parts cut off. How to Set Page Size (Step-by-step): Click on the Page Layout tab. In the Page Setup group, click on the Size button. A list of paper sizes will appear. Click on A4 (or the size that matches your paper). Concept 4: Worksheet Views What are Worksheet Views? These are different ways to see your worksheet on the screen. Changing the view helps you see how your document will look when printed *before* you actually print it. The Three Main Views: Normal View: This is the default view you use for entering and editing data. It's an endless grid of cells. Page Layout View: This is the most useful view for this lesson! It shows you exactly what your worksheet will look like on a printed page. You can see the margins, headers, and footers clearly. It looks like a Word document. Page Break Preview: This view shows you where the pages will be divided. It displays blue lines to indicate where one page ends and the next begins. You can even drag these blue lines to change the page breaks. How to Change Views (Step-by-step): Click on the View tab in the ribbon. In the Workbook Views group, click on `Normal`, `Page Layout`, or `Page Break Preview`. (Shortcut) You can also find small icons for these views in the bottom-right corner of the spreadsheet window, near the zoom slider.
Guided Practice (With Solutions)