K - Act. 06: Estimation

Summary

This activity helps students to understand numbers. The teacher should accept without comment any number a student gives and record it on the whiteboard.

Materials

• two clear jars
  • one reference jar with 10 fruit counters
  • one full jar
• whiteboard
• whiteboard marker

Intended Learning Outcomes

Intended Learning Outcomes

4. Develop physical skills and personal hygiene.
5. Understand and use basic concepts and skills.

Process Skills
Interpretation of data, problem solving, communication of results, observation, description

Instructional Procedures

Invitation to Learn
Ask: “How many fruit counters do you think are in this jar?”

Instructional Procedures

1. Let each student hold the jar and give aloud an estimate or guess (depending on their knowledge and experience) of how many are in the jar.
2. Write the estimates on the whiteboard.
3. Allow students to guess any number, even a number that has already been guessed.
4. When everyone has had a turn, ask, “How can we find out how many are in this jar?”
5. Dump out the fruity counters and with students, count them back into the jar.
6. As you go along ask, “Does anyone want to change his or her guess?”
7. Change any that want to be changed.
8. After counting, see which, if any, of the participants have correctly estimated the number of fruity counters in the jar.

Extensions

Possible Extensions/Adaptations
Whenever opening a bag or box of anything, pose the question, "I wonder how many are in this bag or box?" Depending on the time of year, alter the number of items in the jar. Before Christmas, keep the items to less than 50. After Christmas, use anywhere between 50 and 100.

Parent Connections
Have an "Incredible Edible Jar" that students can take home and return with something for the class to estimate and count.

Assessment Plan

Be aware of the kind of guess a student makes as an indication of his/her number sense development. A guess of "a million" or "one" would indicate that the student has no idea at all about numbers. Determine a child's number sense by the number that he or she says.