Sunday, September 30, 2018

Estimation Jar

As many of you know we have a new addition to our classroom – the Estimation Machine!  Every family member who attended Open House completed an estimation.  We had over 50 estimates on Friday morning! Thank you to everyone who participated! 

Estimation is an important skill for our second graders to develop and it's one they will continue to revisit through the years. The Estimation Machine is an engaging and exciting way to bring this skill to life in the classroom.
In the Estimation Jar this week was counting bears.  On Friday we brainstormed possible ways to count all the counting bears: group them in 2s, 5s, 10s, etc., grouping by 5s was the strategy that won.  Ms. LaRose pulled popsicle sticks with students names on them, if your name was called you went to the center of the room and took 5 counting bears.  Students were surprised to find out that 118 counting bears were in the estimation jar!   

When we went through our estimates, Aubrey and Connor beat out all of the adults and siblings (they both were feeling very proud) by estimation 120 -- the were only 2 bears off!  Aubrey and Connor had a tie-breaker estimate and Connor was the winner!  Since Connor was the winner he will take the Estimation Machine home to fill for next week.  Next week the student whose estimation is the closest to the actual number will take the estimation jar home to refill with a new item. This cycle will continue throughout the school year.  Some suggestions for items to put in the Estimation Machine are:


Beads
Beans
Bolts
Crayons
Cotton Balls
Erasers
Marbles
Paper Clips
Puzzle Pieces
Rocks
Sunflower Seeds
Washers

All items will be returned to the student who filled the Estimation Jar on Friday of that week. Please do not go out and buy items to fill in the Estimation Jar, Mr. Pecor loves to be an Estimation Jar Assistant and help students find items around Porters Point School to put in the Estimation Jar!  

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