Educated Guess
Guessing Jar
Fill containers (varying sizes and shapes) with balloons, beans,
baubles, or anything that will fit.
Children begin by making a guess, but then they refine their guesses by
measuring and estimating.
Don’t tell them to measure, just ask them how they could
refine their estimations and let them figure it out. Measure the container and calculate volume estimates.
Give them some of whatever you use in the mystery container and
some empty containers of varying sizes to experiment and estimate with.
On Monday's we count the previous week's jar and find out
who the winner is. On the day of the announcement, kids volunteer to help count
the previous week's jar (and practice their math skills).
It's usually a privilege if you get picked to help as one of
the counters and we try to pick kids that have done positive things in their
community over the past week. During our round-up (community meeting) the
community does a drumroll and cheers when the winner is announced. They get to
take home whatever the prize in the jar is.
We vary what we put in the jar to
try and get both small and large numbers of things that relate to our theme of
the month – pumpkin seeds during fall harvest theme, balloons during hot air
balloon fiesta theme, or pieces of gravel during our Science Rocks monthly
theme.
