| Author | |
Courtney
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 796
|
| Posted: Feb 14 2006 at 8:17am | IP Logged
|
 |
|
Any ideas on how to work on estimation? I'm thinking it's probably obvious, but yesterday we were at a Vday party and there was a jar full of candy hearts. Each child made a guess as to how many were in it. My dd guessed 70...there were 500. Is this something that comes later or is there something specific we can do? Thank you!
__________________
Courtney in Texas
Wife to Mike since 3/94 
Mom to Candace 10/97 ,Christopher 4/00 and Connor 11/11
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
lapazfarm
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 21 2005
Location: Alaska
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6082
|
| Posted: Feb 14 2006 at 9:48am | IP Logged
|
|
|
This website may have what you are looking for. Scroll down to "Estimator" to load a Java applet on estimating number and quantity.
Project Interactivate
Although this is not exactly what you want, this website has alot of fun lesson, quizzes and games, including one on estimation but it is more about estimating sums, etc.
AAA Math
__________________
Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Courtney
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 796
|
| Posted: Feb 14 2006 at 9:54am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thank you for the great link! The second link, AAA Math didn't work for me. I don't know if their site is temporarily down, or not. I've saved the first one to my favorites under Math links. We'll try some of these today. I realized my own estimation skills aren't very good!
__________________
Courtney in Texas
Wife to Mike since 3/94
Mom to Candace 10/97,Christopher 4/00 and Connor 11/11
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
lapazfarm
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 21 2005
Location: Alaska
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6082
|
| Posted: Feb 14 2006 at 10:32am | IP Logged
|
|
|
OK I went back and fixed it. Should work now.
__________________
Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
lapazfarm
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 21 2005
Location: Alaska
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6082
|
| Posted: Feb 14 2006 at 10:53am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Oh, I almost forgot-
When dc were younger, I used to put out every day (or so)a clear peanut butter jar with different amounts of counting bears, blocks, toy dinosaurs, acorns, goldfish crackers,or pennies, etc in it. They had to write down their guesses and then they would count out the items to see if they were right (they kept a little chart).If they were edible items then they could eat them! This can be started as soon as dc are old enough to count. At very young ages it works on counting skills as well as estimation.
You could also get pictures of things like fish in an aquarium, ants on a hill, or try to estimate leaves on a branch, clovers in a patch etc. Then, of course, you'd have to count them to get the answer.
__________________
Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Courtney
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 796
|
| Posted: Feb 14 2006 at 10:55am | IP Logged
|
|
|
What a great idea! I think I have a couple of empty pasta sauce jars waiting in my cabinet! I'll get right on this one! Thanks.
__________________
Courtney in Texas
Wife to Mike since 3/94
Mom to Candace 10/97,Christopher 4/00 and Connor 11/11
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
saintanneshs
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 15 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 591
|
| Posted: Feb 25 2006 at 5:56pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Hi Courtney,
I second the filling the jars idea...we love to do that!
And it's really neat to see how the guesses at first don't change with larger or smaller objects and then all of a sudden the kids get it and their guesses become smaller #s with larger objects in the jar and larger #s with smaller objects in the jar.
Here's a few more ideas...
Last week we read Peter's Pockets and were suppposed to estimate how many pockets there were in our room. We've done this before with how many fingers and hands, but ran out of time for the pockets lesson. The way it usually works is for the kids to guess and I write down their guesses. Then we talk about how we can figure it out. The kids talk mostly and I just listen. Usually they want to count by 1s and use manipulatives and I let them. When they finish, I usually have to ask if there is a faster way to find out how many. With the how many fingers question, I gave the boys a stamp pad and let them stamp their fingerprints and the 3yo and the baby and myself. Then I let them talk about how to count faster and since we've been doing this kind of thing a lot, the 6yo picked up a crayon and started circling groups of 5 fingerprints on the paper. He then counted by 5s. I wrote what he narrated and we talked about how close or far off their guesses were.
We've also estimated with buttons, after reading The Button Box and then sorted the buttons by groups of ten into tiny plastic, disposable cups which we keep on the math shelf just for this kind of thing. This turned out to be an awesome place value lesson! (Many thanks to Elizabeth and the sunflower seeds lesson for the inspiration!)
After reading A Tree is Nice, we estimated the circumference of different trees in our yard, using yarn lengths to guess how long we would need to go around the tree. (Non-standard measurement) Then we checked them and measured them against a yardstick and discussed standard measurement. By the 3rd tree in 2 days, my 6yo was less than an inch off...I was amazed! I've never been that close! 
My experience has been that the more we estimate, the better we all get at it and it's so much fun (especially for this formerly-hated-math girl)!
Oh, I almost forgot, we're going to do a "How many circles can you draw in 1 minute?" (estimation) pretty soon. I think they'll like racing the timer on that one!
__________________
Kristine
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Rachel May
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 24 2005
Location: Kansas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2057
|
| Posted: Feb 27 2006 at 12:44pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
There is an interesting article that someone posted on an earlier thread called No Formal Maths Before Age 10?
The whole thing is an amazing read, but part II gives a bunch of ideas of how to approach math differently at an early age.
Here is the example of what to teach in 1st grade:
"Grade I - There is no formal instruction in arithmetic. In connection with the use of readers, and as the need for it arises, the children are taught to recognize and read numbers up to 100. This instruction is not concentrated into any particular period or time but comes in incidentally in connection with assignments of the reading lesson or with reference to certain pages of the text.
Meanwhile, the children are given a basic idea of comparison and estimate thru [sic] the understanding of such contrasting words as: more, less; many. few; higher, lower; taller, shorter; earlier, later; narrower, wider; smaller, larger; etc.
As soon as it is practicable the children are taught to keep count of the date upon the calendar. Holidays and birthdays, both of members of the class and their friends and relatives, are noted." (I added the emphasis).
The result seemed to be that the kids were much better at this sort of real world math that you are talking about than kids taught in a traditional way.
Anyway, last night we read Polar Bears and Penguins by Gail Gibbons and thinking of your post and this article made me rethink all the statistics. Instead of just reading them, we tried to guess a real life comparison for each statistic. The kids were terrible at it, but that was hardly surprising.
So we did some research and measuring and figured out that a male polar bear would reach our living room ceiling when standing on his hind legs and weighs as much or more than our 15 passenger van! Imagining that standing in your living room makes more of an impression than reading that a male polar bear is 10 ft tall and weighs 750 to 1100 pounds, imho.
So putting it all together, I was sort of thinking that the putting things in the jar or measuring trees and doing what we did are opposite sides of the same coin. Hmmm, this was a pretty long post of me just thinking aloud. 
__________________
Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
saintanneshs
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 15 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 591
|
| Posted: Feb 27 2006 at 9:46pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Rachel May wrote:
| So putting it all together, I was sort of thinking that the putting things in the jar or measuring trees and doing what we did are opposite sides of the same coin. Hmmm, this was a pretty long post of me just thinking aloud. |
|
|
I'm not sure what you mean. Can you explain?
__________________
Kristine
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Courtney
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 796
|
| Posted: Feb 27 2006 at 10:19pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I love both your ideas, Kristine and Rachel. I remember a couple of years ago we estimated how long the room was with each of our feet. I just put Peter's Pants on hold at the library. Thanks for the great ideas!
__________________
Courtney in Texas
Wife to Mike since 3/94
Mom to Candace 10/97,Christopher 4/00 and Connor 11/11
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Rachel May
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 24 2005
Location: Kansas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2057
|
| Posted: Feb 28 2006 at 2:08pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Kristine,
I guess I was thinking that when you put things in the jar or cut a string to fit around a tree, you estimate first with something to refer to but without knowing any quantitative measurement.
So for example, you look at the jar and say, "Are there this many?" Then you count to find out how many are there. Over time I would guess that you learn how much X number look like and are able to use that as a frame of reference.
Or in your tree example, you said you started with non-standard measurement by just guessing how much string fit around the tree, and then afterward figured out the standard measurement. So when they improved their accuracy they were able to judge the tree and the string against each other, not guess that the tree was 3 feet 2 inches around and then guess how much string that was, right? (or did I not get it? I like this tree idea by the way, because it would force us to go on a nature walk.)
What we were doing was starting with a just a quanitative or standard measurement and then trying to figure out what is about that size to establish a frame of reference.
So when I asked, "How high is 10 ft?" one of the 6 year olds said, "About my size." And I said, "No, it must be taller than Daddy because he's 6ft tall." So we knew we had to look for something taller.
Does that make it clearer, more muddled, or was my initial observation just wrong?
__________________
Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
saintanneshs
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 15 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 591
|
| Posted: Feb 28 2006 at 4:56pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Rachel,
Now I get what you meant! It does seem like two different and opposite ways to try to approach the same concept with children! I never thought of it like that!
Your way seems to start with the abstract and make it concrete by taking a concept like quantitative measurement and applying it to "real" situations that children can relate to, right? My estimation samples start with the concrete (something they can put their hands on) and then make it abstract by giving it a name. For example, with the trees we were using the non-standard measurements of varying yarn lengths to first estimate how much it would take to go around the tree. After we tried out our guesses, we re-measured the exact circumference with a new piece of yarn, comparing the 2 pcs. and then labeling them with the corresponding yard stick numbers. I guess I wasn't very clear about that last part. I think that they get the idea of measurement first and then the application, rather than the other way around. But I see how it can be just as effective to go at it from the application and make sense of it by giving a hands-on example for reference. Both ways work great! I am learning so much here...
I've only ever taught concrete to abstract, but your estimation example makes a really good argument for trying it the other way around! I think we will be trying it out soon! Thanks!!
__________________
Kristine
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Rachel May
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 24 2005
Location: Kansas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2057
|
| Posted: Feb 28 2006 at 8:24pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I'm glad I didn't confuse you more! I think your explanation was better than mine. 
I was telling my husband that I have a bad habit of sort of blowing off stats in books because I can't visualize what they mean. If it hadn't been for this thread, I probably would have done it again! I've never taught before at all so a lot of this is just winging it for me. Don't you just love this forum?
__________________
Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Living and Loving Numbers
Topic: Estimation
