Observation Two: Estimating

Name: Sarah Thomas

Date and time of the lesson: April 14, 2016, 10am
School: P.S. 130
Grade: 1st
Cooperating teacher: Tracy Chiang
Room number: 313
Content area: Math
CENTRAL FOCUS/ESSENTIAL QUESTION
What does it mean to estimate?
GOAL OF LESSON
In this lesson, students will be introduced to the concept of estimation, using the number 10 as a
benchmark.
Students will know & understand:
The meaning of the word estimate
The difference between an estimate and a guess
Students will be able to:
Accurately estimate up to 100, using 10 as a benchmark
Work together with the members of their group to problem solve
COMMON CORE STANDARDS
1.MD.4 - Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and
answer questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, and
how many more or less are in one category than in another.
STANDARDS FOR MATHEMATICAL PRACTICE

Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

Model with mathematics
Look for and make use of structure

Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE/ KEY MISCONCEPTIONS
Estimation is a difficult concept both to understand and execute, and this is the first time the class
will be introduced to it. Therefore, I suspect that it will be challenging for the students. Students
have already learned and had practice with counting by 10s, so that strategy will be familiar to
them. However, another concept that is likely to be confusing, is understanding the difference
between guessing and estimating. This distinction will be explicitly addressed at the beginning of
the lesson and reinforced throughout.
MATERIALS & RESOURCES
Chart paper and markers
Jars with jellybeans

Ziploc bags for each group containing different objects

How Many Are There Worksheet for each group
Estimating worksheet for each student

LESSON DEVELOPMENT
I. Whole Group Instruction (10 minutes):
1. The lesson will begin with the children gathered in the meeting area. I will tell the class that
today we will be learning about estimating, but before we do that, Id like to know if anyone can
tell me how many jellybeans they think are in the jar that I will hold up. I will call on several
students and record their answers on chart paper. After several students have responded and their
answers recorded, I will tell them that we are going to find out how many jellybeans are in the jar.
I will tell them that I have some fun activities planned for them and I dont want to take up that
time by counting all these jelly beans one by one. I will tell them that to save time, I am going to
estimate (write word on chart paper). I will ask them if anyone knows that that means, and
eventually tell them it means to make an educated guess. I will then pour out the jellybeans so that
they are visible on the document camera and count out a group of 10 jellybeans, thus
demonstrating to the class how to estimate by observing how many groups of 10 are in a group of
objects. There will be 77 jellybeans in the jar 7 groups of 10 with 7 leftover. We will then refer
back to the students guesses and see how they compare with the real number. I will ask them if
their guesses were greater than or less than the actual number, and if they are surprised at the
number in the jar.
2. I will bring out a smaller jar of jellybeans (note: this jar will also contain 77 jellybeans, but
because the jar is smaller, it will appear more full than the previous jar) and ask the class if they
think there are more, less, or the same number of jellybeans in this jar. I will then call on a
volunteer to come up to the document camera to count the jellybeans using the estimation strategy
I just modeled. Again I will ask them if they are surprised by how many jellybeans are in the jar.
II. Hands-On Small Group Work (15 minutes):
Students will practice the estimating skills just taught by working together in groups of 4 and 5.
Groups will be determined ahead of time and I will call each group, instruct them to take a bag of
objects and a worksheet (1 per group) and then I will tell them which table to go to. All of the bags
will have the same number of objects in it (47), however, each groups objects will be a different
size and shape. I have done this intentionally so that when the class comes back together to share
and learn that each bag contains the same number of objects, they will see the relationship
between the size of an object and the amount of space it takes up and that just because a container
appears to be more full, that doesnt mean there are more objects in it.
The students will have a worksheet to record their data on (see figure 1), and they will assign one
member of their group to be the recorder. I will instruct the students that they must work together
with their group to decide on the number of objects that they think are in the bag. I will remind
them that they must estimate and not randomly guess or count every object in their bag. Once they
have decided on a number, they will write it down on their worksheet. They will then count the
objects and record it on their worksheet. Lastly, they will write down the difference between their
estimate and the actual number. If they finish and there is time available, I will instruct
students to get more of their particular material and try estimating with the new number of
objects. Once they have completed these tasks, they will put their objects back into their bags
and return to the meeting area with their objects and worksheets.
III. Group Share (10 minutes)

Once students are gathered back together in the meeting area, each group will show the class their
bag of objects and I will ask them the following questions:
What was your estimate? How did you decide on that number? Was it easy or hard for you
to all agree?
What was the actual number of objects? What was the difference between your estimate
and the actual number?
After all the groups have shared and it has been revealed that all the groups had the same number
of objects, I will ask the class if this surprises them and if so, why. I will also ask what they
learned from the activity and about working together and whether they would do anything
differently if they did this again.
IV. Independent Work/Assessment (5 minutes)
I will send students back to their desks and distribute this estimation worksheet for them to fill out
independently (consider doing this with them under the document camera):

Wrap up by asking the class if they can think of any real world examples of when you would need
to estimate and when you should not estimate. Provide example if necessary: I remember once my
mom asked me to go to the grocery store and buy 200 brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving. Can you
imagine if I had counted all 200 at the store?
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Because this lesson utilizes a variety of instructional strategies, differentiation is incorporated
throughout. For example, the use of manipulatives will allow students to learn the mathematical
concept in a literal and concrete way before moving on to the semi-concrete tasks in the

assessment worksheet. I know that there are some students in the class who open up and pay closer
attention in small peer groups as opposed to whole group instruction. Therefore, giving the class a
chance to work both in small groups, individually, and as a whole class is another way that the
lesson is differentiated.
ASSESSMENT
The small group work will serve as my formative assessment, and the individual worksheet will be
my summative assessment. The conversations that I will facilitate both at the beginning of the
lesson and following the group work will also serve as an assessment tool.

Figure 1

How Many Are There?

Names:
1st Try

Estimate
Actual Number
Difference (write
an equation)

2nd Try

3rd Try