Each week I place items to estimate in a jar. Kids love when they are edible but I have also used math manipulatives or school supplies to be more cost effective. In the past, I have asked for donations to our estimation station in the class newsletter as well.
We have 2 jars - one jar is the reference point and I usually put 5 or 10 items in it, depending on the size of the item. This jar is labelled - Open! Count Me! The other jar is for estimating. We have a mini lesson at the beginning of the year on how to use the counting jar to help us make good estimates. This is reinforced throughout the year when I usually ask 2 or 3 students to share the justification behind their estimation before we count.
The items go in the jars on Monday and we count the estimation jar on Friday. Students can estimate any time they have finished their work or lunch. We choose an efficient way to count the objects, usually by 2s or 5s, in order to practise our skip counting as well. We all chant the number while a teacher helper or myself transfers the items to a sandwich bag. We employ the Chicken Little rule - if you don't help count, you don't help eat!
Once we find the actual amount, we make a number line to compare the closest numbers.
If it's a candy week, the winner gets to take home the bag after giving a candy to each student.
The paper we use for recording our estimates is available in my TPT shop:
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