Guess the Weight

It's Halloween season! At the grocery store one day, we came across a stand marked, "Guess the Weight Contest." Morgan had used the scale before, so she knew the giant pumpkin would be too big to weigh. "How are we going to guess the weight?" she asked. This was a perfect time to talk about estimation.

Conversation Starters

Why do we need to estimate?
What can we do to come up with a reasonable estimation?
How much does one medium sized pumpkin weigh?
Can you estimate how many medium sized pumpkins will equal to this giant one?

Connection to Learning

To understand the importance of estimation.
To determine if an answer is within a reasonable range.
To reason abstractly and quantitatively.

Building Vocabulary

Estimate
Weight

Further Discussions

During small grocery runs, I often challenge Morgan to estimate the bill before heading to the cashier. She would round each item to the nearest dollar and then mentally add up the total. "Did I estimate corrrectly?"she asked.

View Connections