Family MATH

CHALLENGE:

Adapted from Upper Elementary Estimation Jar and Data Features by Jennifer Reis
 Follow these steps:
1. Start by finding a jar you can fill. It should have a lid you can screw
onto it. (Having a lid will help with step 5.)

2. Next, decide what you want to fill the jar with. (It should all be the same kind of
object. For example, if you were going to use Lego bricks with two studs on top, then
you shouldn’t have any with four or six or one, etc., mixed in. Don’t make the object
too small, either; grains of rice, for example, will take a long time to count at the end.)

3. Without examining either the jar or the objects you’re going to fill it with, GUESS how
many you think will fit in the jar.

4. Have someone else (your mom, dad, or anyone else who’s around) fill the jar with the
objects you’ve chosen. That way, you won’t be tempted to count the objects as you
put them in.

5. Once the lid is on, examine the full jar. You can hold it, count around the edges, count
the rows, and so on. Now ESTIMATE how many of the object are in the jar.

6. To make it more fun, get others in your family to ESTIMATE how many of the object
they think are in the jar. Make sure you write all of the estimates down, including your
own.

7. Find the Minimum, Maximum, Range, Mode, Median and Mean of the data you’ve
collected, and fill in the blanks on the appropriate page. (If you can’t remember what
they are, the page will explain.)

8. When all that’s done, dump out the jar and count the contents to see whose
estimate was closest.

Have Fun!

Adapted from Upper Elementary Estimation Jar and Data Features by Jennifer Reis
My collected Information:
I guess there are _________
__________________ in the jar.

?
Now that I have more
information, I estimate there
are _________ __________________
in the jar, because ____________
________________________________
________________________________

What is the difference between a GUESS and an ESTIMATE?

_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

A List of your FAMILY estimates:

_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Organize your family estimates from LEAST to GREATEST:

_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Adapted from Upper Elementary Estimation Jar and Data Features by Jennifer Reis
The Data Features:
Find the following numbers using your family estimates:
MINIMUM: ______
MAXIMUM: ______
MODE: ______
RANGE: ______
MEDIAN: ______
MEAN: ______

Definitions:
MINIMUM - the least, or smallest number.
MAXIMUM - the greatest, or largest number.
MODE - the most frequent number. (For example, if you had a
list of 2, 2, 3, 4, and 5, the mode would be 2.)
RANGE - the maximum number minus the minimum number.
MEDIAN - the MIDDLE number. (To find this, arrange the
numbers from smallest to largest, then cross out the largest
and the smallest, then the next largest and the next smallest.
Keep going until you have only one (or two) numbers left. For
example: 2, 2, 3, 4, 5. The Median would be 3.)
MEAN - the AVERAGE. (To find this, add all of the numbers
together, then divide by the total number of estimates. For
example, 2 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15; 16 ÷ 5 = 3.2.)

Adapted from Upper Elementary Estimation Jar and Data Features by Jennifer Reis