One of our math lessons this week focused on estimation and counting large quantities. We broke up into two groups, and each had its own pumpkin to use. The first step was to look at the pumpkin and think about its size, as well as the size of a pumpkin seed, and make an estimation of how many seeds might be inside it. The next step was to take off the top and look inside, and then make a new estimate, if getting this glimpse changed any of our thinking. The third step was to count out 50 seeds and again, reassess our estimates based on this new information. Finally, we got our hands dirty and counted up all of the seeds by putting them into groups of tens after separating them from the "guts"!
Adding up all of our individual groups.
And then the students wanted to know how many seeds in all with both pumpkins!!
Wow!!! That's a lot of pumpkin seeds!!!
Earlier in the day we had read the story of Pumpkin Jack. This inspired the students to do our own experiment of watching our pumpkin carcasses slowly decompose over the year. We placed them behind our classroom just over the fence and are crossing our fingers that they don't get completely eaten by some furry friends!
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