Why you should consider using Estimation Clipboard!

Hopefully each of you have had a wonderful start to the new school year! I am still in disbelief that September is coming to an end.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to share a number sense routine created by Steve Wyborney, called "Estimation Clipboard" with some primary teachers at Bayridge Elementary. I LOVE this routine. Estimation is a skill that often doesn't get enough attention. My experiences tell me this... I mean how often have you seen a child hesitate to record an estimate because they are madly trying to compute the answer and want to record this as their 'estimate'? Or if the students do venture to give an estimate, when they realize their estimate is incorrect, they go back and scratch it out and write down the actual amount. These behaviours demonstrate that we need to do more estimation and get students comfortable with taking risks and understanding the value in estimation!

Steve Wyborney's "Estimation Clipboard" does a fantastic job hooking learners into the engaging fun that is estimation. Steve's FREE 40 lessons follow the same predictable format. He begins by sharing an initial image and asking students to estimate "How many?" Next, the answer is revealed and this information moves to the top left of the screen. Then another highly similar image is shown and students asked once more "How many?" Since the images are similar, students now have some prior knowledge which they can tap into when estimating. Following the reveal of how many items were in the second image, a third highly similar image is shared, but this time rather than share estimates aloud, students are asked to record their estimates.​ 

​Once they have recorded their estimates Steve recommends a partner talk where students:

1. share their estimate
2. explain to their partner why they chose the number they did. What strategies or reasoning did they apply? 

We follow the same format for the fourth and final image.

I decided to create some of my own Estimation Clipboards to use at Bayridge Elementary because I didn't want to take away an opportunity for these teachers to use one of Steve's free lessons. When working with the different primary classes, the teachers and I observed the following strategies. Some students:

• in Kindergarten made initial guesses based on numbers that meant something to them (e.g., favourite number, birthdate, etc.) 
• guesses reflected they had used a counting strategy (e.g., they had counted all of the items they could see in the image)
• used a combination of counting and visualizing the items they couldn't see
• applied the context of previous images to help them determine whether the estimate would be more or less.

In reflection, the teachers appreciated that ALL students could access this learning opportunity. They also appreciated that Estimation clipboard highlights BC's Curricular Competencies. Not only were students estimating reasonably, but they were reasoning, visualizing, and explaining their mathematical thinking with partners and with the class. As classes continue to explore this routine it is likely that they will be able to reflect and connect other mathematical ideas, such as using visualizing to estimate fractions of the whole (e.g., if 45 items fill the container, then half would be about 22 or 23 and half of that or one-fourth would be about 12). 

I hope you will give Estimation Clipboard a try! Please leave some comments if you do!

The Estimation Clipboards I created can be accessed here.