Peanuts and Buttons

A Maths Starter Of The Day

Jar of peanuts

1. Estimate the number of peanuts in this jar.

2. A box contains some buttons. Four people estimate the number of buttons in the box. Their estimates were 207, 191, 199 and 184.

One of the estimates was thirteen out, one was six out, one was ten out and the other estimate was two out.

How many buttons were in the box?

Starter of The Day Transum Mathematics Topics


Topics: Starter | Estimating | Problem Solving

  • Transum,
  •  
  • This was an activity remembered from years ago (back in the day!) at family parties. Mother would have counted hundreds of buttons into a jar and a small prize was awarded at the party for the person who came up with the closest guess! Good estimation is also an important skill in Mathematics and estimating lengths, weights, time, angles and solutions to problems should be practised regularly. Pupils should make sensible estimates of a range of measures in relation to everyday situations. Click on the 'Estimating' link below for more ideas and activities.
  • Chris Boulden, Coatesville School.
  •  
  • How many peanuts are in the jar?

    [Transum: The answers to the Starters, online exercise and puzzles are available lower down the page but only appear when signed in]
  • Aruna Yadav, China
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  • I would like to see the answer. Starter activities are great.

    [Transum: Glad you like the Starters Aruna. The answers are available lower down the page for subscribers]

How did you use this starter? Can you suggest how teachers could present or develop this resource? Do you have any comments? It is always useful to receive feedback and helps make this free resource even more useful for Maths teachers anywhere in the world.
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Answers

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Laptops In Lessons

Teacher, do your students have access to computers?
Do they have iPads or Laptops in Lessons?

Whether your students each have a TabletPC, a Surface or a Mac, this activity lends itself to eLearning (Engaged Learning).

Laptops In Lessons

Here a concise URL for a version of this page without the comments.

Transum.org/go/?Start=September17

Here is the URL which will take them to an interactive estimating activity.

Transum.org/go/?to=Estimate

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