2 Things, Almost FREE: (Classroom Set-Up Part 4)

Before the summer is over, stop into your favorite Dollar Store, 99 Cent Store, Dollar Tree, etc. and pick up some popsicle molds.

Use the tops for your estimation jar and the mold for organizing your crayons.

First, the estimation jars.  You should always present two jars.  One should be an anchor jar that has a small sample of the items (like maybe 4) and a sign that reads, "This is what 4 looks like".   The other  one has the set of items to estimate.

I have a parent volunteer show the students, one at a time, the anchor jar.  She tells them how many are in the anchor jar and then asks them to estimate how many are in the real estimation jar.

I change out my estimation jars each month and I try to keep them seasonal.  I always write the correct number of items inside the lid so the parents will know.  After recording the student's estimation, I like the volunteer to tell the student how many items there really were in the jar and how close they were.

Then, this is how I organize my crayons on the tables.

Regular size crayons in the molds, broken & peeled blue
background crayons are in the box at the left,
and a sponge topped with a little water and glue in the
cube-shaped box.  Perfect for gluing small pieces.

About 6 small crayons fit in the popsicle molds.

The molds usually hold about 6 regular size crayons or 3 jumbo size.

You can see the jumbo crayons in the background.  

You might like our "More, Less, & Equal" activity:

See you all tomorrow for more of my classroom set-up.

Palma :)