A few months ago I received a gift in the mail from my favorite professor, who I still have yet to meet. Hopefully NCSM or NCTM, Boston 2015. So Professor Triangleman gifted me NCTM's 1986 yearbook Estimation and Mental Computation by Harold L. Schoen and Marilyn J. Zweng. I just started reading it a few days ago and have already found a few gems. Maybe you saw me tweet them out. I'm about to embark on a section titled "Reasons for Making A Special Effort to Teach Estimation". Here's the introductory paragraph:

Does estimation merit an important role in the curriculum? Perhaps estimation is so easy and so pervasive that students learn the ideas even without formal instruction. Most leaders today disagree with this view; it is generally felt that the amount of instruction in estimation is not what it should be. (Increasing attention to this subject is one reason for the existence of this yearbook!) But why, if estimation is so widely represented in mathematics, must a special effort be made by teachers to work with these concepts? There are many reasons for such an effort, and these reasons for teaching estimation are not the same as the reasons for doing estimation. 

Almost 30 years later, is this worth discussing? 
Would Schoen and Zweng feel differently today?
I'm curious to know where Schoen and Zweng are headed in the following pages of this section. Are you?

I look forward to posting some follow-up notes in the next week. In the meantime, what are your thoughts?

From now until September 1, 2014 (Labor Day), there will be free shipping on all shirts in honor of Back to School! 

As I said in my last post, I'm not selling Estimation 180 gear to make money; it's a hobby to simply spread the number sense and break even. I want to thank all of you who have already bought t-shirts and/or stickers. I truly appreciate the support and I can't tell you how cool it is to see you posting pictures of your gear online. Here are a few of the pictures from my Estimation 180 scrapbook.

Order a gift for your colleague or simply strut your Estimation 180 shirt at a teacher pre-service day. Plus, you still get a free sticker with every t-shirt you buy!

Head on over to the store.

They're here! Estimation 180 t-shirts and stickers! Yes, I'm excited.

Estimation 180 was born out of my love for number sense and visual mathematics. In addition, it was important I help my students develop better number sense and see the world of mathematics in a different way. Little did I know, the site would make its way into classrooms across the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world. Thank you all for tweeting or emailing your experiences as I find it so cool that students are exploring number sense in your classroom and having mathematical conversations, sometimes even constructive arguments.

It makes my math heart full of joy to see other teachers do amazing things with Estimation 180 and beyond. Please make some time to check out blogs like Joe Schwartz, Jonathan Claydon, Mary Bourassa, and Megan Schmidt who are just a FEW of the teachers taking the idea and running with it. Teachers like Michael, Hedge, Dan, Robert, John, Matt, and others spread the Estimation 180 love when doing teacher trainings or presentations. I couldn't be more appreciative and grateful. Thank you! Chris Harris even shared some bacon estimations to a roomful of parents one weekend.  I love how the site has become an instrument to help teachers create a classroom of curiosity with students, building number sense along the way. In addition to daily estimation challenges, the site has many of the lessons I've developed over the past few years.

These shirts are just another extension of my passion for number sense. As I present at conferences and give teacher trainings, I'm excited to give away some t-shirts to attendees nailing estimation challenges built into my workshops. Likewise, stickers are available for you to stick some number sense in your favorite place. This is how I roll!


I'm not in this to make money. This is more of a hobby to go along with the site. I would be eternally grateful if you decide to buy shirts and stickers and spread the Estimation 180 love. Head over to the Estimation 180 store and check out the shirts, their sizes, and how easy it is to order.

Nuts and Bolts:
If you're interested, I think it'd be good to be transparent on the nuts and bolts behind the t-shirts and stickers. If you're not interested in the nuts and bolts behind the t-shirts, skip the rest of this post and check out the t-shirts and stickers.

No outside party is financially backing Estimation 180. AND I don't plan on charging for using the site, ever! Therefore, I have done everything I can think of to make these shirts as affordable as possible, because I'm not in this to make money. Any money made from shirts and stickers would go back toward web costs associated with Estimation 180 and the free t-shirts and stickers I would pass out at conferences. As you can imagine, it's been one huge math task keeping track of expenses in order to set reasonable price points for the t-shirts and stickers so that teachers can afford them.

$20 for a shirt gets you a lot! You get a high-quality shirt for one. This price also includes tax and shipping. It also looks like I can throw in a sticker with each t-shirt order. Sweet! This $20 also goes toward the cost of the blank shirt, printing, mailing envelopes, and labels (mailing and return).

$2.50 gets you a high-quality sticker. This covers the cost of getting the sticker made, the envelope, labels, and postage. Of course, if you order two or three stickers, it's a better deal.

*Important note: my buddy Johnny from Speysyde was in charge of printing the t-shirts and he did a fantastic job! Please cruise by his site. It's all about the sustainable lifestyle:
Our mission is simple. To spread awareness and advocate an eco & social sustainable lifestyle through the creative collaboration of culture, music, sport, art, adventure & travel.

I declined using some of the premium web store features my host offers, such as shipping calculators, tax calculators, and other premium web store features. This drastically keeps the cost of the shirts at $20. For each purchase and transaction, Stripe takes a small percentage from my side. There is no additional cost to you. Their service, similar to PayPal, makes each transaction secure, safe, and easy.

I think you'll truly enjoy your shirt. I am!

Andrew

Here are a few updates I'd like to share with you at my math blog, Divisible by 3.

Okay, so I'm finally taking the Bacon Estimates off the home page [sad face]. However, what would Spring Break be without creating a few estimation challenges, right? The Word Count estimates came from a short conversation these two cool guys had a few days ago.  

Day 187: Let's make 180 by repeating "Estimation 180" a bunch of times. How many?

Day 188: Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is awesome. Here's the most common version. Love the top hat! 

Day 189: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave one of the most memorable speeches of all time. How many words was it?

Day 190: Heard of those cool things known as the 8 Standards for Mathematical Practice? I hope so. 

If anyone is interested in how these estimation challenges were designed, nudge me in the comments or on Twitter.

Last month I added the Lessons page to Estimation 180 so you can quickly access lessons I've made. I will continue to add lessons as I make them and host them right here.

This month, I'm adding a Presentations & Workshops page to the site. Since last November, I've been fortunate to work with some amazing math teachers at conferences and workshops. I've learned a lot and have truly enjoyed doing math with teachers as we share instructional strategies and lessons. My goal is to help support math teachers in strengthening their instructional tool belt for the Common Core classroom. 

I'm excited about this new chapter. Drop me a line if you're interested.

You'll see this lovely new option in the menu bar at Estimation 180.

I've added a "Lessons" page with many lessons I've created, sorting them by their CCSS. I'd like to thank Dan Meyer and Robert Kaplinsky for their friendly suggestions (nudging) to tag my lessons in an attempt to make it easier for other teachers to find and use. Plus, I'm tired of my lessons collecting digital dust and hope that teachers can find and use them.

I was honored to give a workshop for teachers in my district today. The workshop became the motivating factor for making this Lessons page. Right now, most of the lessons are 3 Act lessons that can be found at Dan's 101qs.com A few other lessons are ones I've blogged about. However, I have added two test pages at Estimation 180 where the entire lesson is available for teachers to use. Right now. At Estimation 180.

Pay close attention to my File Cabinet and Stacking Cups lesson PAGES!.

These two full-on lessons are ready for you and your students. You'll see all three acts, teacher notes, student work, student handout (if you like/need), and downloadable videos. Let me know if you have any thoughts, advice, or questions.

I hope this "Lessons" page is useful and/or better than that silly unorganized spreadsheet I've got lingering. You'll notice a few links are under construction, but many links deliver the goods. Check in often for updates.

P.S. Thanks to Fawn, Nathan, Robert, and Eric for your feedback.

You read that right! BACON estimates!!!
What better way to move forward with Estimation 180, than with bacon, right? On the way to work one day this week, the idea popped into my head and here's what I was able to jot down in my notes.

These bacon estimation challenges are a win-win. Not only do the estimation challenges revolve around bacon, but I'd like to point out that no bacon was wasted during the creation process. If anything, I wish I bought more bacon. Okay, enough reminiscing about my weekend. Here's what I'm thinking you could sizzle up with your students.

Day 181: What's the net weight of all that bacon?
Day 182: How many strips of bacon come in that package? (video answer)
Think of a way you can connect this with Day181 and the net weight per strip.
Day 183: What are the length and width of a bacon strip BEFORE cooking it?
Day 184: What are the length and width of a bacon strip AFTER being cooked?
Yes, I didn't do thickness. However, I'm hoping you can connect Days 183 and 184 to talk about percent decrease, or other mathematical happenings.
Day 185: How long will it take to cook bacon starting with a cold skillet?
I enjoyed editing the video for this. The beginning is quiet and then the sensational sound of sizzling bacon comes roaring in after a few minutes. 
Day 186: How long will it take to cook bacon with a PRE-heated skillet?
The time difference between Day 185 and Day 186 might not seem significant, but that's about 3 minutes earlier that you can begin your bacon consumption. 

As you can see from my initial list, I do have more bacon ideas. However, I need some type of tool that weighs bacon. Who knows? I just might have to buy more bacon if I can get my hands on a triple beam balance or scale. If you have any other ways to incorporate bacon into estimation, I'm all ears in the comments. Thanks for all the positive feedback from John and Elizabeth. You made my day.

*Disclaimer: I'm not apologizing (or responsible) if these estimation challenges encourage you to eat bacon. Enjoy!

Joe Schwartz blew me away with TWO blog posts tonight:
*Thanks Fawn for passing the links on to me.

I'll let Joe do the talking in his posts, but here's where Joe made my heart skip an estimation beat:

Post #1
Joe incorporates a number line into his estimation challenges in this post. My favorite quote from Joe:
"It's clearly a work in progress, and we need to continually reflect on what we are doing and where we are going."


Post #2
Joe does some fine work with a Clementine. Brilliant! I have estimation envy. Pay attention to the extension activities the kids came up with in this second post:
"We wondered whether all clementines had nine wedges, and agreed that this would be an interesting question to explore.  Would bigger clementines have more wedges?  This was another question that arose in the discussion."

Be sure to leave Joe a compliment (comment) as he's rockin' the number line! I'm adding this to my Estimation 180 tool belt!

Best,
Andrew

Ever see an Estimation Wall?
Ever see an Estimation Wall created by students?
Even better, ever see an Estimation Wall on school lockers where the question and picture are outside and you have to open the locker to see the answer?

Me neither, until Jonathan Claydon had his students create the first ever Estimation Wall in history. 
It's fantastic!

"But if you think about how hard it is to design a well done math task, these students got a great lesson in it."
~Jonathan Claydon

Go check it out!

What will your students make their Estimation Wall out of?