Center

Each student grabs a handful of pattern blocks and puts them together with their partner’s. They guess how many pattern blocks there are and then count the blocks. Students record their guess and the actual number of blocks on the recording sheet.

Variation:

Students can count their own group of blocks first and record an expression to represent the total number of pattern blocks.

Each group of 2 needs around 20 pattern blocks.

Each student grabs a handful of ones cubes and puts them together with their partner’s. They estimate how many cubes there are and then count the cubes. Students record their estimate and the actual number of cubes on the recording sheet.

 

Variation:

Students can count their own group of cubes first and record an equation to represent the total number of cubes.

Each group of 2 needs around 80 ones cubes from the base-ten block set.