Early Childhood - Connecticut State Department of Education

Mathematics Chapter 6
Teacher Strategies:
Estimation
Provide a trusting atmosphere so children are
disposed to guess without undue concern over the
“right” answer.
Use words such as: about, near, approximately, in
between, around, more than, fewer.
Make predictions using language such as possible,
impossible, likely, unlikely.
(NCTM, 2000)
Probability, Statistics And Data Analysis
Performance Standards
• Collect, describe and record information.
• Collect, organize and display information.
Young children and teachers love to chart information,
graph results of counting and tally numbers. Such
Teacher Strategies: Probability
Encourage children to gather information.
Encourage children to think about the information
they have gathered, to come to conclusions and
develop further questions.
Present graphs, tally sheets and other representational
data analysis.
Model the usefulness of information in graphs and
charts.
(Copley, 2000; Bredekamp and Rosegrant, 1995.)
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Suggested Experiences
Engage children at the water/sand table to guess the
number of cups it will take to fill a container. Encourage
estimating which might be heavier or how many
blocks it would take to finish the road.
(Problem solving)
Provide opportunities to play games involving estimating
how many items in the jar, how much it will
take, etc. Do you think there are more than five or less than
five? (Reasoning)
Find opportunities, such as circle time or reading with
children, to prompt discussion using these terms.
They help children become comfortable with estimat-
ing and predicting.
experiences help children to develop skills for successful
problem solving. They help children practice higherorder
thinking and learn the importance of representing
their knowledge so it can be organized and used for
predicting, estimating, making inferences and coming
to decisions. Analysis and synthesis of information
are necessary tools for comparing, reflecting on and
discussing ideas.
Suggested Experiences
Ask questions such as: “How many windows are
in your bedroom? How many people are wearing
sneakers?”
(Reasoning, communicating)
Review the data that has been collected with questions.
What have you found out? What was our original
question? Why do you think this number is higher?
(Reasoning)
Graph snack choices, the means by which children and
staff members come to school, etc.
(Communicating, representing)
Encourage children to reach conclusions using the
information in their graphs.
(Representing, connecting)