5 Ways to Use an Estimation Jar {Plus - a chance to win a $20 AMAZON GIFT CARD!}

Need an excuse to buy a bunch of jelly beans so that you can eat them later?

How about doing an estimation jar in your classroom!

Or - in my case:  Do a post on 5 different ways to use an estimation jar in the classroom, take pictures of the jelly beans, host a fun estimation contest on Facebook, and then eat said jelly beans free of judgement :)  Sounds like a plan.

I was thinking - here I am, the author of the Classroom Game Nook, and yet we never actually play games together!  Well, that ends today.  Let's play a game together, shall we?

Here's how its gonna work:

I filled this mason jar up to the brim with these soon-to-be-in-my-mouth jelly beans.  And now, it's your turn to test your own estimation skills.

1. Observe the two up-close pictures below to help you make an educated guess.
2. Head over to my Facebook page and leave a comment with your estimated amount and your email.
3. You have until Friday March 25th to get in your guess and then I'll look through all the estimations to find the person who guessed the CLOSEST AMOUNT WITHOUT GOING OVER!
4. I'll announce the winner next week and email the winner their PRIZE :)

The person who gets the closest without going over wins a $20 Amazon gift card.  Sounds like fun, right!?

Check out these pictures to help you make your best educated guess (I mean, there is $20 on the line here, you don't want any haphazard guesses!):

Now, that we got that out of the way, let's talk about 5 unique ways to use an estimation jar in your classroom.  These ideas go beyond just having students look at the jar to make guesses.

What's your favorite way to use an estimation jar?

Don't forget to head over to Facebook to make your guess!

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"Grab-an-Egg!" {Fun Review Game}

Hi!  Well - it happened last night.  The first grill of the season.  It might have been 39 degrees outside, but the sun was shining and we decided to go for it.  It was fabulous and it made me feel like summer was just around the corner.  Now if I could just get the mint in my backyard to start growing, then I could begin making mojitos and THEN it will be summer :)

Anyways - I want to tell you about a fun game we played in Sunday school this weekend.  The kids LOVED it!

I call it "Grab-an-Egg" (feel free to come up with a better game title)  I bought a set of 12 eggs for $1.99 each and on each egg I wrote one word for a Bible verse that I wanted my kids to learn.

Word to the wise:  tape the eggs close - this game can get pretty "physical" and you don't want egg parts flying when the grabbing gets going -haha!

To play:  place all the eggs in the centers of 3-5 students.  (If your whole class is playing at the same time, create several sets of the eggs.  We had two groups going, so I had to make 2 sets of the Bible verse.)

On a PowerPoint I had create several slides with the same Bible verse written out, omitting one word at a time:

 The students raced (and I mean RACED with conviction!) to grab the egg that had the missing word on it.

That's when the fun part happens.  :)  We checked the answer by revealing the missing word on the PPT.

The winner of that round gets a jelly bean to put in the points up.

 Let me tell you, these kids had memorized this Bible verse by the end of the game, that's for sure.  Mission accomplished :)

Now, if you don't teach in a religious school, you can use this game for:

1) math facts: put the answer on the egg, call out the math problem and have students race to find the answer egg.
2) vocabulary words: write a vocab word on an egg, write definitions on slips of paper and place in baggie.  Pick a definition strip to read aloud and have students race to find the vocabulary word.

The list can go on and on!  Got any ideas?  Feel free to share them in the comments below!

Happy Tuesday!

Spring-Time Games {A Linky Party}

Won't you come to my party?  My Spring Linky Party, that is :)

It's time to stop feeling sorry for ourselves in this never-ending winter weather and create our own spring-fling.  What do you say?

Do you have a spring-themed activity to share?  Bloggers and TpT/TN sellers - I'd love for you to link up a fun game or activity that you've created to share with everyone to help lift our spirits.  It can be for any subject, skill, or grade level.

Here's How to Participate:

1)  Choose a spring themed product to share with us {free or paid}

2)  At the bottom of this post link up by pasting the URL of where we can find that product.  It can be a link directly to the product on your TpT/TN store (no store home-pages please!), or a URL to a blog post featuring that product.  If you are linking to your blog, please grab my button code on the right hand side of this blog and place it somewhere in your post to invite your readers to come check out all the link-ups. (You are also welcome to grab the banner at the top of this post to place on your blog post as well). Link up as many games and activities as you'd like.

3)  Come on back to this post and see what everyone has shared!

That's it! pretty simple right?  I'm hope you'll join me.  I'm linking up a few things myself:

My "Spring Time Roll and Cover" for addition and multiplication (which can be found in my math game archives under addition and multiplication):

My "Bunny Number Match" for primary kiddos:

And my "Spring Themed Math Journal Prompts:"

I hope you'll add to the list!  The link up will be open until the end of the month!