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Pumpkin Seed Math
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Dont cut
open that pumpkin and scoop out all the goop inside just yet! Take a moment
to teach your child a practical lesson in how to make an estimate. |
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What you need:
a small pumpkin
a special pumpkin cutter or a knife that is not too sharp
paper and pencil for recording estimates
a scoop or large spoon
a big bowl
water
newspaper
paper towels
Optional: sheets of paper with grids for counting drawn or printed on them
What you do:
Have your child hold the pumpkin to get a sense for how heavy it is.
Spread out the newspaper on a tabletop or counter and place the pumpkin on
it.
Cut a circle around the stem of the pumpkin and gently pull off the cap.
Let your child peer inside at the seeds.
Explain that an estimate is a guess based on what you observe, or notice
by looking closely at something, and what you already know about the thing.
Have your child make an initial estimate about how many seeds are in the
pumpkin. Record the estimate(s).
Next, slice out one section of the pumpkin. Scrape the seeds from this
section into the bowl, and soak them in water to separate the seeds from the
stringy goop. Then have your child count and record how many seeds are in
this section.
Discuss with your child how many sections of this size the pumpkin
contains. Then discuss how you can multiply the number of sections by the
number of seeds you just counted to make a more precise estimate of the
total number of seeds in the pumpkin.
Compare this second estimate with your initial estimate.
If you have time, scoop out, soak and separate, pat dry with paper towels,
and count all the seeds to find out how close your estimate was. To get an
accurate count, you can have your child count seeds out one by one on a grid
of small squares that is printed on a sheet of paper. You can also have your
child practice skip counting by 2s, 5s, or 10s.
What you can talk about:
Estimating is useful when you dont have time to make an accurate count or
when you just need a general idea about how much of something there is.
Your child might think that bigger pumpkins will have more seeds, but
actually sometimes smaller pumpkins have more. The number of seeds inside a
pumpkin is determined by the number of lines outside it, so the more lines
in a pumpkins shell, the more seeds the pumpkin has, regardless of how big
or small the pumpkin is.
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