| Year 5
In Maths, the children have been learning about capacity and suitable strategies to estimate the capacity of a container. We discussed how we would measure capacity, often using litres or millilitres as our units, before venturing into estimating with non-standard units like marbles, counters, dienes and Lego.
Once the shape of the containers had been taken into account, the children were tasked with estimating the number of non-standard units that could fit into various sized containers after ordering them from smallest to largest.
In small groups, the children were given just one of their non-standard units of measure. They discussed how much space each took up for their containers before committing to an overall estimate. After this, they were given 20 of their units and asked to refine their estimates for accuracy. We took into account how far up the containers the units filled and linked it to fractions before completing some quick mental calculations.
To finish the lesson we checked the accuracy of the ordering by filling the containers with water (therefore using standard measures) to see the actual capacity they held. The children then completely filled their container to see how close their estimations were and what we might have done differently next time to improve our estimations.