Bean Counters 

LB are Bean Counters!

In Term 1 LB had a BIG tub of beans to use in Guided Play. We decided to find out just how many.

First each student estimated the number of beans. Our lowest estimate was 363 and our highest estimate was 22,148. That’s a big difference!

Then we had to figure out how we were going to count the beans. We all brainstormed different ways to do it, and decided to use cups to keep track of which beans had been counted and which ones hadn’t. Then it was time for counting. It took nearly two hours to count them all! We recorded how many of each of the different types of beans we had. 

After each pair had counted their share of the beans we had to figure out how many there were all together. We used place value houses to add up. The grand total was 5,466! 

Our final step was to graph how many of the different types of beans we had. We had to add up everyone’s totals for the different types of beans, then experiment with different increments for our graphs. The smallest number was 220 broad beans and the biggest was 3,732 mung beans so it was tricky. 

This project helped the students estimate, conceptualise big numbers, add big numbers using place value, and create graphs.