Encourage the students to notice the patterns in the data. Apple Data on which they are asked to complete a chart to determine the total amount of apples produced for orchards of 20-29 trees. Challenge students to determine the number of trees that should be planted per acre to yield the most apples. Allow students to use calculators for the computation. The data shows that when more than 25 trees per acre are planted, the amount of yield decreases.
Students then work at centers to gain further practice in estimating.
Millions of Apples Center Introduce the idea that millions of apples are harvested each year. In fact, about 455 trees will yield 1 million apples. Find a Million to each group of students. Ask students how many pages it would take to have a million dots. Johnny Appleseed's Apple Orchard which shows a map of Johnny's orchard.