Help your students build important time management and estimation skills with the fun and practical Class Party: Estimating Duration Task! In this engaging activity, students will plan their very own class party while practising how to estimate and schedule time for various tasks.

As they work through each page, students will estimate the time needed for different parts of party preparation - from setting up decorations and preparing food to planning and playing party games. This hands-on experience encourages students to apply their understanding of time in a meaningful, real-life context.

Class Party: Estimating Duration Task is perfect for use during your time unit or as a fun end-of-term project. It fosters critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaborative planning skills while reinforcing key maths concepts related to duration and time estimation. Plus, it adds an exciting classroom event to look forward to!

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ Practise estimating and calculating durations of time
• ✅ Develop time management and scheduling skills
• ✅ Apply understanding of time concepts to real-life contexts
• ✅ Build critical thinking and problem-solving abilities
• ✅ Promote collaboration and teamwork through shared planning tasks

What’s Included:

• Planning pages for estimating duration of food preparation
• Planning pages for estimating duration of decoration setup
• Planning pages for estimating duration of party games and activities
• Final scheduling page to estimate and organise total party duration
• Clear task instructions to guide students through the activity

Materials Needed:

• Printed task pages for each student or small group
• Pencils, crayons, or markers
• Class timer or clock for modelling and practising time estimation (optional)
• Optional: laminator for reusable planning sheets

How to Use:

1. Introduce the activity by discussing the importance of time management and estimation.
2. Distribute the planning pages to students individually or in groups.
3. Guide students to estimate the duration of each task related to the class party.
4. Have students complete the final scheduling page to organise their full party timeline.
5. Review and discuss students’ plans as a class, comparing and refining their time estimates.

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Incorporate as a culminating activity for your time unit
• 💡 Use as a collaborative small group project to promote teamwork
• 💡 Provide as an end-of-term enrichment task to consolidate learning
• 💡 Integrate into literacy lessons by having students write persuasive invitations or party plans
• 💡 Pair with hands-on clock activities to strengthen estimation accuracy

Top Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Model how to break larger tasks into smaller components for more accurate time estimation
• 💛 Encourage students to test their estimates by timing actual classroom tasks
• 💛 Provide opportunities for peer discussion and feedback on planning pages
• 💛 Celebrate the learning experience with an actual class party where students can apply their planned timeline!

Class Party: Estimating Duration Task offers a fun and authentic way for students to apply their time estimation skills. With its real-world focus and collaborative elements, this activity brings your time unit to life and leaves students excited to put their planning into action!