Post by Maggie on Aug 18, 2012 21:59:00 GMT -7
Learning Math through movement
and music.
Maggie McKiernan, revised June 2010.
Please read before the first class
There are many ways to introduce the concepts that young children need to learn. Recent studies have shown that music education can have a measurable effect in improving students' math scores. Some of these results have been misquoted and overstated with the implication that children can just listen to classical music and get smarter! The real importance of these findings however is the realization that there are more routes to math understanding than traditional worksheets and drill.
The State of Arizona has identified some of the mathematical knowledge and skills that young children should possess. These include the ability to:
Compare and sort objects by their physical attributes
Identify geometric shapes and recognize them in their surroundings
Compare and order objects
Develop an understanding of number meanings and relationships
While my program was not designed specifically to teach math, many of these basic concepts are addressed on a daily basis in our movement and music activities. They could also easily be addressed in your classroom with very simple or even no equipment. These concepts are, of course, not limited to math but are utilized in other areas of study as well.
Sorting
This skill is concerned with the identification of common characteristics such as color, size, shape, etc. and the idea of one-to-one correspondences. (“The blue beanbag goes in the blue bucket”.)
After one-to-one you can get more complex. (“Give each person two sticks and one block”).
Don't forget same and different. (“Everyone take two egg shakers, James has two blue, they are the same, Miguel has a red and a gold one, these are different”).
Classrooms are very good places to practice sorting especially at cleanup time.
We can put toys away by size, (“Big balls go here, little ones go here”) color, (“Give Jason all the red drums”) or simply by putting away toys and musical instruments in designated places.
Simple geometrical shapes
Kids love learning these and they love to impress grownups with their knowledge. It's important to remember that this isn’t just a math skill. Learning to read is at first largely a matter of being able to identify and differentiate letter shapes, and some of them can be very similar.
The main shapes kids might need to know are:
circle
square
ellipse |___note to teachers. These are different. Do you know how?
oval |
triangle
rectangle
Examples constantly crop up throughout the day.
“What shape is a hula hoop?”
“Please sit on the square rug”.
“Can you make a triangle with your jump rope?”
“Let's see how many rectangles we can find outside.”
The segments of a parachute can be used to demonstrate properties of circles, opposites and fractions.
Compare and Order, Sequence.
This concept is also needed for reading and comprehension. We see examples in taking turns, or following a leader, and in the observation of cause and effect relationships. We can stress sequencing in obstacle course circuits, repeated sequences in music, beating out time or copying rhythms.
Compare and Order, Magnitude
This concept recognizes the differences between big/medium/small, loud/soft, fast/slow, and high/low. These are premath and prescience skills. We can stress magnitude by such questions as “Which is the bigger hula hoop?” or “Which xylophone note is the lowest? Why?” or “Which streamer is longer, the red or the pink?” Or directions such as “Jump over the high pole” or “Play your drum very softly”. Songs such as “Peter Hammers with one Hammer” show the progression from soft to loud. Playing bucket drums together and gradually getting louder and LOUDER is another way (or faster and faster). Warn those nearby that it's going to get loud, not everyone likes it!
Simple operations: counting, addition
This is what most people think of as “really doing math”, but it makes no sense to do it through traditional worksheets which are meaningless to young children when you can use real things. There are many opportunities in the classroom. “There should be fifteen balls, let's count together.” “How many pink bean bag bears do you have?” or at snack, “How many crackers do we each have? Who has the same?”
Songs and poems such as “One Little Bird” (addition) and “Five Little Monkeys” (counting backwards) are always great favorites. Even try division, dividing things up (sharing) between small groups of individuals so they can see how that works.
Simple concepts of Direction
In everyday life in school there are so many opportunities to stress simple concepts like up, down, under, over, in front, behind, forwards, backwards, sideways, around and even eventually left and right. They may seem so obvious to us that we assume the children understand them, but they have to learn them somewhere. You will be surprised when you ask your children to stand in front/behind/next to someone how many children will do this incorrectly. Doing physical activities with the children give many chances to illustrate these concepts.
Math is important in every aspect of our lives. That's the reason, after all, why we want the children to understand math in the first place. Without too much trouble, you should be able to find a math component in almost every activity within your classroom (and outside it) and start to build with them a foundation for the rest of their lives. If parents ask when their child will start doing math, point to the block center or the musical instruments or the activities in the sensory table and sand box and tell them “They already are!”
and music.
Maggie McKiernan, revised June 2010.
Please read before the first class
There are many ways to introduce the concepts that young children need to learn. Recent studies have shown that music education can have a measurable effect in improving students' math scores. Some of these results have been misquoted and overstated with the implication that children can just listen to classical music and get smarter! The real importance of these findings however is the realization that there are more routes to math understanding than traditional worksheets and drill.
The State of Arizona has identified some of the mathematical knowledge and skills that young children should possess. These include the ability to:
Compare and sort objects by their physical attributes
Identify geometric shapes and recognize them in their surroundings
Compare and order objects
Develop an understanding of number meanings and relationships
While my program was not designed specifically to teach math, many of these basic concepts are addressed on a daily basis in our movement and music activities. They could also easily be addressed in your classroom with very simple or even no equipment. These concepts are, of course, not limited to math but are utilized in other areas of study as well.
Sorting
This skill is concerned with the identification of common characteristics such as color, size, shape, etc. and the idea of one-to-one correspondences. (“The blue beanbag goes in the blue bucket”.)
After one-to-one you can get more complex. (“Give each person two sticks and one block”).
Don't forget same and different. (“Everyone take two egg shakers, James has two blue, they are the same, Miguel has a red and a gold one, these are different”).
Classrooms are very good places to practice sorting especially at cleanup time.
We can put toys away by size, (“Big balls go here, little ones go here”) color, (“Give Jason all the red drums”) or simply by putting away toys and musical instruments in designated places.
Simple geometrical shapes
Kids love learning these and they love to impress grownups with their knowledge. It's important to remember that this isn’t just a math skill. Learning to read is at first largely a matter of being able to identify and differentiate letter shapes, and some of them can be very similar.
The main shapes kids might need to know are:
circle
square
ellipse |___note to teachers. These are different. Do you know how?
oval |
triangle
rectangle
Examples constantly crop up throughout the day.
“What shape is a hula hoop?”
“Please sit on the square rug”.
“Can you make a triangle with your jump rope?”
“Let's see how many rectangles we can find outside.”
The segments of a parachute can be used to demonstrate properties of circles, opposites and fractions.
Compare and Order, Sequence.
This concept is also needed for reading and comprehension. We see examples in taking turns, or following a leader, and in the observation of cause and effect relationships. We can stress sequencing in obstacle course circuits, repeated sequences in music, beating out time or copying rhythms.
Compare and Order, Magnitude
This concept recognizes the differences between big/medium/small, loud/soft, fast/slow, and high/low. These are premath and prescience skills. We can stress magnitude by such questions as “Which is the bigger hula hoop?” or “Which xylophone note is the lowest? Why?” or “Which streamer is longer, the red or the pink?” Or directions such as “Jump over the high pole” or “Play your drum very softly”. Songs such as “Peter Hammers with one Hammer” show the progression from soft to loud. Playing bucket drums together and gradually getting louder and LOUDER is another way (or faster and faster). Warn those nearby that it's going to get loud, not everyone likes it!
Simple operations: counting, addition
This is what most people think of as “really doing math”, but it makes no sense to do it through traditional worksheets which are meaningless to young children when you can use real things. There are many opportunities in the classroom. “There should be fifteen balls, let's count together.” “How many pink bean bag bears do you have?” or at snack, “How many crackers do we each have? Who has the same?”
Songs and poems such as “One Little Bird” (addition) and “Five Little Monkeys” (counting backwards) are always great favorites. Even try division, dividing things up (sharing) between small groups of individuals so they can see how that works.
Simple concepts of Direction
In everyday life in school there are so many opportunities to stress simple concepts like up, down, under, over, in front, behind, forwards, backwards, sideways, around and even eventually left and right. They may seem so obvious to us that we assume the children understand them, but they have to learn them somewhere. You will be surprised when you ask your children to stand in front/behind/next to someone how many children will do this incorrectly. Doing physical activities with the children give many chances to illustrate these concepts.
Math is important in every aspect of our lives. That's the reason, after all, why we want the children to understand math in the first place. Without too much trouble, you should be able to find a math component in almost every activity within your classroom (and outside it) and start to build with them a foundation for the rest of their lives. If parents ask when their child will start doing math, point to the block center or the musical instruments or the activities in the sensory table and sand box and tell them “They already are!”