MUSICAL MATH

Learning math facts will be a lot more fun with a song.

Addition Pokey (“Totally Math” CD)
Put 1 finger in. (Hold up finger on right hand.)
Put 1 finger more. (Hold up 1 finger on left hand.)
Shake them altogether (Roll around.)
And then lay them on the floor. (Place on floor or table.)
Add them both together, (Bring hands together.)
And you don’t want to stall.
Now you have 2 in all.

2 fingers…3 fingers…4 fingers…5 fingers

*Do “Addition Pokey” with other facts.


Hi Ho - Adding We Will Go (Tune: “The Farmer in the Dell”)
1 plus 1 equals 2 (Hold up fingers as you sing.)
1 plus 1 equals 2
Hi, ho, adding we’ll go. (Roll hands around.)
1 plus 1 equals 2


Hands Up Math
Trace around the children's fingers and cut out. Glue the palms to a sheet of paper. Do not glue the fingers because you want to be able to move them up and down to demonstrate addition and subtraction.

Hint! You might want to make this with one hand for the younger children.

Money Musical Chairs
Place chairs in a circle and put a coin on each chair. Play some music for the children to march around. When the music stops the children have to identify the coin by where they are standing.


Sing and skip
Count by 2’s to “Twinkle Little Star.”
Practice counting by 3’s to “Are You Sleeping?”
4’s “Row Your Boat”
5’s “The Bear Went over the Mountain”
6’s “London Bridge”
7’s “Ten Little Indians”
8’s “This Old Man”

Tens and Ones (Ginger McCormick)
(Cadence – Children repeat each line.)
I don’t know but I’ve been told. (Repeat)
Tens are tall and ones are small.
First you count up all the tens.
Then add the ones to the end.

*Pick students to be tens and stand tall. Pick students to be ones and sit criss-cross in front of the tens. Count the tall students by tens. Count the students sitting on the floor by one.


Doubles Don’t Give Me Trouble (Sarah Jackson)
(Tune: “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”)
1 + 1= 2, 2 + 2 = 4, 3 + 3 = 6, 4 + 4 = 8, 5 + 5 = 10, 6 + 6 = 12
Now I know my doubles,


Tally Song
Teach children this “hands” on song about tally marks to the tune of “Little Red Wagon.”
Put down a tally mark in a row. (Open palm and put down index . finger.)
Put down a tally mark in a row. (Put down middle finger.)
Tally, tally in a row, (Put down ring and pinky fingers.)
Fifth one goes across. (Put thumb across.)

*Use pretzel sticks to sing and tally.

BRAIN BEADS

Don’t you just love tools that you can use in lots of different ways? It’s like my kitchen scissors. I couldn’t live without them to open packages, snip herbs, trim meat, cut veggies, etc. Just like tools in your kitchen, I have some handy math tools that you will be able to use in creating multi-sensory experiences in a variety of ways with a variety of skill levels.

WHAT?
Brain beads are a simple tool that can be used to reinforce counting in a concrete way. You will need pipe cleaners and pony beads. Knot one end of the pipe cleaner. String on 10 beads. Knot the other end. 

HOW?

Counting
Slide the beads to the left and then move them over one at a time to the right as you count.

*Flip the pipe cleaner over so the beads are on the left again and count from 11-20. Continue flipping the pipe cleaner and counting higher.

*Slide all the beads at once and count “ten.” Flip it over and slide all the beads as you say “twenty.” Continue counting by ten’s by sliding all ten beads at one time.

Friends of Ten
How many ways can you make ten?

Number Stories
Use the beads for addition and subtraction problems.

Number Bracelets
Make bead bracelets for different quantities. Match the colors of the pipe cleaners to the colors of the beads. For example, you could make a purple bracelet with 6 purple beads and ask the children to show how many ways they could make six. 

                           
*Challenge students to write down the different ways to make six.

1, 2, 3 - COUNT WITH ME!

Counting is a basic strand across math standards. There’s even research that suggests counting with pre-k children can build math concepts they will use later on in kindergarten and primary grades. To avoid rote counting without meaning, let TOUCH AND COUNT be the mantra you repeat and model over and over. Counting will also have more meaning if you tie it into finger plays, songs, and movements. 

*Adapt these activities for younger children by just counting from 1-10. Older students can count to 100 and beyond. 

Little Red Number Box (Sarah Wilson) 
Put magnetic numbers in a metal tin and then sing the song as you pull out a number. Then count to that number. 
For example: I wish I had a little tin box to put a 6 in. I’d take it out and count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and put it back in.

            

Move and Count 

Have children count as they jump, hop, and do other movements.

*Count the steps to the lunchroom.

*Count how long it takes everyone to sit down quietly.

*Count the number of chairs in the room, tables, toys, girls, boys, dragons (that's a joke!) etc.

Number Sticks

These math sticks are easy to make and can be used in many ways. You’ll need magnetic numbers and shapes, jumbo craft sticks, and a strong glue (such as E6000). Glue the numbers  to the sticks and you are all set!


*Let children hold up the appropriate stick as you do finger plays and counting songs.

*Can they walk around the room and match up their number with classroom print or the appropriate number of objects?

Number Hunt 
Take lunch sacks and write different numerals on them. Give each child a bag and ask them to take the sack home and bring in that number of objects.  Let children share what they have found with their friends the following day. 
 

Giant Number Line
Attach a piece of tape to the floor in a prominent place in your classroom. Let children walk on it forwards, backwards, hop, etc. After playing with the line, ask them to sit on the floor. Explain that you’re going to turn it into a number line as you demonstrate writing numbers (0-10) on the tape. 
*Ask one child at a time to walk on the number line as they say each number.
*Call out different numbers and ask random students to stand on those numbers. What is one more? What is one less?
*Give students dot cards (0-10) and ask them to match their card with the number on the line.

Five Little Hot Dogs  (“Five Little Ducks” - Just for Fun CD)

Five little hotdogs frying in the pan.            (Hold up five fingers.)

The grease got hot, and one went BAM!            (Clap.)

Four little hotdogs…            (Four fingers.)

Three…                        (Three fingers.)

Two…                                    (Two fingers.)

One…                                    (One finger.)

No little hotdogs frying in the pan.   (Hold up fist.)

The pan got hot and it went BAM!

Number March (“The Ants Go Marching” - Totally Math CD)

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah.  (Hold up 1 finger.)

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah.  (Put fist in the air and cheer.)

They all were red and the first one said:

“You’d better catch up, I’m way ahead.”

And they all went marching one by one by one.

The spiders go crawling two by two hurrah, hurrah…  (Crawl 2 fingers.)

The birds go flying three by three hurrah, hurrah…  (Hold up 3 fingers and fly.)

The rabbits go hopping four by four hurrah, hurrah…  (Pretend to hop 4 fingers.)

The horses go galloping five by five hurrah, hurrah…  (Gallop 5 fingers on thigh.)

The fish go swimming six by six hurrah, hurrah…  (Pretend to swim 6 fingers.)

The mice go creeping seven by seven hurrah, hurrah…  (Creep 7 fingers up arm.)

The worms go wiggling eight by eight hurrah, hurrah…(Wiggle 8 fingers.)

The monkeys go swinging nine by nine hurrah, hurrah… (Swing 9 fingers.)

The kids go walking ten by ten hurrah, hurrah…  (Hold up 10 fingers and 

                       pretend to walk.)

 

You can download a free book that goes with this song at drjean.org.  

Activities:  Let children take different verses and illustrate them.  Put their pictures together to make a class book.