Using Songs To Increase Learning

Have you ever used music in your classroom to help cement a concept or an idea?  Music has been found to stimulate parts of the brain, and studies have demonstrated that music can enhance memory. Using music and songs in the classroom is a great way to help your students retain information and increase their learning.

My students were having a rough time remembering the difference between area and perimeter and how to find each of them.  I saw a video on Miss 5th's Instagram feed and I knew I wanted to try it with my students!  If you are not following her on Instagram or Facebook, you need to because she has a ton of great ideas just like this Bucket Filler idea I shared a few weeks ago.

She had a song that she had made up using the pop song "My House" by Flo-Rida.  Here are my students singing and dancing to the song.

The lyrics are:

Welcome to my house

We can find the area

Multiply the length times width

We don't have to go out

Welcome to my house 

We can find the perimeter

Take a walk outside

and add up all the sides

For the music I searched up My House instrumental version and found this one by JBFlex.

itunes Version

Google Play Version

I play it at the :31 seconds section and they sing right after the siren sound as you can see in the video above.

My students were so excited about this song that they started writing versions of their own to all sorts of songs for all types of concepts.  Every day they are coming up with a new song to sing to me!

And... yes, they ALL know how to calculate area and perimeter now!

Have you used songs to increase learning?  I would love to hear your ideas.  If you try this one, I would love to hear how it goes!

Movement In Math

You probably already know that when you incorporate movement into your lessons, your students are less bored and more engaged in learning.

But, Did you know that:

1. Movement actually increases blood flow in the brain?
2. Research shows that humans are able to recall better what we do actively? ( Jensen, 2005)
3. Movement increases attention?

There are so many ways to incorporate movement into your favorite math lessons!  Here are a few of my favorites:

Math Stations

Math Stations can be actual activities or just problems placed around the room.  I often will put one or two problems at each table and have my students travel around in partners or small groups to solve them.

One strategy that I learned recently is to have your students occasionally change partners or groups during the activity.  For example, I might say, "Partner Ones stay at your table, and Partner Twos rotate to the next table." This has really helped to cut down on off-task behaviors. It also gives students an opportunity to coach or teach each other which helps increase their understanding as well.

Scoot games are great for this as well!



Quiz, Quiz, Trade

In Quiz, Quiz, Trade activities, students are each given a problem card.  They pair up with a partner and each quizzes the other using their cards.  If they get the problem correct, the partner congratulates them.  If they answer incorrectly, the partner coaches them with the correct answer.  The partners then trade cards and find new partners.

 

 

My students were using my Quiz, Quiz, Trade Multiplication Cards.

Movements & Gestures for Vocabulary Terms

In a previous blog post, I mentioned using hand signals for geometric terms such as line, line segment, point, etc.  Hand signals are a great way to teach vocabulary terms of all types!




I found a video that uses similar hand signals to what we use here.




How do you incorporate movement in math?

BaseTen Place Value Frame Giveaway and a Freebie!

I have a student in my class who had a goal of adding two digit numbers without regrouping.  He has mastered that goal (YEAH!) and I felt he was ready to move onto regrouping. But, when we tried, he had a lot of difficulty understanding the concept, even when I pulled out the base ten blocks.  I was talking to one of the push-in teachers about  possibly using a place value chart with him, but she didn't understand what I was talking about.  Well, low and behold, I got an email from Didax that afternoon advertising this:

 

Exactly what I was looking for!  I ordered two of them, and I could not have been happier when they arrived!

It does not come with the base ten blocks, but I already had a ton of them on hand.  It did however, come with this handy instructional booklet filled with place value lessons that are all aligned to the common core!

With this particular student, I began at the beginning, making sure that his place value foundation was strong.

I asked him how it would change if we switched the digits around. He quickly changed the place value blocks to show me.

 

He is ready for regrouping the next time I work with him!

After checking out the ideas for teaching addition with regrouping using the frame, I pulled a small group of students over to work with them. They loved the hands on aspect, and I loved how they talked about their task without any prompts from me!

I love this new tool so much, that I decided to give one away to one of my readers!  Enter to win using the Rafflecoptor below: a Rafflecopter giveaway


Here are a few more place value resources:

  Place Value Task Cards

4th Grade Numbers and Operations in Base Ten Assessments & Data Tracking Sheets

  Base Ten Collaboration Cards


And... a place value FREEBIE:

  Poppin' Place Value I Have... Who Has..