Teaching Fractions Through Music

While probably not a surprise to any of you, you'll likely appreciate this article from Science Daily: Getting in Rhythm Helps Children Grasp Fractions, Study Finds.

In his piano lesson this week my son is learning a clapping pattern emphasizing note values. Even as we were doing it, he reflected on the connection to fractions.

I love the idea of equating fraction bars to musical notes. (See the article for a picture.) Fraction bars are a pretty common tool...but this is a innovative way to think about them. This article says:

"Academic Music: Music Instruction to Engage Third Grade Students in Learning Basic Fraction Concepts" has been accepted for press in the journal Educational Studies in Mathematics and will be published online next week.

Looking forward to it! 

Learning Basic Skills Through Music (preK/K hit!!)

Although don't consider myself a preK/K specialist, lately I'm finding myself more and more immersed in that world as I teach a little co-op group. We are having such fun. Today I used a CD by Hap Palmer, Learning Basic Skills Through Music Vol. 2, that my kiddos couldn't get enough of!!

On the CD, Palmer asks kids to follow directions to learn a wide variety of basic skills. We did two songs today. The first song, "Parade of Colors," asks kids to march around, sit when the bell rings, and then stand/sit when a color is mentioned. Our mini-unit today was about "mittens" so I gave each child a paper mitten in a different color. They absolutely glowed when their color was called! They asked to do the song four times...wanted to do it a fifth, but I convinced them it was time to stop for snack. :)

The other song we tried, "Let's Dance," asked kids to move forward, backward, left and right. Since our theme was mittens, I had them all put a mitten on their right hand only...so we'd know which side was right. I planned to follow this with a reading of Tana Hoban's book, All About Where, but we ran short on time. Like most of Hoban's books, this one contains beautiful photographs and includes the words: above, on, behind, under, out, against, across, between, in, through, beside, among, below, over, around. Children can then discuss how the words apply to objects in the photos.

The CD I have contains several math-related songs to work on identifying shapes or numbers. Children move toward certain numbers or shapes or try to match one posted in the room.

Both resources are excellent in preK/K for any sort of a group, whether at home or at school. Wish I would have know about the CDs a long time ago. I'm eager to check out Volume 1 of the same set after reading the reviews on Amazon. (You can hear samples of Vol. 1 on the Amazon page...Vol. 1 is the black cover below...Vol. 2 that I own is the red cover.)

Disclaimer: If you order from Amazon, all commissions go toward foster care through Grace and Hope at no additional cost to you. THANK YOU! 

Awesome Classical Music Deal!

Wish I'd known about this long ago. On Amazon, you can download *VERY INEXPENSIVE* MP3 albums of 99 Most Essential Masterpieces for a variety of artists and categories: Mozart, Handel, Violin, Piano, Dvorak, Schumann, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Vivaldi, Baroque, Classical and the list goes on and on. EACH album contains 99 songs. I bought the Handel album today as I've wanted to "try out" a sampling of Handel's music beyond The Messiah (a few of those songs are included, too.) I don't know if this is a temporary sale or a more permanent price. I just know it's really affordable.

This would be a perfect, cheap way to start a classical music library. I'll be using my album for homeschool since "more music" is on my "to do" list (or New Year's Resolution list); I plan to plug in a classical album and play it all morning as we're working. The 99 pieces/1 album I purchased equals over 4 hours of music. Music is vital to so many things...including learning math. Google "music improves math skills" for a sampling. ;)

P.S. If you're interested in the 99 Most Essential Christmas Masterpieces, it's REALLY cheap!

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with anything listed on this page. If you order from Amazon, all commissions go toward foster care through Grace and Hope at no additional cost to you. THANK YOU!

Music Review: Sing the Word

Sonlight Core 3 introduced us to the Sing the Word series. I LOVE IT.

Basically, a husband/wife team along with their four children have produced a series of songs taken directly from scripture. In Sonlight, the songs are used to help children memorize scripture. Having heard a lot of different "scripture memory" CDs, I really didn't expect much. But these songs are incredible! They are gorgeous. Uplifting. Musically complex. Stuff that *I* like to listen to just for the beauty of the music. You can hear song samples at the website.

Earlier this fall I wished aloud that written music was available so that my family could sing/play some of the songs at church. I went to the website yesterday and discovered that the music is available for download. And the CDs are 20% off for Christmas. I purchased some for school. I've never before encountered scripture memory materials of this high a quality. Highly recommended!

Disclaimer: I did not receive any compensation or products for this review. I do not know the family personally. I just love the products and want to support this family in their endeavor...and tell you about the 20% off deal while it's still going on.