Teaching Math with Music

"Education should not be filling a pail, but the lighting of fire."

            -- William Butler Yeats

I was reading an article by Karen Sawyers and Janet Hutson-Brandhagen who provide some practical suggestions for teachers on how to improve children's math skills through music. Introducing this idea they observe...

"As research reacquaints us with the many benefits of music, we need to be careful not to take music instruction too far with preschoolers. As early childhood educators we know how important it is to meet the children where they are and support them through age-appropriate learning experiences. We should avoid teaching children the fundamentals of music in an overly formal way. Instead, we should provide opportunities for children to explore the world of music in their own way and in their own time. It's important to keep this principle in mind as we set up our classrooms and plan for music activities in the daily routine."

"To set the stage for music learning, each classroom needs a music area where there are rhythm instruments such as tambourines, jingle bells, step bells, and xylophones. Children need opportunities to use these instruments during times of day when they initiate their own activities (such as work time, choice time, or play time) as well as during teacher-planned small-and large-group times. As we work with children throughout the day there are many music activities that we can provide to develop the music-math connection in very natural ways."

The Animal Boogie Song







Barefoot Books offers quality children's books with sing-along CDs starting at $9.99

Here's a list of some of my favorites:

1. Creepy Crawly Calypso
2. Driving My Tractor
3. Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
4. If You're Happy and You Know It 
5. Knick Knack Paddy Whack
6. Mrs. Moon
7. Playtime Rhymes for Little People8. Port Side Pirates
9. The Animal Boogie
10. The Farmyard Jamboree
11. The Journey Home from Grandpa's
12. Up, Up, Up!
13. We all Go Traveling By

To view these wonderful books that are available for purchase, visit:
http://ladyd.barefootbooks.com

Wishing you a wonderful school year filled with  happy times of music and rhythm!

Happy Reading,
-- LadyD



“If you can fill the unforgiving minute 
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, 
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it” -- Rudyard Kipling (make a lasting difference.)


My Family from WiddlyTinks.com