Thursday, November 20, 2014

Songs!

When I started student teaching, I was in a first grade classroom. I remember so clearly the master teacher sitting at the front of the room, puppet on his hand, singing a nursery rhyme. At that moment, I thought, I can never be that 'sing-songy' teacher. Now, eleven years later, my class is singing almost everyday. There is so much value in putting educational content to a catchy tune to help students remember what they are learning. I can name (sing) all fifty states in alphabetical order because of fifth grade. :)

This year I have made it my mission to incorporate more music in my lessons, and what better way to do so than with pop music. We have sung about place value, rounding, regrouping, helping verbs, and prepositions. There are many more songs to come! Because my class enjoys them so much, I wanted to share with any teachers that might find them useful. If you have any questions about the songs, please leave a comment. Hope you like them!



Place Value Song
To the tune of Happy

It might seem crazy what Im about to say
Im good at math; teacher take a break.
Listen to my song - itll help you.
Just move to the left for place value.

You start with ones
Move it to the left and then you get to the tens
Move to the left and youre at hundreds and then thousands
Move it to left ten thousands, hundred thousands, millions
Move it to the left, thats all you have to do to learn place value.

I can write in standard form.
I can write in expanded form.
I can even find the value.
I think of money, its so easy to do.

Heres why.

You start with ones
Move it to the left and then you get to the tens
Move to the left and youre at hundreds and then thousands
Move it to left ten thousands, hundred thousands, millions
Move it to the left, thats all you have to do to learn place value.

Ones
Tens
Hundreds
Thousands
Ten thousands
Hundred thousands

Millions


Rounding Song
To the tune of Shake It Off

I can learn to round
Numbers up and down
I can estimate, mmm-mmm
I can estimate, mmm-mmm

First I find the place
I’m not rounding in a race
So I take my time, mmm-mmm
Yes, I take my time, mmm-mmm

Once I find the place
I look next door, to the right
And I sing these words, in my mind
In my mind
So I can get the problem right

If it’s five or bigger, add one more more more
Five or bigger, add one more more more
Fill the zeroes in after to the right right right
Round it up, round it up.

If it’s four or less, let it rest rest rest
Four or less, let it rest rest rest
Fill the zeroes after to the right right right
Round it down, round it down.



I Regroup
To the tune of Let It Go

The subtraction problems look hard today...
The bottom number is too big
I can't subtract easily,
and it looks like I'm gonna fail

I have to remember what I learned with in math class
Where's my math journal? Maybe it can help me...

I do not have enough ones to subtract the bottom from the top
So I have to look at the tens
and now I know....

I regroup, I regroup
Just trade one ten for ten ones
I regroup, I regroup
trade one hundred for ten tens
Now I know how to solve the problem
I just regroup

one thousand for ten hundreds.

Helping Verbs
To the tune of Rude (specific to Easy Grammar curriculum, but can be modified :))

Monday morning, jumped out of bed
Put on my uniform
Got in my mom's car, raced like a jet
All the way to school

Today is the test
On all kinds of verbs
Like action and helping
But  the helping verbs are easy to forget

Am, is, are, was, and were

Be, being, been

Have, has, had

Do, does, did

May, might, and must

Can and could
Will, would, Shall, should

Those are the helping verbs
They help the main verb

I have to look for them
So I can underline them twice

Underline twice
Look in the sentence
Underline twice
I don't wanna miss it
Underline twice
  
All of the helping verbs
It's all part of the verb phrase



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