Lesson #4: Addition, Body Percussion, & Instruments
Today at Spanish Oaks Elementary we began with reviewing 4-digit addition. I wrote three math problems on the board, and the students solved these problems in their math notebooks. For each problem, a student came to the white board and showed how he or she had solved the problem.
Then I asked for the students' help to identify the:
- thousands column
- hundreds column
- tens column
- ones column
As the students identified which column was which, I put a box around that column.
Each column, I explained, would be assigned a different body percussion. As now shown below:
In this way, the answer to every math problem becomes a kind of song or composition. This one would consist of 3 snaps, 2 claps, 1 pat, and 6 stomps. I modeled how this should be done--keeping an even beat and counting out loud while we snapped/clapped/patted/stomped.
After the kids got the hang of this, we then performed the whole equation (1862 + 1354 = 3216) with the same body percussion as before.
Group Activity:
Next the class was split into four groups. Each group was assigned a different addition problem to first solve and then to practice as a group to soon perform in front of the class. They did this!
Body Percussion to Instruments:
I then erased the snaps/claps/pats/stomps markings I had written on the whiteboard and replaced them with these words: claves, triangles, sand blocks, and Chinese balls. What do these words all have in common? They are all percussion instruments!
The instruments were handed out to all of the students (they got to play their instruments as much as they liked while this was going on). After going over rules about the instruments, I explained how now each column would be played by one specific instrument. To simplify things, on the whiteboard I drew symbols that represented each of the instruments (clave=stars, triangles=circles, sand blocks=squares, Chinese balls=hearts).
We then played the equations using our instruments!
It was a fun time!
Music Standards Met:
3.M.P.8; 3.M.P.11
You handled this so well! The students have been so excited that they had composed their own song. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI love the use of symbols to represent the different instruments. This might be a good introduction for the variables they will be using in algebraic expressions in the future. Pointing out how we use symbols in music and math to represent different things can help students developed mathematical understanding of symbols and variables.
ReplyDeleteI liked the pictures you had. They really helped with your explanation of your lesson. I also liked how you put a box around each place as they identified them and then labeled them with the actions; that made it so everything was very clear and the students could probably easily keep all the actions straight. I also liked how after you went from the body percussion to the actual instruments. I bet that would have been super fun for them. Also, great explanation of your lesson plans. Very clear and easy to understand.
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