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Thursday, October 21, 2010

Multiplication

Here's a song to help teach Multiplication.
I work in several classrooms where the students use a multiplication chart to complete multiplication problems. So, I wrote this song to address multiplication in general, and to provide instruction of the steps to follow when using a multiplication chart.




While researching Math topics online, I found some very helpful websites to help students. Check them out!

http://www.mathcats.com/explore/multiplicationtable.html
http://www.mathsisfun.com/tables.html

Next on my list is a song about Division. Stay tuned and TGIF!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Hands are not for Hitting!

Bullying is a huge issue in our schools these days. Many schools have adopted anti-Bully campaigns in order to try to reduce the issues all children have with bullies at one time or another.

I first thought of writing this song when I came across a book at a bookstore entitled, "Hands are not for Hitting". It is written by Martine Agassi Ph.D., and illustrated by Marieka Heinlen. I thought it would be a great topic to write a song about, but I ended up putting the idea on the back burner for awhile.

A few weeks ago, a student intern approached me about writing a song to support the anti-Bully campaign at a local elementary school and I instantly remembered the book and wanted to finally come up with a song to address hitting.



I'd love to hear what you think!

I personally see PTA written all over this song and think groups of children singing this song (with hand actions to illustrate the various actions mentioned in the song), would be so awesome!

I hope you are having a great week and enjoying the fall season so far.
Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for the next post!

Subtraction

Teaching Math to a classroom with students with developmental disabilities can be a challenging task. The cognitive functioning level most often varies from student to student.




I wrote this subtraction song in hopes that the lowest functioning students would grasp the concept of subtraction by the fact that subtraction means "take away". This can be taught in numerous ways. Real visuals are most helpful and the student can be taught to "take away" something from a box or bin.

All students enjoy playing subtraction with some sort of reward (subtracting with skittles, m&m's, crackers,etc), and each student takes a turning "taking away" a snack from a bowl. This makes the basic lesson of "taking away" (aka subtraction), fun and motivating. Later, students can be assigned certain numbers of things to "take away", and the teacher can facilitate counting what's left.

Stay tuned for more songs to help teach Math!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Happy October!



October is finally here!
The fall season has officially begun and cooler weather and Halloween are on the way!
I am currently working on several new songs for the month of October, but wanted to remind you of a song I posted last year.

<a href="http://morewithmusic.bandcamp.com/track/i-have-a-pumpkin">I have a Pumpkin by More with Music</a>

The song, "I have a pumpkin", is a very simple song that addresses basic shapes and parts of a face. I made my own laminated, paper visual as well as designed a Smartboard page to use in sessions. You can follow the instructions in the song, such as, "I'll use two triangles to make his eyes" and ask students to find triangles when paired with other shapes. On another day, you can ask students to pick a shape to put on the pumpkin to make his eyes. This is a great way to target choice making in non-verbal clients (via eye gaze, pointing, touching picture choice, using voice output device,etc.) and an excellent way to reinforce speech with speech delayed students.

Stay tuned for another song about October!