Building Math Skills in Music Class

by Kathy Morrison, Director

Kindermusik with Kathy's Music is committed to using music to develop the whole child, including math skills such as sequencing.

While sequencing is a cognitive skill and invites memorization, the act of sequencing increases vocabulary by using words such as “first”, “next”, “last”, “before”, “then”, etc.  In our preschool classes, we practice creating our own sequences in the Hello How Do You Do song,  learn the sequence to chants such as "Two Hands", and introduce the Rondo form or sequence in songs like "What Shall We Do" and "Grasshopper Park Instrumental Medley. " Story time is an invitation for the children to remember the sequence from the last lesson. In addition, we will use ensemble activities to remember the sequence of who plays first, who plays next, and who plays last, etc.

Each lesson uses the child’s love of play and discovery to notice and practice the musical and cognitive concept of sequencing. 

But why is sequencing important?

'Sequencing is the process of putting events, ideas, and objects in a logical order. Why is sequencing important? We sequence all day long—we divide our time into what we need to do first, second, and last; we understand events in our lives by understanding the order in which they occur. For some children, sequencing can be a hard concept to grasp, especially when they are trying to tell a story. Using good key words like “first,”“next,” “then,” and “finally,” cue your child as to what is coming next.'

-Becky L. Spivey, M.Ed

Learning how to sequence, put objects in order, and create patterns are basic math skills. Here are some thoughts on these concepts by “Extension”, America’s research based learning network:

Ordering, sequencing, and patterning are important foundational skills for mathematics. Child care providers can build young children's early math skills by help them learn sequencing, seriation, and patterning.

• Sequencing is the ability to create and identify patterns. For example, children may stack blocks in a pattern of red, blue, red, blue, and so on. As adults, using calendars is one way we use sequencing skills. We look at a calendar and look for the pattern that helps us predict what day or month comes next. For preschoolers, sequencing means knowing which number comes next.

• Seriation is arranging objects in order by size, location or position. Have you ever asked children to arrange objects from smallest to largest, largest to smallest, shortest to tallest or thinnest to thickest? You’ve been teaching seriation. Young children who understand seriation can put numbers in order from lowest to highest, smallest to largest. Eventually, they will come to understand that 6 is higher than 5 or 20 is higher than 10.

• Creating Patterns Having children copy patterns or create patterns of their own (such as red, blue, red, blue, red, blue) may seem simple, but it is a great way to help children recognize order in the world and prepare for later math skills, such as multiplication. Child care providers can begin exposing young children to patterns -- long before they are ready to learn multiplication facts -- by having them make groups and count the total number of objects. For example, four groups of three objects each make a total of 12 objects (4 X 3 = 12).

http://www.extension.org/pages/25597/basic-math-skills-in-child-care:-creating-patterns-and-arranging-objects-in-order#.VEQekEvWaRs

We're using your child's curiosity to build a foundation in music while teaching them skills for life.