Musical Notes Math Learning Activity: Success Means Teaching to Kid's Interests by Teacher Karen

Do you have a kiddo that gravitates to the arts? Do they march – or maybe dance – to the beat of their own drum? Try this music-based, math-themed activity.

You’ll need:

• 2 white paper plates (flat ones work best)
• construction paper in purple, blue, yellow, green, red and black
• pencil
• paper 
• note sheet

Here’s how to do it:

• Cut out one purple "whole" shape; two blue "half" shapes; four yellow "quarter" shapes; eight green "eighth" shapes; 16 red "sixteenth" shapes; a black “equals’” sign ( = ) and black "addition’" sign ( + ).
• Draw the musical note on correct shapes.
• Put purple “whole” circle over one white paper plate.
• Fill second white paper plate with other the shapes so that no shape overlaps and no white shows.
• Put "=" sign between the two paper plates.
• If your kiddo is writing, use pencil and paper to add up the colored shapes on one side of "=" sign and put one on the other side of "=" sign.

Here’s an example:

One white paper plate is filled with: blue, yellow, green, red, red = purple 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/16 = 1 (with 16 as the common denominator: 8/16 + 4/16 + 2/16 + 1/16 + 1/16 = 16/16 = 1). Alternately, SAY: "half + quarter + eighth + sixteenth + sixteenth = one."

Try various combinations of slices to fill the pie! Then read, This Jazz Man by Karen Ehrhardt.

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