math songs – Ms. Houghton's Class

Our YouTube debut!

Check out our 4’s song online:

iMovie is a fantastic product. I have no video editing experience at all, and everything I’ve ever made with iMovie has turned out extremely slick!

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About ten minutes ago, with the help of my talented class, we wrote a new multiplication song. My students told me they were still struggling with their nines times tables, although we learned a few other strategies earlier in the year. This is what we came up with:

When the Cats Go Meowing In
(To the Tune of “When the Saints Go Marching In”)

Oh when the cats
Go meowing in
Oh when the cats go meowing in
Well, nine lives is their luuuucky number
When the cats go meowing in

Oh 9, 18
27
Oh, 36 and 45
54, 63, 72
And 81 go meowing in
**There’s 90 now**

Soon to come: our first music video!

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Lines, Line Segments, and Rays

Today’s our last day before Spring Break, and we’re taking our Unit 6 assessment on geometry so we don’t have to worry about it after break. Here’s one of the songs we came up with for remembering the difference between lines, line segments, and rays:

Lines, Line Segments, and Rays
To the tune of “Silent Night”

A line is straight
Goes on forever
Add two points
Still a line? Never!
Now it’s a line seggggment
One point is a ray

Lines, line segments, and rayyyyyyys!
Lines, line segments, and rays!

We have gestures that go along with the dance too. One of these days I’m going to figure out how to get a halfway decent audio or video recording, and rest assured that as soon as I do I will post it promptly!

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Polygon Song

I can’t claim to have come up with this delightful tune, which my students use to help remember the different types of polygons. I do need to create one for the different types of quadrilaterals, which always seems to be a problem spot for kids 2nd grade on up.

When we sing our version of this song, we usually go up a half-step in pitch at each new verse, just to change things up.Wait, There’s More Sides!
To the Tune of “Alice the Camel”

Polygons with three sides, triangle
Polygons with four sides, quadrilateral
Polygons with five sides, pentagon
But wait! There’s more sides!

Polygons with six sides, hexagon
Polygons with seven sides, heptagon
Polygons with eight sides, octagon
But wait! There’s more sides!

Polygons with nine sides, nonagon
Polygons with ten sides, decagon
Polygons with two sides, just an angle
And now we are done!

We also love reading Marilyn Burns’ The Greedy Triangle during this unit.

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Operations Song

We just finished a unit on multi-digit addition and subtraction. I thought I was going to tear my hair out reviewing and re-reviewing the four main operations. We use our arms to gesture addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, so as I call out “Sum! Difference! Product! Quotient!” it winds up turning into a dance of sorts.

But we still couldn’t get consistent answers. We kept mixing up sum and difference. So I turned once more to a song. I’m looking for a catchier title…

Operations
To the Tune of “Ode to Joy”

Pro-duct answ-ers mul-tipli-ca-tion Â Â (X)
Sum is act-ually a-dditionÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â (+)
Quo-tient is div-i-sion a-ndÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â (/)
Diffe-rence is sub-tra-ctionÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â (-)

I attempted to put in the rhythmic breakdowns so you could see how I wound up singing it. I’ve had a few people ask me to record my songs, but although I can sing just fine, my voice sounds miserable when it’s recorded. I’m trying to figure out how to recruit my kids to help me out. I’ll definitely keep you posted!

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Gallon Man

Here is a song our class uses to remember the units of US capacity. We hope it’s useful to you, and we would appreciate it if you leave us a comment if you use it in your class!

If You Need a Gallon Man
To the Tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”

If you need a Gallon Man, you need 4 quarts
If you need a Gallon Man, you need 8 pints
If you need a Gallon Man, 16 cups can be your plan
If you need a Gallon Man, you need 4 quarts.

Because a gallon, don’t you know, equals 4 quarts
And a quart, don’t you know, equals 2 pints
And if a pint is where you stand, then 2 cups can be your plan
â€˜Cause if you need a Gallon Man, you need 4 quarts

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Our 3's Song, or "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

We also know a song to help us remember our 3’s times tables. It is to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”

3’s Song
(to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”)

3, 6, 9, 12
15, 18
21, 24, 27, 30
Start all over again!

33, 36, 39, 42
45 and 48
51, 54, 57, 60
start all over again!

63, 66, 69, 72
75 and 78
81, 84, 87, 90
start all over again!

When we originally learned this song, it only had one verse.Â Then, we added more verses because we were counting around the classroom. Now our song goes all the way up to 90, which is the same as the multiplication problem 3 x 30 = 90.

Today, we finished correcting and reflecting on our Unit 3 Assessment. Soon, you’ll see meeting and exceeding answers on our blog, along with explanations for how our class solved them. See you soon!

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Our 3’s Song, or “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”

We also know a song to help us remember our 3’s times tables. It is to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”

3’s Song
(to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”)

3, 6, 9, 12
15, 18
21, 24, 27, 30
Start all over again!

33, 36, 39, 42
45 and 48
51, 54, 57, 60
start all over again!

63, 66, 69, 72
75 and 78
81, 84, 87, 90
start all over again!

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Octopus March, or Multiplying by 8's

We just took our Unit 3 assessment today. It was on multiplication and division. We will show you how to do some of the questions from our test later. Now, however, we want to share one of our multiplication songs with you.

8’s Song — Octopus March
(to the tune of “The Adaams Family”)