The Early Math Project Newsletter
April 2025 - Volume 23
Summer Symposium - Registration is Open Now
Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) Outside the Classroom
Friday, June 27, 2025
9:00 A.M. to 2:10 P.M. PACIFIC Time
This free virtual symposium will include sessions on:
STEAM Opportunities Outside the Classroom
Art, Creativity, and STEM
Maker Spaces
Gardening and STEAM
Count Play Explore STEAM Resources
STEAM Family Engagement
Outdoor Play
Literature and STEAM Connections
STEAM in the Library
and a Special Strand on Building Organizational Capacity to Support STEAM
The first 660 people to register have the opportunity to receive a free children’s book. The book giveaway includes Hiking Day by Anne Rockwell or Stack the Cats by Susie Ghahremani.
Attendance certificates will be available for those attending the event.
This event is sponsored by Count Play Explore, previously known as the California Statewide Early Math Initiative.
Math and Music
Music is full of math! Patterns, prediction, spatial awareness, comparisons, vocabulary, and counting are a few mathematical concepts that can be explored through music!
Try some of the music-inspired ideas below:
Practice counting and one-to-one correspondence with songs
Children can practice counting and learn which number comes next with a catchy tune. They can follow along with their fingers, lifting or lowering a finger with each new number. In songs like Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, they can practice counting down by one.
Here is a list of some songs and rhymes that feature counting:
This Old Man
One Two, Buckle My Shoe
Five Little Ducks
The Ants Go Marching
Five Little Speckled Frogs
One, Two, Three, Four, Five Once I Caught A Fish Alive
Predict What Comes Next from the Lyrics of a Song
Making well-reasoned predictions, involves understanding patterns, making connections, and applying prior knowledge to a new situation. Many songs have patterns and repetition which make them great tools for predicting what comes next. Encourage children to think about the lyrics, rhythm, and organization of songs and predict what comes next. Encourage children to listen to a song like the one below.
Ask what do you think the next verse will be if Old MacDonald gets a new rooster? How will the words change? Sing the new verse for me!
Turn a math-inspired story into an opportunity to sing about comparisons and measurement
Actual Size, written by Steve Jenkins, explores the concept of size (height, weight, and length). The book leads to many opportunities for children to compare their own size with members of the animal kingdom. Measuring and comparing are important concepts that help children solve problems and make decisions. This Actual Size -inspired song is a fun way to start kids thinking about measurement!
Explore Shapes with Song and Movement
Some books are made for singing. Use your body to make lines, circles, squares, and triangles as you sing along with the Shape Song Swingalong, by SteveSongs
Explore Patterns with Song
Music is full of patterns and repetition. In the fun song activity below from Star Bright Books, the words “all through the town” repeat in every verse. Sing the first couple of verses together and talk about the pattern. What repeats? How much of the opening line is needed to be able to sing the rest of the verse even if you haven’t heard it before? This activity is based on the book Yellow, Red, Green - GO! by Ellen Mayer.
Explore Spatial Relationships with Song
Singing and acting out songs that have positional words like up, down, in, and around helps children make sense of the world around them, give and follow directions successfully, and describe events and objects with greater precision. The hand gestures for the song the Itsy-Bity Spider reinforce the meaning of the words up and down.
Learn Math Facts with a Song
Songs can reinforce concepts and make math facts more memorable.
Songs like Schoolhouse Rocks Figure Eight and Ready or Not, Here I Come make it difficult to forget the multiples of five and eight.
Children may also enjoy:
Turning a familiar kids song into a song about science or math.
Exploring “left” and “right” as they act out the words of the Hokey Pokey song.
Singing as they skip count by 2s, 4s, or 5s.
Creating songs or rhymes about mathematical ideas - a triangle song or a song about more and less.
Making musical instruments from recycled materials like PBS Kids Nature Cat Band Instruments.
Exploring interactive music tools at Chrome Music Lab.
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To Think About:
What math and science do you see in this video?
I’m Ready Rhythms of Math Video (1 min, 30 sec)