They opened up the Google Slides activity (that they usually would just sit and do independently), and I assigned each student a number. This is where I learned a musical math activity could really tame a group of middle schoolers. I think at this point they would have promised me the world to put on some music. I also made sure that they understood that there were not going to be any warnings given if they weren’t acting appropriately, the game would just be over. “Musical Chairs? Like in Kindergarten?!” I explained that if they could act appropriately, and if I could trust that they would focus on work instead of “Kiki, do you love me?”, we could play. Then, I asked if they had ever played Musical Chairs, and their eyes lit up. I explained the assignment as originally intended look at the expression on the slide, and identify the components we had just learned about. I had the students make sure they were all sitting in a chair with a workspace in front of them somewhere around the room. Musical Math Activity: Musical Chairs Math Step 1: Setting Up Your Students I knew I needed to spice it up and that’s how this musical math activity, Musical Chairs Math, came about. Bouncing on the yoga balls like they were trying to hit the ceiling. ![]() The kids were all over the place! Rolling more than usual. But on this day, although I didn’t look outside, I would have put money on a full moon. In the past, it’s worked, and accomplished what it set out to do. They were to fill out a recording sheet identifying the variable, constant, and key operation words. The original lesson was for students to sit in their chosen areas, and work through a Google Slides presentation that I had made with various expressions. It wasn’t in my lesson plans, it just happened. How to Make Math Move Your Students The Original Plan A musical math activity that will move your students into a higher level thinking. That’s where this lesson came to fruition: Musical Chairs Math. Not “classroom music”, the classical elevator type music that you read articles about. Seventh graders are a tough bunch to sell, to begin with, and trying to sell them MATH concepts? Right. My biggest hurdle is getting kids to buy into what I’m trying to sell, which is math that’s harder than what they’ve done in the grades before. ![]() The first few lessons of my pre-algebra classes focus on the basics the building blocks that we need to be successful in the more rigorous areas of math. My 7th graders like movement, so movement is what I’m going to give them. When you walk into my room, it’s the furthest thing from “traditional”. ![]() I have kids on the floor on giant beanbag chairs and leaning against the wall with a pillow and a lap desk. ![]() Kids are bouncing up and down on the yoga balls, spinning (within reason!) in the computer chairs. With the new “pieces” in my classroom, we’ve got movement in our room. Disclaimer – I include a few Amazon affiliate links in this post. I changed my class makeup, yes, but I also added in some fun with a musical math activity. Kids can sit where they want, how they want and can complete their work in a way that works best for them. I’ve made a lot of changes in my classroom the past few years ditched the traditional seat-attached-to-the-desktop desks for tables with separate chairs….then changed the separate chairs into yoga balls and computer chairs on wheels…then changed the tables to dry erase desks. Education is forever changing and sometimes you have to ditch the traditional and make some changes.
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