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Head Shoulders Knees Toes Place Value

Arts Integrated Lesson Launch for Grade 1 Place Value with Differentiated Options for Grades K & 2

Tags: Place Value Differentiate Movement-Based Small Group

Head Shoulders Knees Toes Place Value

Pairs with Reveal Math Lessons 1st Grade: 2-1 to 2-3, 3-2 to 3-5

In this interactive small group activity, students use the familiar tune and movements of “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” to identify the place value of each digit in a multi-digit number.

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MARYLAND STATE STANDARDS

MD Math Standards:

  • 1.NOS.B.3a. – Compose and decompose two-digit numbers into tens and ones using objects or drawings, and equations (e.g., 10 + 4 = 14; 38 = 30 + 8).
  • 1.NOS.B.3b. – Describe a given number as the correct number of tens and ones (e.g., 14 is one ten and four ones; 38 is three tens and eight ones).

Place value and the relationships between hundreds, tens, and ones are key skills for first and second grade students to master. Understanding what place value means will allow students to compare, analyze, compose, and decompose numbers much more fluently.

MD Arts Standards:

  • MU.AS.4I:P-2:3 – Demonstrate artistic qualities in performing musical ideas.
  • DA.AS1.I:P-2:2 – Develop the ability to combine the elements of dance to create movement.

These art standards support our activity by enabling students to get moving and singing to understand place value. Additionally, students will have the ability to perform their place value song for an audience. Head Shoulders Knees and Toes!

OUTSIDE OF MD?

Common Core State Standards:

  • 1.NBT.B.2 – Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones. a. Understand the following as a special case: 10 can be thought of as a bundle of ten ones — called a “ten.” b. Understand the following as a special case: The numbers from 11 to 19 are composed of a ten and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine ones. c. Understand the following as a special case: The numbers 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 refer to one, two, three, four.
National Arts Standards:

  • MU:Pr6.1.1a – With limited guidance, perform music for a specific purpose with expression. 
  • DA:Pr4.1.1a – Demonstrate locomotor and non-locomotor movement that change body shapes, levels, and facings. Move in straight, curve, and zigged pathways. Find and return to place in space. Move with others to form straight lines and circles.

ARTS INTERATED LEARNING OBJECTIVE

I can use movement and music to show the place value of each digit in a number.

MATH DOMAIN

  • Number and Operations in Base Ten Grades K-2 → Understanding Place Value → Building fluency with relationships between 10s and 1s (100s as an extension)

COHERENCE

  • Before: Students have been practicing different making ten strategies to make the connection between the two place values.
  • After: Students will expand their understanding of place value to the hundreds up to 1,000.

MATH & ART SKILLS

  • Math: Place value – students will be able to differentiate and understand the value of hundreds, tens, and ones.
  • Art: Musical phrases as individual “sections” of a larger piece of music. Use of levels in movement to show differences between two or more things.

MATERIALS

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FACILITATION STEPS

    Teacher facilitated for small group:

    • Ask if students know the song “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes”
    • Perform the song with the students as originally written, including the movements.
    • Introduce the new version of the song and engage students in singing it using the same movements: Lyrics
    • Possible extension question: Why do we start with thousands at our heads?
    • Assign students a number depending on ability (2, 3, or 4 digits) and have them perform the song as written in the second half of the lyrics resource.
    • Scaffold: if students are struggling with the activity, have them work as a whole group or with a partner to write their own variation.

    To close out the activity:

    • Have students write the number out using the Place Value Person, putting each place in the appropriate spot on the Person

    Once this activity has been introduced, students can use this as a station activity with a partner checking their musical and mathematical accuracy and completing the place value person as an exit ticket or Check for Understanding.

    ASSESSMENT & REFLECTION

    This brief activity has several opportunities for assessment. The first is informal observation:

    • Are students moving and singing the place values song using appropriate movements and musical phrasing (touching head and singing “seven thousands” for example)?
    • Are they making connections between the NUMBER and the term (twenty is sung as“two tens”)?

    DIFFERENTIATION

    This activity is easily adapted by simply changing the difficulty of the number being sung. As an extension challenge, invite students to write their own song to show their understanding of place value concepts (they can use the melody of a familiar song, as we have done here).

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    Materials Google Folder

    BRAIN TARGETED TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM

    The use of the movements along with the song reinforces both the distinction between each place value and the relative “size” of each place value, with thousands being head, hundreds being shoulders, etc. This type of intentional movement reinforces and embodies the idea of each place value as an individual part of a whole.  Repeating this activity for a variety of numbers and place values serves to strengthen student understanding of the relative values of each number.

    Using Movement to Strengthen Understanding – Embodied Cognition

    We don’t just think with our brains — we think with our whole bodies. Learning is strengthened when the body is involved.

    Examples include: tableau, acting out a story, role play, using gestures to explain ideas, building models, show a character’s emotion with their face and body, physically representing concepts (e.g., walking a number line)

    Why it works: First, it increases attention—movement naturally draws students in and keeps them engaged. Second, action supports deeper, longer-lasting memory. When students do something, they’re more likely to remember it. And finally, it helps make abstract ideas more concrete. Concepts that might feel confusing or distant suddenly become something students can see, feel, and experience.

    Artful Repetition for Long Term Memory – Engaging Repetition:

    Repeated rehearsal is the process of revisiting information, or repeating it, to strengthen memory.

    Arts integration naturally supports repeated, varied rehearsal by engaging students in creative, meaningful ways. Each artistic iteration reinforces learning while maintaining engagement.

    Ex: Students create a song about the states of matter (solids, liquids, & gas) using lyrical substitution, then demonstrate the molecular structure of each state through tableau. The song can be used at the start of every class period throughout the unit for more repeated rehearsal (science)

    The Emotional Climate:

    Singing a variation on a familiar song creates an atmosphere of fun, and engages students in a challenging task more easily.

    The Physical Space:

    Create open space for students to move comfortably.

    Learn More:

    Learn more about Brain Targeted Teaching via Dr. Mariale Hardiman’s site.

    ROOT BRANCH MEDIA GROUP – BRING ROOT BRANCH TO YOUR SCHOOL!

    All video content made in partnership with Baltimore’s Root Branch Media Group.

    MURRAY PIPER – BRING MURRAY TO YOUR SCHOOL!

    Murray S. Piper, noted Performer, Instructor, Clinician, and Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University Peabody Preparatory Institute. Piper is the founder and director of Passionate Drumming & Music Lessons, which was driven from his early passion for drums. Piper received his B.S. music degree with a concentration in instrumentalists from Morgan State University. Piper has been teaching drums/percussion since 2004. In December 2021, Piper was invited to perform for the President and Vice President of the United States of America Holiday Celebration. Piper serves as an active DrumSet committee member for the international Percussive Art Society.

    SARAH AGUDA

    Sarah Aguda has been a teacher in Baltimore City Public Schools for 27 years. She has been teaching using Arts Integration as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, and curriculum writer for the last 15 years. Sarah believes that consistent, rich Arts Integrated teaching has a lifelong impact on students. Her favorite things about teaching are that she is known as the teacher who “brings the fun” in the classroom, and watching her students create and collaborate in her classes.

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