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The Rappin' Mathematician presents a step-by-step guide to creating an academic rhyme.

This how-to article accompanies the feature " Rapping Math Teachers Bring It."

Want to rap a math concept for your class, but not sure where to start? Alex Kajitani, the Rappin' Mathematician, breaks down how to write a rap.

Step 1: Identify Your Concept

What do you want your students to learn? Successful math raps have been written on concepts such as fractions, negative and positive numbers, and integers.

Step 2: Find Your Rhymes

Write out all the key words related to your concept. For a rap about the order of operations, Kajitani lists operations, order, parenthesis, exponent, multiply, divide, add, and subtract.

Then find what rhymes with these words. Kajitani recommends going to Rhymezone.com and plugging in your word: "Divide" brings up 400 results. He chooses the rhyming word guide.

Not every word needs to rhyme perfectly. Kajitani also uses words and phrases that sound similar, such as exponent and "own it," to form a rhyme. If you are writing a four-line rhyme, the second and fourth lines should rhyme.

Step 3: Craft the Hook

A catchy hook -- a rhyme repeated at the beginning, middle, and end of the rap, like a refrain -- is essential to a good math rap. It quickly explains what the rap is all about.

Using the rhyme he found on Rhymezone.com, Kajitani shows how to craft a hook that explains the order of operations:

Parenthesis then exponents,
Multiply and divide,
Then add and subtract
PEMDAS is your guide.

Step 4: Back It up with a Beat

No rap is complete without the musical beat behind the words. A Google search for "free rap beats" could provide some leads. Garage Band, a Macintosh app that you can download for under five dollars, can also be used to create rap beats. Kajitani will buy beats for about $20-$100 per song to use commercially from sites such as Gotchanoddin.com.

Kajitani suggests sampling some background music and practicing lyrics to different songs until you find a combination that feels right. Any music software will allow you to shorten the beat's track -- Kajitani notes that a math rap doesn't have to be long -- to fit the length of your math rap. (One option is the free, cross-platform Audacity Sound Editor.)

Step 5: Perform

Kajitani says you might start a math lesson with your new rap. Or you may want to record your voice into a computer and bring a recorded version into class. (Garage Band can also be used for this type of recording.) Your students might also enjoy performing the rap.

Now that you have a new learning tool, it's time to show it off.

Extra Credit: Make the Video

The after-school video club at Kajitani's school, Mission Middle School, in Escondido, California, produced his video So Many Lines. The students drew a storyboard of the scenes for the video, selected actors for the various parts, and then filmed and edited the piece themselves -- and their creative efforts didn't go unnoticed: They won the 2007 iVIE award for the most innovative video in education.

The school was so impressed with the students' work that they created a regular video-technology class during the school day. This year's class may make another video for Kajitani's song " The Itty Bitty Dot." After that project, the students will surely remember Kajitani's hook about adding and subtracting with decimals: "Just line up the dot and give it all you've got."

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How to Write Your Own Math Rap | Edutopia

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The Rappin' Mathematician presents a step-by-step guide to creating an academic rhyme. This how-to article accompanies the feature " Rapping Math Teachers Bring It." Want to rap a math concept for your class, but not sure where to start? Alex Kajitani, the Rappin' Mathematician, breaks down how to write a rap.

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Worksheets, Activities & OT Resources to help your child build Handwriting Skills, Fine Motor Skills, Printing Skills, Pencil Grasp, Gross Motor Skills & Sensory Integration Skills all in one place!

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Handwriting for kids. Free handwriting lessons to teach kids and adults how to write alphabets, numbers, sentences, bible school, scriptures, and even their name! Interactive math such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Coming soon: Fractions.

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Coaching Ergonomics - The Position Skills
As explained in the early childhood document, the innate movement tendencies of a beginner do not fit the reading pattern of our language. This basic "directionality" concept is more difficult for a lefty because there are two basic tendencies to overcome. This presentation will help you to understand the movement objectives and make coaching much easier.

The right handed child needs to learn to start print strokes from the top, but left-to right movement is quite natural once he or she learns how to hold the paper in writing position.

As illustrated at the right, the lefty's early tendency is to move right-to-left, opposite our reading direction. Learning to start away and move from left-to-right is a little more daunting objective if the child does not receive instruction.

The left-handers difficulty is heightened by a child's perceptual tendency to orient paper in reading position, square in front of the body at the body midpoint. This sets up ergonomic conditions that lead to inversion of movement right from the start as a left-handed child begins to learn to use crayons and pencils.

Reading Position

Note that both arms are at the side of the image area.

Fluent writing; in print, italic or cursive style, requires lateral movement from left to right across the page. To help you to understand the difference between left and right handed movement you will use an animation three different ways by positioning your chair in three different places in front of your monitor.

Let's start with right-handed movement. Move your chair to the illustrated position and use your right hand to write in the air with the slide-right illustration.

Notice that stroke production demands a push movement.

Now move your chair over to the right side and try left-handed movement for the same left-to-right stroke. You will at once see that the start point has changed. In right-handed position the stroke started at body midpoint and you had to push away from your body to write it. In left-handed position, the stroke starts away from the body - far out to the left. The stroke is produced by pulling toward the midpoint.

Notice that stroke production now demands a pull movement.

Use this seating technique with the Animated Letter Cards to allow your lefty to "feel" the left-handed movements with his/her left hand. Also use the right hand and both elbows as well. Pretend you are writing with your chin. This airwriting is a gross motor activity. Gross patterns are not muscle group specific. Our experience shows that the use of different muscle groups is advantageous. It improves integration of the pattern information.

In both activities above, shifting your chair position allowed your writing arm to stay under the image area to make the lateral movement easier to accomplish. Now let's take a look at the problem that causes inversion to happen. Move your chair to put the animation at body midpoint. Use both hands to airwrite with the animation. Use one, then the other and finally, both at the same time.

At midpoint the paper is in reading position.

You will notice that the left hand does not pull to create the stroke when the image area is at body midpoint. The movement is still a push for the right hand but this body position "inverts" the movement for a lefty. It has now become a push. The child is using the left hand to make a right-handed movement. It is almost as if the child were using both hands at the same time.

Coaching Objectives

Step One

Table height will control the position of the elbows when the child is seated for coloring and writing. This in turn controls the amount of paper rotation needed to put the image into good position for the left hand. The amount of rotation needed increases as table height forces elbows away from the body. Adjust table surface height or select chairs to put the writing surface near the level of the bottom rib when the child is seated. This will allow elbows to be close to the body and make left-handed movements easier to learn.

Step Two

The usual school desk is 18 inches deep and 24 inches wide. Label the top, left and right sides of the work area. I like to use pictures of hands for left and right. Trace your hands, and then reduce the images on a copier. Cut them out and tape them in position on the work space. I open my thumb for the left hand to make an L.

Step Three

Teach the child how to hold the paper with the right hand and move it to different positions on the table top. Place the page on the table. Hold it with the paper-holding hand along the top edge of the page. Move it to the left side of your work space. Move it to the right side of your work space. Move it to the top of your work space.

Teach the difference between reading position and coloring/writing position. We created the self-adhesive position guide to help with this learning. It gives a clear "target" for paper position. Move your paper to the position guide at the top of your work space. Turn the paper so that the top of the paper follows the paper guide. This will make it easier to hold your paper along the top so that your paper-holding hand does not get in the way as you color and write.

Step Four

Once the child has learned how to hold the paper in writing position, practice touching the crayon or pencil to different places on the paper. Touch the left side. Touch the right side. Touch the top and the bottom. When the paper is rotated for writing these "places" on the paper are in new positions. I like to use a piece of paper that has been marked like the work area, hand pictures at left and right along with the words top and bottom in appropriate places.

Step Five

Teach the child to touch the crayon at the left and to make the slide-right stroke with a pull movement - toward the body. Note the arm position. It is critical that the child keep the arm at the bottom of the page. Most children will try to place the arm high on the desk at the side of the paper as they did when the page was in reading position. Many also want to "hook" the wrist.

Notice the straight wrist in the illustrations above and below. Arm position can be defeated when the wrist is rolled outward and often hooked as the child trys to accomplish stroke movements inside of the hand rather than above it. Keep early practice attempts large to demand arm movement.

Rotation of the paper puts the "top" close to midpoint and the "bottom" over to the left, away from midpoint. The objective is to position the paper to allow efficient left-handed arm, wrist and hand movements.

Paper rotation allows a "downstroke movement" to be much closer to the left-handed child's early tendency illustrated above. A downstroke will actually move sideways toward the left side of the work area - thus the name "sidestroke." When the paper is in reading position use of this movement is blocked. If the writing arm is at the side of the paper this movement is blocked. A hooked wrist puts the hand in a position that blocks the movement.

You will also notice that slanted downstrokes are produced by this natural push movement. Creation of a vertical downstroke by pushing in the direction illustrated above, would require additional rotation of the paper.

Use coloring activities to practice and apply paper holding skills and left-handed movements. This will not be easy. Our experience shows that virtually all children in kindergarten and primary grades are already showing embedded habits for the orientation of images in reading position. The "Form Constant Rule" should be helpful for this learning but by the time we see them, most have great difficulty. They have been coloring with the paper in reading position for years before any instruction is attempted. You will need patience to build the child's confidence in this new process. Correlate use of both downstroke and slide-right movements with lots of coloring activities.

The "reading position tendency" is even stronger with letterforms. The child will need lots of coaching and practice to gain confidence in the perception of symbols in the writing position. Our position guide also helps with this learning. It provides a "reading exercise" that can be used regularly to build confidence. When applied to the desk properly, the guide shows the letters in writing position. Use the images for recognition practice. Show the letter, say the sounds, write in the air, touch the letter on your guide. Use the guide with the alphabet song - touch the letters as you sing.

Step Six

Coaching Position
Use the ABC's and 123"s book in writing position and fingertrace the model of the target letter. Seat yourself at the left side of the table to guide the fingertracing movements with your right hand. This will also help the child learn to keep his or her writing arm closer to the body.

Step Seven
Use the "coaching position" above to help as the child writes. Our teacher handbook provides reproducible pages for "basic stroke" exercises. There are also pages presenting sets of lines. The line spacing changes to allow various sizes of letter production. Start with unlined paper, a chalkboard or even a "magic slate." Once the movement pattern is well established it will be easier for the child to learn the "place-in-space" concepts involved with using sets of lines.

Copyright © 2001, Rand H. Nelson, Peterson Directed Handwriting

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Coaching Ergonomics - The Position Skills As explained in the early childhood document, the innate movement tendencies of a beginner do not fit the reading pattern of our language. This basic "directionality" concept is more difficult for a lefty because there are two basic tendencies to overcome.

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Writing is often a struggle for children with an autism spectrum disorder. Here you will find writing lessons and ideas that are geared to help these children become more successful with writing ...

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free handwriting worksheets
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Skill Builders - Dysgraphia & Handwriting Worksheets, Help & More!

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A collection of handwriting worksheets, activities and resources.

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Simple materials and solid techniques for Teaching Handwriting to children how-to-write skills with a method and activities based on current motor-control research

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Handwriting for kids is an important part of their education.

Wikipedia defines handwriting as:

"...a person's writing created with a writing utensil such as a pen or pencil. The term encompasses both printing and cursive styles and is separate from formal calligraphy or typeface. It is, in essence, a visible form of a person's voice, including pitch and tone."

Writing numbers and letters is an important learning adventure for children. It can be an exciting and enjoyable activity through which children can experience success.

Kids should be shown in simple steps how to write numbers, letters, and sentences. Kids can trace uppercase and lowercase letters, and providing blank sheets for kids to practice more before their next lessons is a great idea!

All kids can improve their writing skills with practice. If your kids are having trouble, you can give them lessons from a range of providers.

Practice sheets are useful for parents or teachers to create their own letters, words, and sentences.

Reading is also important for kids to learn handwriting. It will be exciting and rewarding for your child to read from their own handwriting after they have made some progress with their lessons.

Try not to lose your patience when your child is learning how to write. Here are some tips to help you along the way:

Provide a quiet, comfortable, and warm atmosphere to work with your child.
Make sure your child understands the directions before beginning a handwriting lesson.

Show your child how to write on a separate paper while you're giving the instructions.

Limit each session to one or two lessons.

A different approach to teaching a child to hand write

Most children are taught to write the alphabet in chronological order, ABC...etc. But try this different approach. Progress from the simplest to the most complex characters. I hope you find this method of teaching profitable.

But before you begin go to the "UPPERCASE animated alphabet" to show the child the characters being formed.

First, practice writing characters which contain vertical and horizontal strokes, the E, F, H, I, L and T.

Second, move on to characters formed only by diagonal strokes, the V, W, and X.

Third, practice the characters having vertical and diagonal strokes only, the K, M, N and Y.

Fouth, practice the character having horizontal and a diagonal stroke only, the A, and Z.

Fifth, practice the simplest of characters formed by circular strokes, the C and O.

Sixth, do the G and Q.
They are only a C and O with a tails on.

Seventh, Now comes the combination of vertical and curves strokes, the B, D, J, P, and U.

Eighth, the R. It's a P with a leg on.

Finally, the S. Think of the first part as a C and the last part as backwards C.

Hopefully this guide has given you some clues when it comes to helping your child learn handwriting the right way.

Having patience and taking things step by step will be a great approach.

If you need help with business or website writing then consider using the services of an experienced freelance copywriter.

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Handwriting for kids is an important part of their education. Wikipedia defines handwriting as: "...a person's writing created with a writing utensil such as a pen or pencil. The term encompasses both printing and cursive styles and is separate from formal calligraphy or typeface.

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Child writing in notebook.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 68 children suffer from autism spectrum disorder. Being a spectrum disorder, autism ranges from mild to severe and affects children differently. Because the disorder can affect attention and focus, fine motor skills, social interaction and language skills, writing is a difficult task for most children on the autism spectrum. It is important for teachers to use the most effective ways to motivate and accommodate autistic students at all stages of the writing process.

Pre-writing Strategies

Teach pre-writing and brainstorming strategies that appeal to the learning styles and strengths of students with autism. Many autistic children learn better visually, so give them the opportunity to brainstorm their ideas in the form of pictures, placing numbers on their drawings to indicate when they will write about each aspect of the picture. Another pre-writing activity is to make traditional outlines, with single words instead of sentences indicating key sections. Because they tend to struggle with fine motor skills, have students with autism use a computer word processor or work with a scribe.

Responding to Writer's Block

It can be difficult for students with autism to spontaneously generate writing during class, so teachers should be ready to respond with appropriate scaffolds. For example, present pictures as prompts and ask students leading questions about the pictures to get them started. Another accommodation is to provide concrete examples of writing alongside the prompt. To help autistic students sequence and organize their writing, have them talk out their ideas while recording key words or pictures for them along a timeline. Then have the student read the timeline in order. Autistic children thrive on consistency so incorporating daily, ungraded writing tasks or journaling into the classroom routine will make the writing process less daunting.

Drafting Strategies

Because of autistic students' difficulties with handwriting and organizing ideas, it can help to occasionally prompt them during the drafting process by starting a sentence and having them finish it, for example. It can also be motivating to time students as they write, then pause to check in, reading parts of their draft aloud. Have students set goals for length and provide positive reinforcements such as stickers, participation points or possibly candy when students attain them. It can also help to give students movement breaks as they complete key portions of their draft.

Revision Strategies

Many students need to be explicitly taught the importance of revision as an essential element of the writing process. To build motivation for revising and rewriting, make each writing task public, whether it's shared on a website, incorporated in a book for other students to read, hung in the classroom or submitted to a publication. Provide accommodations to autistic students such as shortening the length of the assignment so that they can produce work worth sharing. Give students the authority to edit each other's papers using specific checklists, pairing autistic students with neurotypical students and encouraging them to talk through the checklist with their partner.

Low-Functioning Students

According to the Autism Spectrum Network, students on the low-functioning end of the spectrum have less socially acceptable means of communicating with others and while under stress may exhibit behaviors like self-injury or aggression. Such students benefit from the assistance of a paraprofessional who can modify writing assignments according to their Individualized Education Plan. One modification is to use communication boards, having students point to pictures that convey their thoughts. The Autism Spectrum Network recommends giving low-functioning students alternative writing assignments that are grounded in real-world skills, such as making grocery lists or matching coupons to food items.

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How to Teach Writing to Autistic Children | Synonym

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Child writing in notebook. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 68 children suffer from autism spectrum disorder. Being a spectrum disorder, autism ranges from mild to severe and affects children differently. Because the disorder can affect attention and focus, fine motor skills, social interaction and language skills, writing is a difficult task for most children on the autism spectrum.

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This webpage is about handwriting teaching tips.

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