Relate music notes values to fractions through creating a music note diagram. Your students will write out the division of a whole note and relate it to the division of a whole number. Create a whole note at the top of the diagram. Whole notes represent 4 beats. Write two half-notes below the whole note. Half-notes represent 2 beats. Add four quarter-notes below the two half-notes which represent 1 beat. Continue and add eight eighth-notes, and then sixteen sixteenth-notes. As you continue working your way down the diagram, each level represents the same number of beats, chopped up into shorter values of notes.
Pass out simple sheet music such as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Play the music while the students sing along. You can use a CD. Ask the students what do they recognize on the sheet music and how do the words fit with the musical notes. Once students relate the notes to the words on the page, have each student to look at the first measure on the music. Ask students how long should a person sing each word according to the note value. Then ask students what is the total value of that measure such as 1 quarter note + 1 quarter note + 1 quarter note + 1 quarter note = 4 beats
Create a variety of musical equations that equal 4 beats such as quarter note + quarter note + quarter note + quarter note = 4. You will draw the beat for the quarter note instead of writing the word "quarter note." You can also write a equation like this: sixteenth-note + sixteenth-note + sixteenth-note + sixteenth-note + quarter note + quarter note = 4. This will be correct mathematically but not musically.
Create fraction problems for students to solve such as ½ + ½ = 1 or ¾ + ½ = 5/4 = 1 1/4. When the denominator is not the same as the other fraction in the problem, the denominator (bottom number) of fraction can be changed to be the same by multiplying and finding the common denominator of both fractions. Similar to music, the same notes do not have to be next to each other to create a count. For example, a dotted half note and a quarter note adds together to equal 4 counts.The dot represents a half of the note such as the dot would represent a quarter note next to a half note.