Multiplying Menaces

This week our focus will be on multiplication.  Please see last week's post about how important it is for students to understand the meaning of multiplication and what each factor represents in a multiplication sentence.

So far, we've dealt mainly with rows of objects, so we will also look at how multiplication can be represented by groups of things.

This diagram illustrates the multiplication sentence 3 x 4.
There are 3 groups with 4 little circles in each one. Count them one by one or skip count by 4 to find the total number of little circles.
3 x 4 = 12

Along with continuing our work to understand the meaning of multiplication and recognize when it is useful to use it, we will begin working on multiplication facts.  We will start with easy ones: 0, 1, 2, 10, and 5.  I see no reason why we can't master these this week!  We'll try and see how we get along.  The 0 and 1 times should be super easy; the kids are already familiar with the 2 times since they've been learning doubles addition facts since Grade 1, as well as skip counting by 2; the 10 times are easy to remember because a 0 is placed after the number (which means the place value has increased by one place); and most kids find skip counting by 5 to be a breeze.  That really won't leave us many other facts to learn, especially considering the commutative property..... the fact that 2 x 8 equals the same product as 8 x 2.

Please ask your child about what they're learning in multiplication and feel free to quiz them on their multiplication facts.  Let's aim for 0 and 1 facts on Monday; 2s on Tuesday; 10s on Wednesday; and 5s on Thursday.

Have a great week and Happy Valentine's Day to all!