Multiplication question

[HelenNotOfTroy]

My second grader wants to start learning multiplication. He is in MM 2A. I am trying to decide if I should I print the parts of MM that start teaching multiplication or just some simple multiplication worksheets?

[OneStepAtATime]

TBH, I wouldn't just hop into worksheets.  Maybe look at finding activities with manipulative and practical application math around your household that could help with the concepts, let those get really solid.  Then use worksheets for practice of those concepts once the link is clearly made between what multiplication really is and the numbers on the page.

 

For example, have them pull out some toys and the two of you figure out how many toys they would have if they started with 3 and someone gave them 6 toys.  Lay them out in a grid pattern.  Show that a faster way to add up all those toys would be to think of them as 3 times 3 but show what that really means with physical objects....just a faster way to count, KWIM?   :)

 

Pick one table and work on skip counting that table.  Then creating math scenarios using that table.  Help them connect the numbers in a way that has meaning so they aren't just rote memorizing a bunch of numbers.  That will come with time as long as there are no learning issues, but if they can THINK about the math, the numbers will come much faster and in a more meaningful way.

[SilverMoon]

My six year old wanted to learn multiplication a couple months ago too. She's in Horizons 2 and multiplication seemed very far away to her. I grabbed a white board and played with it until her interest waned. We drew up example problems a few more times whenever a good example came up in life, and now she'll talk it out when she sees it.

 

I didn't change her math path at all, but I did show her exactly how far away "timesing" was in her book. A couple/few times a week she'll do two lessons a day so she can get there faster.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I think the introduction to multiplication in MM2 is great - very gentle introduction to the concept. I'd jump on the interest and go ahead and do that section out of order.  Once you've gone through those lessons, you can always print out extra multiplication worksheets from the MM website, but I'd start with that gentle intro to the concept. 

 

You can definitely do the MM chapters out of order!  I mean, it's obvious that you need to do the regular subtraction before the subtraction with regrouping, but other than that, you can do other chapters in the order you want to.  We jump around a lot with MM for variety and for interleaved review.

[letsplaymath]

First, refresh your own understanding of multiplication. There's SO much more to it than most of us think! Check out this collection of examples:

• 12 models of multiplication

Next, try to make or find physical examples of multiplication, of as many models as you can. Take time at this stage --- multiplication is a BIG idea, and learning to recognize it in all its guises is worth whatever time it takes.

 

One thing that helps in recognizing multiplication situations is that there will almost always be a "this per that" type of relationship. Fingers per hand, cookies per package, buttons per snowman, panes per window, chairs per row, legs per spider, wheels per car, shoes per foot (one shoe per foot, right? times two feet = two shoes per person, times three people = six shoes per family...), window per door, pennies per nickel, etc.

 

When you are ready to move on to more abstract models, here are a couple of fun ones:

• How to Make Multiplication Tables with Perler Beads
• Multiplication Towers

For more tips on teaching multiplication, you might enjoy this post on my blog:

• PUFM 1.5 Multiplication, Part 2

[justasque]

I usually just start by letting them in on the "secret" that multiplication is just repeated addition.  So 2 x 4 is the same as 2+2+2+2.  We play with that a bit, then I throw in a few examples so that they get that you can reverse it - that is, it doesn't matter which number you use as the addends and which you use as the number of addends you need.  So 2 x 4 is also the same as 4+4.  And we give that a name - multiplication is commutative.  And we play some more.  I might make up a dice game where you roll two dice and then you have to multiply to get your score - maybe it would go in rounds so each round each player has a multiplication problem, and the one that has the highest answer wins that round.  Maybe the winner gets to move a pawn along a "race" style board game, or maybe the winner gets a mini chocolate chip, or maybe they get a token of some sort and the one with the most tokens at the end wins.  All the while I make sure we have dried beans or cuisinaire rods or 1cm cubes available to model the larger numbers.  And at some point we play with what it means to multiply by zero, and after figuring it out with lower numbers, we giggle about zero times a hundred, or a million, or a google, or a googleplex, or even zero times the cat or zero times one's little brother.  This kind of thing can take you quite a long way, and it's powerful.  If a child really grasps that multiplication is just repeated addition, then assuming they can add, they can (theoretically) do any whole-number multiplication problem, so long as the numbers are of manageable size.  Once they can do that, you can do any number of word problems.  Yes, it will take them quite some time to get the answers, but (Shhh!  Don't tell!) this is all just a big exercise in practicing addition skills over and over and over again.  (The practice of multiplication skills is both division by repeated subtraction, and reducing fractions, but that's for another post...)

[Momof3]

I love how *fun* multiplication is when we first encountered it! :) (I do have to wonder how much longer the fun will last... Maybe until we start drilling tables?)