Multiplication Standards and Practice

Third graders have spent the first month of school studying multiplication. Read to find all that has been accomplished in one months’ time!

Students have marked the multiples of 2, 3, 5, 6, and 10 in hundreds charts. They’ve noticed patterns:

• “The multiples of 2 are all even.”
• “The multiples of 3 are even, odd, even, odd. They make a diagonal.”

Students are learning that 5 x 4 is 5 groups of 4 and 7 x 3 is 7 groups of 3 (or the reverse). Some students are skip counting, using repeated addition, and drawing pictures to find the products. Others are using one fact to help learn another. For example, “5 x 4 is double 5 x 2,”  or 7 x 3 is the same as 7 x 2 which is 14, plus one more 7 –21!”

They have written story problems, or a “context” for the equations. It helps become proficient in the following mathematical standard:

“Interpret products of whole numbers, e.g., interpret 5 x 7 as the total number of objects in 5 groups of 7 objects each. For example, describe a context in which a total number of objects can be expressed as 5 x 7.”

• (for 5 x 4) “There are 5 cars, and each have 4 wheels. How many wheels are there in all?”
• (for 7 x 3) “There are 7 dogs, and each have 3 spots. How many spots are there in all?”

Some contexts are fantastical! Like these:

Another standard is the following: 3.OA.7:

“Fluently multiply and divide within 100. By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.”

Students are practicing with flashcards. They help each other learn strategies – such as the ones mentioned above.

There will be a copy of flashcards kept at school, and cards will be sent home next week, too. Your child will practice multiplication facts on Tuesdays and Thursdays for homework. Students need to be fluent with 2s, 5s, and 10s by mid-November, 3s and 4s by mid-March, and the rest by mid-June.

If you have any strategies to teach your child to understand multiplication facts, please pass them along. Maybe we can name a strategy after you!