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Home : 2008 : Jun : 13

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    By Kermit
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    I usually introduce multiplication around the end of october with skip counting CANDY. I get things that come in 3's (like bottle caps or sweet tarts) or those little baggies with whoppers inside. I have kids work in groups to figure out how many candies altogether in a giant pile (usually about 5 packs of bottle caps). They sometimes skip count or do repeated addition. Rarely do they multiply. We talk about how multiplication is a short cut to adding up the same number many times. We go from there doing arrays like the other people said. I use a Marilyn Burns type approach and like her chopsticks lesson, but I found that the candy is a fun lesson and I tend to do it with my class. We work with the conceptual for a while, and after winter break, I start sending home HW to practice the facts.

    Do this order: 1, 2, 5, 10, 11, 3, 6, 9 , 4, 8, then do reviews, including 7's and 12's. They should have had every problem except 7 x 7 and 12 x 12 by this point.

    I do 2 weeks on each fact except 1's and 10's. For some like 6, and 8 I may go back again for another 2 weeks later. I test only once a week, but send enough HW home that they should be doing about 25 problems a night all week. I don't make them master the fact in a certain amount of time before moving on b/c when I used to do that, I had kids that couldn't get beyond the 3's. I just do the nightly HW and test, get a new fact for 2 weeks, test, etc. By the time they do the mixed review, the kids almost all can do 50 problems in 2 minutes or less, because they have done them for so long! I time them, but they just get a time and try to improve each time. As they have more facts under their belt, naturally they will improve. I don't like class tracking or anything, but our school is pretty non-competitive.

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