When it comes to math, multiplication is the meat-and-potatoes of 3rd grade. By the end of the school year, the children will know fluently their basic multiplication facts! Those they don't have memorized, they will be able to attack with several mental math strategies they've acquired throughout the year. This week, we have begun to lay the foundational work for understanding what exactly it means to multiply. The visual model most commonly used to conceptualize multiplication is the array. An array is a group of objects arranged in equal rows. The children are taught to think of the multiplication symbol as saying "rows of" or "groups of." For example, 3 x 2 means three rows of two or three groups of two. If a student were trying to figure out 6 x 5, she could use counters to create 6 rows of 5, as in the array pictured above, then count the total. The more hands-on experience the students have with arrays, the better they are able to conceptualize multiplication as the addition of groups. Being able to visualize groups will eventually help them mentally solve multiplication.
Today we played a game to practice creating arrays. Partners took turns rolling a die twice. The first roll told them how many rows they needed. The second told how many counters should be in each row. Then they added to find the total. After 5 turns, they added all of 5 of their totals. Whoever had the highest score won!
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3rd GradeLittle people, big minds. Archives
May 2019
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