Multiplication is NOT fact memorization. It is essential that students have a deep and thorough understanding of all that they are doing with numbers when they multiply. Please encourage your children to work on how to solve problems rather than memorizing times tables or math facts. The fluency will come as they begin to see larger numbers as a collection of smaller "compatible" numbers. This will come as they work through a variety of strategies and scenarios.
That being said, I have uploaded the in-class worksheets which we have ALREADY completed. They are there for you as a parent to become familiar with the wording and scenarios which your child is being asked to complete. They are not to be completed at home in addition to classwork. Feel free to write additional problems, or have your child write problems, based on the format of the worksheet questions.
If you would like additional activities, go to our Pearson website and have your child take the 5 question quiz assigned to each lesson. Depending on how well they do on this quiz, they will be assigned a worksheet leveled for them.
Most importantly, find every opportunity you see to point out when multiplication might be useful in solving the problem!
6-1: 3 as a Factor
When multiplying by 3, I encourage kids to think about the problem by "decomposing" the 3 into 2+1. This makes it easier for more difficult problems later on. This way, kids can multiply by 2 mentally, and then add one more group of that number. For example:
3 x 8 = ____ can be decomposed into two problems: 2 x 8 = 16 and 1 x 8 = 8. They then add up the 16 and 8 to find the product of 3 x 8. I have the kids write it on their paper like this:
2 x 8 = 16 + 1 x 8 = 8 ___________ 3 X 8 = 24
You can see how helpful this can be if you had a larger number such as 3 x 125=___
2 x 125 = 250 + 1 x 125 = 125 ____________ 3 x 125 = 375
6-2: 4 as a Factor
When multiplying by 4, I encourage kids to think about the problem by "decomposing" the 4 into 2+2. This makes it easier for more difficult problems later on. This way, kids can multiply by 2 mentally, and then double that fact. For example:
4 x 8 = ____ can be decomposed into two problems: 2 x 8 = 16 and 2 x 8 = 16. They then add up the 16 and 16 to find the product of 4 x 8. I have the kids write it on their paper like this:
2 x 8 = 16 + 2 x 8 = 16 ___________ 4 X 8 = 32
You can see how helpful this can be if you had a larger number such as 4 x 125=___
2 x 125 = 250 + 2 x 125 = 250 ____________ 4 x 125 = 500
6-3: 6 and 7 as Factors
When multiplying by 6 or 7, I encourage kids to think about the problem by "decomposing" the 6 into 5+1 and the 7 into 5+2. This makes it easier for more difficult problems later on. This way, kids can multiply by 5 mentally, and then add either 1 or 2 more groups of the number. For example:
6 x 8 = ____ can be decomposed into two problems: 5 x 8 = 40 and 1 x 8 = 8. They then add up the 40 and 8 to find the product of 5 x 8. I have the kids write it on their paper like this:
5 x 8 = 40 + 1 x 8 = 8 ___________ 6 X 8 = 48
You can see how helpful this can be if you had a larger number such as 6 x 125=___. You may also want to decompose the 125 to make it easier as well.
6 x 100 = 600 + 5 x 25 = 125 1 x 25 = 25 ____________ 6 x 125 = 750
6-4: 8 as a Factor
When multiplying by 8, I encourage kids to think about the problem by "decomposing" the 8 into 4+4 or 2+2+2+2. This makes it easier for more difficult problems later on. This way, kids can multiply by 2 mentally, and then double their answer twice. They could also decompose the 8 into 5+2+1. For example:
8 x 8 = ____ can be decomposed into two problems: 5 x 8 = 40, 2 x 8 = 16 and 1 x 8 = 8. They can write this on their paper in several ways:
5 x 8 = 40
2 x 8 = 16 + 1 x 8 = 8 ___________ 8 X 8 = 64
They may also write the problem out as "groups of" and use tree diagrams to bring them together.
When multiplying by 11 or 12, I encourage kids to think about the problem by "decomposing" the 11 into 10+1 and the 12 into 10+2. This makes it easier for more difficult problems later on. This way, kids can multiply by 10 mentally, and then add either 1 or 2 more groups of the number. With 11, they may also recognize the pattern that any one digit number multiplied by 11, is just "double digits" (8 x 11= 88) For example:
12 x 8 = ____ can be decomposed into two problems: 10 x 8 = 80 and 2 x 8 = 16. They then add up the 80 and 16 to find the product of 12 x 8. I have the kids write it on their paper like this:
10 x 8 = 80 + 2 x 8 = 16 ___________ 12 X 8 = 96
6-6: Multiplying with 3 Factors
When multiplying with 3 factors, students must choose which two numbers would be the easiest for them to multiply first. Usually this is going to be a "friendly" or "compatible" number such as 2, 5, or 10. Other times, it is best to save the "friendly" number for the last factor.
2 x 3 x 4 = 2 x 3 x 4 = 2 x (3 x 4)= (2 x 3) x 4 = 2 x (12) = 24 (6) x 4 = 24