Third grade is the year of multiplication. Though it was most likely introduced to kids in second grade, third grade is when kids are tasked with mastering their times tables and developing a stronger understanding of this key operation. This guided lesson in understanding multiplication can help give third graders a leg up. For even more practice, consider downloading the recommended multiplication worksheets that accompany the lesson.
This resource gives your students practice with multiplication and division word problems. This worksheet can be used with the Stepping Through Multiplication & Division Word Problems lesson.
Count up the shapes to solve each multiplication equation! This worksheet is a great way to help a visual learner nail down the concept of multiplication.
If your child is beginning to learn how to multiply, start them off easy with single digit multiplication activities that involve objects they love. Revisit old nursery stories, draw in playtime friends, or use family members as stand-ins in examples to demonstrate how or why an object needs to be multiplied. Once a child is motivated to learn, they’ll be excited to continue practicing division, multiplication, and other math skills.
Once your students have become comfortable with additional and subtraction, it will be time to introduce them to multiplication, starting with single digit multiplication. At its root, multiplication is a way to determine a total number based on a number of groups and the number contained in each group. Understanding this now will help them when they move on to multi-digit multiplication
problems.
While memorization is key to single digit multiplication, you must ensure your students understand the underlying concepts. A multiplication problem consists of two number, each called a factor. As with an addition problem, the order of the factors does not impact the answer or the product.
One of the factors represents a number of groups. The other factor is the number contained within each group. You can demonstrate this to your students with real world items. Get 3 boxes of crayons. If each box has 8 crayons, how many crayons are there total. Show your students the addition problem they would solve for the answer:
8 + 8 + 8
Now explain that since there are three 8’s in the problem, it could be written as a multiplication problem:
8 x 3
This will demonstrate that there are three groups of eight so your student will understand that one factor represents the number of groups. Explain that the reason this problem is read at “8 times 3” is that we’re determining the result of “8, 3 times.”
Once your student understands the core concepts behind multiplication, you may be able to reinforce this and begin working towards memorization using the resources provided by Education.com above.