{"id":2221,"date":"2022-12-20T17:07:22","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T22:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theteachingrabbit.com\/home\/?p=2221"},"modified":"2026-03-20T09:41:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T13:41:39","slug":"multiplication-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theteachingrabbit.com\/home\/multiplication-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"Multiplication Strategies and How to Teach Them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Are you teaching your students to multiply? Looking for some ideas?\u00a0 Memorizing facts is helpful, but understanding what they are actually doing is important.\u00a0 These multiplication strategies may help them grasp the concepts and become building blocks for future math lessons.<\/p>\n

Multiplication Using Equal Groups<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This strategy is simply making equal groups of objects to help visualize the problem and solution.\u00a0 Students can use manipulatives or drawings to show equal groups.<\/p>\n

\"multiplication<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let’s do an example!<\/p>\n

\"multiplication<\/a><\/p>\n

In this question, we are trying to find the product.\u00a0 The number of groups and the number of objects in each group are provided.\u00a0 We can draw the students and the gumballs to help us visualize this problem.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So we have drawn 4 students and given them each an equal group of 6 gumballs.\u00a0 If we now count up the total number of gumballs, we will find our answer.<\/p>\n

We can teach students to think of it as:<\/p>\n

Number of Groups<\/strong> X Number of Objects in Each Group<\/strong><\/p>\n

4 groups X 6 gumballs = 24 gumballs<\/p>\n

For practice, write a simple question on the board and have students solve it using cubes at their desks or drawings in their math notebooks.<\/p>\n

Multiplication Using Arrays<\/h2>\n

Another way to visualize a multiplication problem is to use arrays.\u00a0 This involves arranging the objects into rows and columns.\u00a0 Ask your students to think of some things that are already in arrays (muffin tins, egg cartons, seats in the classroom, etc.).\u00a0 Ask them what they think the benefits are.\u00a0 Does it make it easier to count them than if all the objects were scattered?<\/p>\n

\"arrays<\/a><\/p>\n

Let’s use the same question we did before.\u00a0 Four students bought 6 gumballs each.\u00a0 Draw an array.<\/p>\n

Students would create an arrangement of 4 rows and 6 columns to represent this problem.<\/p>\n

\"arrays\"<\/p>\n

They can easily see that 4 X 6 = 24<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Have students keep solving word problems using arrays until they feel confident with this skill.<\/p>\n

You can set up a math center with cards like these:<\/a><\/p>\n

\"arrays<\/a><\/p>\n

Students can draw flowers or just use simple shapes.<\/p>\n

Multiplication as Repeated Addition<\/h2>\n

Teaching multiplication as repeated addition is when you add the same number multiple times.\u00a0 To solve 4 X 6 we could add 4 six times or 6 four times as shown below.<\/p>\n

4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 24<\/h2>\n

OR<\/p>\n

6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 24<\/h2>\n

Students can add these numbers together on a number line, using objects, or in their heads.\u00a0 This is where knowing to skip count comes in handy.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here is an example of a question you can try with your class.\u00a0 Draw 3 groups of 8 objects on the board and ask them to write both the repeated addition and multiplication sentences.<\/p>\n

\"multiplication<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For Extra Practice<\/h2>\n

Here are some fun Secret Code Puzzles<\/a> that students can use to practice multiplication and division facts!<\/p>\n

\"secret<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You may also like Multiplication Word Problems, Worksheets & Task Cards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"multiplication<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you’re looking for more hands on math activities, check out this blog post\u00a0about Math Centers!<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"multiplication_division_grade_1\"\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/figure>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"multiplication-division-activities\"\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/figure>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"grade\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/figure>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"arrays\"\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/figure>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"grade_3_multiplication_division\"\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Are you teaching your students to multiply? Looking for some ideas?\u00a0 Memorizing facts is helpful, but understanding what they are actually doing is important.\u00a0 These […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[97],"class_list":["post-2221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-math","tag-multiplication"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theteachingrabbit.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/multiplication-strategies.png?fit=2661%2C1370","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theteachingrabbit.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theteachingrabbit.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theteachingrabbit.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theteachingrabbit.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theteachingrabbit.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2221"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"http:\/\/www.theteachingrabbit.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3764,"href":"http:\/\/www.theteachingrabbit.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221\/revisions\/3764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theteachingrabbit.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theteachingrabbit.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theteachingrabbit.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theteachingrabbit.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}