Start Teaching Beginner Multiplication Early.
There are lot's of beginner multiplication math games, "Toss Across" comes to mind first...building towers out of the blocks while counting each piece, as we see above; a four tower and a three tower...skip counting...make up your own...The 45 addends can be a gateway to multiplication but certainly there are lots of different ways to teach multiplication which is after all just adding very quickly. It's just “Fast Addition” as some kids say. “You don't understand anything until you learn it more than one way.” ~Marvin Minsky You can start by doing all the addend pairs, 1+1, 2+2, 3+3, etc and suddenly if you do them in order you have the two's table all the way to 9 x 2 or if you prefer 2 x 9, which is so amazing that some young child will say excitedly “it's the same as 9 + 9!!!” When they see the symbols on paper. Recall that with very young children we don't need paper to teach math and math concepts. When we finally do get to the symbols and paper and pencil, they make sense. Also be sure to teach them syntax...just let them know that we read 9 x 2 as "nine taken two times" that's two nines as opposed to 2 x 9 which is "two taken nine times" that is, nine twos, subtle difference. We can also read it nine times two or nine multiplied by 2. One is a "multiplier" and the other the "multiplicand". More on this elsewhere and certainly this is NOT useful information to a 3 or 4 year old starting beginner multiplication. What is important now is being able to read the expression properly and knowing whether to get out nines or twos. “Twice two makes four seems to me simply a piece of insolence. Twice two makes four is a pert coxcomb who stands with arms akimbo barring your path and spitting. I admit that twice two makes four is an excellent thing, but if we are to give everything its due, twice two makes five is sometimes a very charming thing too.” ~Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
Use FUN Software.
There is a ton of software out there for teaching multiplication. Some better than others. One I particularly like is
Timez Attack
because it's FUN and it teaches 2's through 12's, not just 2 through 9. It's basically just like a lot of other mindless dungeon video games EXCEPT your kids or students will actually LEARN something: how to multiply. Great for those just starting with beginner multiplication all the way up to students who have been having trouble memorizing tables. THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN DRILLS on paper.I enjoyed it, and I have seen students fight over who gets to play it once they have played a little. It comes in a free stripped down version which you can still use to learn 2's through 12's and a pay version which costs all of $39.99. The pay version has A WHOLE lot more and I'd say it's well worth it. Kids will play it...and the more they do they better they will get.
Repetition is the mother of skill and I can't emphasize enough how important knowing the multiplication tables are. Look at these screen shots it's just like a lot of other video games your students play and learn NOTHING. This will teach them the all important skill of multiplication and they have FUN doing it. Just another arrow in your quiver.No one technique is best, use repetition and variety...blocks, songs, vids...software. This is aimed at those starting beginner multiplication but I'd say it's good up to about ages 13 or 14 but older students could have fun with it if you adjust their attitude first. They make this claim: "Proven to teach TOTAL mastery to average pre-3rd graders in just 10 hours." I believe it..again if you disagree it comes with a money back guarantee. I had fun with it...and I have seen students play and play. Meantime they learn and learn and learn. This can actually be used as a reward for doing homework..." You can play Timez Attack AFTER you get all your work done..."
VAK(Visual Auditory Kinesthetic)When they are young the emphasis is on the "K". We will build fine motor skills while learning... For very young students fingers work well for beginner multiplication. Make sure they use both hands. There are a host of reasons for this not the leaste of which is whole brain learning. You can go from 1x2 all the way to 5x2 using the student's hands and all the way to 10x2 using your hands and the student's. Be sure to stop and relate multiplication and fingers to the blocks. We don't want them stuck on their fingers! Show that two five blocks are 10, just like two hands are ten fingers. Be sure to take the time to count all your fingers. Then ask them if they could start at six since they already know one hand is five. 99% of all beginner multiplication students will start at “one” when presented with two fives, be it blocks or fingers or pennies...even though they “know” that one hand is five or that the five block is of course 5. Teaching them to start at six (or whatever it is) will take time and repetition...guide them gently, because most students will start at one over and over again...even after they have been shown and told many times. It is important that they learn this because it allows them to count more quickly. The faster they count the better because it keeps the sub-conscious mind engaged. The child's brain is a super computer that wants to work very quickly: multiplication is just counting very quickly. Speed is what you need to keep from getting bored but training takes time and infinite patience. First you crawl, then you walk, then you run, then you can sprint. Many math programs try to go from crawling to sprinting and wonder why so many children get left behind. Also note many students will say "three times two" and put up three fingers on one hand and two on the other...explain that three TIMES two is not the same as three PLUS two which is what they have if they have three fingers and two more fingers...they need three on both hands and then show it really is three two times. Two 3's. After two's come five's. Next is not multiplying three's. Next is 5's. Start with two hands, then three hands, then 4 hands... 5, 10, 15, 20...count with a rhythm and a beat...all the way to 100. Use this too: I like to watch all of the Multiplication Rock vids with my sons, we sing along, sometimes in the morning and sometimes at night before bedtime. Takes about 36 minutes to get through all of them...if you include Hero Zero...I usually end with 3 and eight because they are kind of like lullabies, if it's bedtime. Youtube takes the vids down about as fast as I link to them. One day they won't be there at all, you may want to buy them. Meantime... This is a good waking up song along with 5's: We've come a long way, when this first came out it was a tad controversial because the "star" of the cartoon was a black kid. Now a black kid can really grow up to be president...DON'T JUST WATCH: SING ALONG. Next in line for beginner-multiplication comes counting by 10's...which is easy, just listen to the pattern. Basically it's just learning vocabulary...the names for two tens, three tens etc...count out loud several times and then have the students repeat...repetition is the mother of skill. Bust out counting by fives when you are driving in the car so they can hear the pattern...at odd times during the day. Same with counting to 20...you just want them to hear the pattern. Over and over again. An imagination exercise for beginner-multiplication can go something like this: grab nine sixes, (that is nine 6 blocks) in one hand. Keep going; close your eyes...eight takes the two "shuoock” and we have four left over...hey there's a pattern here...5 tens and four. Then "shuoock” four is happy again because it gets a six...6 tens...your imagination is great because you only had 9 sixes... ..6...36...66....96 The pattern is pretty darn obvious when you lay it out like this...isn't it? If you ask older kids to study this chart they may come up with their own rules or tricks for the patterns...let them. I have heard teachers and students alike say "never seen it like that before!" This astounds me. I often just have them close their eyes or put a math bag on and listen to me recite a table to 12. (ie 6x1 thru 6x12) and then ask them if they heard certain numbers yes or no, for example 25 or 49 or 42...this really helps Auditory learners. It also helps ANY student because as they become familiar with the numbers the numbers sound "right". Just like "I are smart!" doesn't sound right, 49 will "sound right" when doing 7's but not when doing 6's.
3's, 6's, 9's: a family Preschool math activities Which one is missing? Skip Count songs from Mortensen More Than Math. Very effective for the very young student...teach right alongside nursery rhymes. "Thus, be it understood, to demonstrate a theorem, it is neither necessary nor even advantageous to know what it means."~Henri Poincare
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