This week I want to continue my focus with multiplication. I remember when I was smaller growing up my dad constantly made me learn my multiplication tables. I had to learn them from numbers one through twelve and I found it fun because he made a game out of it. I could be playing with toys or reading a book and he would pop out of nowhere and say, "What’s 5 x 5=?" and I would smile and say twenty-five. Because it was a game, I would try to catch my father as well, but he was always faster at it than me because he was older. Due to him telling me to memorize the multiplication table I was able to strengthen my mental math, wo when a problem was presented to me I was able to produce an answer on the spot rather than writing it down on paper.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.OA.A.1
Interpret products of whole numbers, e.g., interpret 5 × 7 as the total number of objects in 5 groups of 7 objects each. For example, describe a context in which a total number of objects can be expressed as 5 × 7.
I think that this post is terrific, I loved the personal connection and the idea of making it a game. Lately, I have been trying to rely less on calculators and more on my brain so having this as a reference for myself and my daughter and my future students is satisfying. Just today I used the finger trick when trying to figure out 9x6. Maybe you could mention other methods and tools like the finger trick for the multiples of nine. I am excited to see what next weeks topic is!
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