Multiplication Stories

For the past couple weeks, we've been focused on multiplication in my math group. There are several great introductory books, including Each Orange Has 8 Slices and Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream. These books emphasize what multiplication actually MEANS. It is not enough that children memorize facts if they are not really clear on what is happening.

We spent some time brainstorming on "things that come in groups". For instance, shoes in a pair, people's eyes, slices of bread on a sandwich all come in 2s. We also learned that multiplication is a faster way to count, but that the groups we are counting need to be equal.

Now, we are ready to make a book. I told the kids that this will be a long project, but once we "publish" it, it will help future groups of beginning multipliers. Starting with the 2s times table, we are illustrating the equation, writing the numbers, and adding words. Here are just a couple of examples from today: