Second Grade: An Introduction to Multiplication (and a fun game to try at home!)

We recently introduced multiplication to the second graders, which is a concept they generally have some idea of and are able to grasp intuitively.  When I initially asked the class what they knew about multiplication, they were able to give some examples of multiplication number sentences that they knew, proudly stating, "4x5=20" or "2x4=8."  Through hands on practice with multiplication, the students quickly learn that multiplication is so much more than "times," and expand their understanding to include the idea of equal groups as being an essential part of multiplication.  In fact at the beginning of of exploration of multiplication we say, "4 groups of 5" instead of, "4 times 5" when reading a problem aloud so that we can reinforce the understanding of multiplication as "groups of."

Our initial multiplication activity was a game called "Circles and Stars," which second grade families have by now seen for homework.  In this game a player rolls a 6-sided dice and draws the number of circles that corresponds with the number rolled.  He or she then rolls the die again and draws that many stars in each circle.  After the student figures out how many stars there are in total, he or she writes the corresponding multiplication sentence.  This activity provides a strong visual representation of multiplication as repeated addition.  

Today in our multiplication study, students took on the role of zookeeper and found out how much food they would need to order for the animals for a three day weekend.  They had order slips based on what they would need for one day and then worked to calculate how much they would need for three days.  The students used a variety of strategies, including connecting cubes, base ten blocks and mentally breaking numbers apart into tens and ones to add them more easily.  

After finishing the zoo produce problems, some of the students learned a game called Spiral Multiplication, a game that I just recently learned.  They were eager to test out the new game and they really impressed me with their ability to use mental computation to solve a variety of multiplication problems quickly and accurately.  If you have a deck of cards and one die, you can give this game a try at home.  (See the directions below)

Spiral Multiplication Directions (For two or more players)

1. Use the deck of cards to make a spiral game board starting from the center (take out all of the face cards, but leave in the Aces, those will count for ones.) 

2. Place your game pieces at the start. 

3. Player 1 rolls the die.  Player 1 multiplies the number on the die by the card the game piece is on. If they are correct, they move the number of spaces the die shows. If they are incorrect, they do not get to move. 

4.  Take turns and repeat until someone reaches the end.