Description
What our Basic Multiplication lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Basic Multiplication introduces the basics of multiplication and allows ample practice for students to represent and solve problems involving multiplication facts through 12. This lesson is for students in 3rd grade and 4th grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the blue box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand. The supplies you will need for this lesson include chips or other counters, flash cards, and the handouts. To prepare for this lesson ahead of time, you can gather the supplies and copy the handouts.
Options for Lesson
Included with this lesson is an “Options for Lesson” section that lists a number of suggestions for activities to add to the lesson or substitutions for the ones already in the lesson. If you’d like to adjust the lesson, you can place more emphasis on multiplication properties based on the level of your class. You can pair students who are stronger at multiplication with students who need more help. You can also have your students create a personal multiplication table using markers or colored pencils, which they can hang up at home.
Teacher Notes
The teacher notes page includes a paragraph with additional guidelines and things to think about as you begin to plan your lesson. It notes that you should adapt the lesson to suit the needs of your class. This page also includes lines that you can use to add your own notes as you’re preparing for this lesson.
BASIC MULTIPLICATION LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Basic Multiplication
The Basic Multiplication lesson plan includes two content pages. The lesson begins by stating that the word multiply means to increase. Multiplication means adding the same numbers over and over. It’s essentially just repeated addition. If you have the equation 3 + 3 = 6, you could have instead multiplied the number 3 two times to get the same answer. It’s a faster method. 3 +3 is the same as 3 x 2 (three times two).
For the equation 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 8, you could instead use 2 x 4 (two times four). In this example, we added the number 2 to itself four times.
The lesson then includes some words and symbols that are related to multiplication. We use the symbol x to indicate that you should multiply a number with another number. We use the word times when we see the symbol x. For example, you would read 4 x 3 as “four times three”.
Factors are the numbers that you multiple together. For the problem 2 x 5, the factors are 2 and 5. The product is the answer for a multiplication problem. For the problem 2 x 3, the product is 6.
Special Multiplication Rules
The lesson then lists some special multiplication rules with examples. The first is that any number multiplied by zero is equal to zero. We call this the Multiplicative Property of Zero. The second is that any number that you multiply by one is equal to the same number. We call this the Identity Property of Multiplication. The third is that when we multiply two numbers together, the answer is the same regardless of the order of the factors. We call this the Commutative Property. The fourth is that when we multiply three or more numbers together, the answer is the same regardless of how the factors are grouped. We call this the Associative Property.
When learning multiplication, the most important step is studying the Multiplication Table (sometimes also called a Times Table). The lesson includes a Multiplication Table along with instructions on how to use it. Once you start to memorize it, you will start to see patterns and shortcuts that will help you!
BASIC MULTIPLICATION LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Basic Multiplication lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.
CREATING PROBLEMS ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
Students will work with a partner to complete the activity. They will use counters, given to them by the teacher, to create multiplication problems. One factor is already given for each problem. The student and their partner will use the counters to solve for a third factor, which they choose.
Students can also work alone if you’d prefer.
FIND THE PRODUCT PRACTICE WORKSHEET
For the practice worksheet, students will find the product for each given multiplication problem.
FLASH CARDS
This lesson includes a sheet that students can use to create flash cards. They can then use the flash cards to practice solving multiplication problems with a partner.
BASIC MULTIPLICATION HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
The homework assignment asks students to solve many practice multiplication problems. They will also answer a few additional questions about multiplication.
Worksheet Answer Keys
This lesson plan includes an answer key for the homework assignment. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits this page. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep this as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
