How To Teach P1 Multiplication

[amylqf]

well, buds. Thanks for sharing. That’s a lot of effort you did for you child.

[buds]

You're welcome, amylqf.

Yes, it is a lot of work and
work is still in progress.
My DD1 is an average learner.
She is not the sort to grasp on
to concepts easily without fully
understanding them, especially
for Math. So, yah... i gotta work
harder to motivate her. It is also
great that she has a fantastic teacher
this year who truly inspires and motivates
her to keep improving without giving her so
much stress. I am very thankful for that.

[buds]

[Editor's note: Topic selected & edited for http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/ideas-teaching-multiplications.]


Maths is a very structured subject and also can be very abstract,
difficult to relate to in real life. The structure in Maths is useful in
that it is possible to spot patterns in the numbers and also to
sequence the learning that is to build step-wise through related
areas.

For example, counting is the foundation of number work and it is
impossible to move on to addition and subtraction before counting
and the knowledge of numbers are clear in a child's mind.

The advantage of Maths is that step-wise building can make learning
easy. The disadvantage is that the processes in Maths like multiplication,
do not readily translate into what happens in real life. For the
understanding of what a bus is in real life, an image of a bus comes
into the mind when the word is said. For many young children, the
image of 3X2 may not be as clear as to when it is presented like this.

http://www.postimage.org/

Moving from concrete to abstract
This means from learning using real-life objects and progressing on to
using number symbols. To cement the meanings of symbols, the real-
life representations can be left attached to numbers for a time, as sums
are completed or counting aids used like the number line.

http://www.postimage.org/

Isolating concepts
This refers to helping a child to understand better by making the idea
clear in the child's mind. This means that though interest in the subject
is of huge importance for motivation and concentration, interest material
should not be allowed to confuse a learner. For example, some books for
early learners fail because they allow supposed interest material to clutter
a page and obscure the principle that needs to be taught.

http://www.postimage.org/

Using a toy grasshopper or kangaroo, one can use it to hop along the
pebble-numbered line to make it more interesting. You may ask, \"How
many hops to get to 8?\" If you have the 100-square board/template, you
may ask the child to colour the numbers the grasshopper or kangaroo has
landed on...

http://www.postimage.org/

For readings and tips on more multiplication ideas, the neighbourhood
library would have this book entitled :- Help Your Child Learn the Times
Table For Your 5-7 Year Old Child (Parents' essentials) by Ken Adams.

http://www.postimage.org/

[buds]

Tables Songs Playtime


http://www.postimage.org/

Received some queries on the above.
I chanced upon it at Popular, came in
a plastic transparent box. Less than
$20 thereabouts... after discount.

[buds]

The Montessori Method has specific materials

to teach specific topics in Mathematics. Below
is the Multiplication Board used in Montessori
Mathematics.

Wooden boards that comes with 9 wooden
skittles, a set of number cards 1-10, 2 sets
of beads. Provides concrete experience of
Multiplication tables and division. \t

http://www.postimage.org/

[Mama Leong]

Mayb u can try this method. If learning 2 time table, u write the number 1 to 20. Then highlight 2, 4, 6, 8 etc while teaching him to memorise. Visual + audio can help them to retain better.

[cnimed]

Wow, I’m boggled by the amount of resources out there. For us, it was a natural transition from addition. My kid started with skip-counting on his own for fun. He started with the easiest - 10, then skip-counting by 2 (ie. 2,4, 6, 8 etc). I left him to his own exploration and he went on to other numbers, but usually only up to 5 sets or so.


After a few months of this, I began to challenge him to move up to 10 sets, and to ask him - how many sets of 2/3/4/5 are there in xyz ? After that, I showed him how he could keep track of the sets with his fingers as he skip-count, and (very impt for my little fella) how this can be applied in everyday life.

Throughout this I didn’t use the term "multiply" and I didn’t introduce him to the symbol. They were simply games in the shower stall or in the car. When I finally showed him the symbol recently, I think it took a bit of mental adjustment and getting used to.

[buds]

Oh... but there's more, deminc.


DD1 is really just an average girl who
is the kind who can't get it with only 1
go... much to my exasperation at times,
so it just means i hafta to inspire her in
other ways i can.

[metz]

Hi Buds,


I really like your huge array of learning resources. Have you ever considered lending your used resources for a fee? If you do, let me know. I'll be your first customer.

[en107rn.01056yahoo.01056com.01056sg]

buds is a real pro when it comes to teaching. She's arm with loads of materials. How do you manage to come up with such amazing stuffs?


The way I teach is similar to lambchop1976.

Before I teach my kids multiplication, I first start with simple addition first. Once, my children master addition, I then proceed to explain what multiplication and division are. I taught multiplication and division at the same time. My goal at that time was not to get them to memorize the multiplication tables but more of understanding the concept, the relationship between addition, multiplication and division.
As per the picture below, I bought packets of of M& M chocolate. I prepared bowls for my child to visualize and act out what does it mean when I said/wrote down 2 chocolates to be given to each of our family members. 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 12. Which is also the same as 2 X 6 = 12 or I have 12 chocolates and we need to give each of our family member equally.
Once he understands the concept and knows how to write out the equation, the skipping of numbers comes easily. He knows he needs to count mentally when multiplying. I start with the easiest one first, which is 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 & 10.

I taught my kids multiplication when they were in K2, 6 more months before they embark into the primary school journey.



http://www.postimage.org/