Let's Build Arrays
A Free Printable Unit for Early Multiplication
This is part of a series of free math resources on my blog. For the full page of freebies, click here or the menu up top
Multiplication. Do you remember being taught the standard algorithm in school?
Your teacher might have told you that multiplying was just like adding a number over and over again (true!). She may then have written all of the multiplication tables on the board and had you memorize them until you could recite each one in seconds. Having that strong grasp of what multiplication really MEANT and LOOKED like didn't take up a whole lot of class time. Or at least that was my 3rd grade experience in the 90s.
Using an array mat to learn about multiplication is such a smart way to teach, and I was so happy to find these for my own kids when I decided to homeschool. In fact, I made this very unit to use with my own youngest daughter next week! I hope you can use it in your homeschool or classroom too!
Every array comes with 12 rows and 12 columns of boxes. This is so that children can learn to multiply up to 12 x 12. You can teach this concept in two ways.
You can write the multiplication equation at the top of the page first, and talk about how multiplying is an easier way of adding things together that are in equal groups. You can then show this by adding a number of dots to so many columns and rows to show the problem visually.
Here's a quick video I made on Instagram showing how:
I truly hope that you and your kids enjoy this freebie!
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