In What Order Should We Teach Multiplication Facts? Does it Matter?

I received an e-mail from a fantastic third grade teacher just now. I have answered this question for teachers, students, and parents many times over the years and thought perhaps it might be worthwhile to share with all you Brassfield parents who might want to be in the know. Check out my response below...

Great questions! And YES, it matters!

First, teach the multliplicative property of zero. Go ahead and call it this because they will be hearing it more and more in the coming years. Also, it will make them feel successful because every answer will be ZERO. Hooray!

Next, teach them about the identity property of multiplication, which states that any number times 1 is that number. Again, this is an easy win for kids because they will feel so successful.

You'll want to attack the 2s next. It's just doubling, and kids love it. Take a minute or two to look at the PATTERNS formed by doubles. Kids love that. (The products will form 2, 4,6, 8...WHY?)

Now go straight to the 10s. Sounds weird, right? This is the perfect opportunity to bust out the Base Ten blocks and introduce kids to the POWER OF TEN. They need to discover on their own that multiplying any number by ten produces a product that is the initial factor with a zero at the end.

Next, go for 5s. You can anchor this to counting by 5s AND being half the product of the 10s, which they have already learned. So, take 8 x 5. That's just 8 x 10 (80) chopped in half (40).

After that you'll want to introduce the 4s. The coolest thing about the 4s table is that it's the 2s table twice. For example, what is 6x4? Well, it's 6 x 2 doubled, or 12 x 2 = 24. Double twice!

You can probably guess what comes next: the 8s. Students will take what they know from the 4s and double it. OR, they can double thrice. For example, 3 x 8 is really (3 x 2) +  (3 x 2) + (3 x 2). Double, Double, Double.

Take on the 3's table next. Three is fun, because it's double plus one. Let's look at 7 x 3. The double of 7 is 14. Tack on another 7 for 21.

The 6's come next. Triple, then double OR double, then triple. 7 x 6 would look like this (7 x 3) x 2. Triple 7 is 21 and double 21 is 42. Voila!

Now, onto the 9's. I love the idea of promoting flexible thinking by relating the 9's right back to the 10's. For example, 6 x 9 is really just 6 x 10 with one less 6. 60-6 =54. There is a trick the kids like to do with their hands, as well, that I'm sure you know. Another possibility is multiplying the number by 5, then 4, and adding them together. Not may favorite, but it works for some.

Save the 7's for last. Yuck. 

I hope this has helped. Students who struggle can benefit greatly by creating the arrays using color tiles to make the connection to area AND to skip counting.

Mathematically yours,

Larissa