3rd Grade

Third grade is when the concept of multiplication is first introduced. Therefore, the tips and tricks are quite basic in nature but are also extremely effective, especially to provide students with a concrete concept. Since students should know by heart products of single digit numbers by the time they pass the third grade, all these common core multiplication strategies for 3rd and 4th graders are designed to do just that. Let’s look through them, shall we?

Equal Groups

Using equal groups is the easiest and simplest way for students to initially grasp what multiplication entails. You can explain the method by using interesting items to make groups of equal numbers. For example, if you have, say gummy bears, assemble five of them in a single group until you have four groups, each containing five gummy bears, so you end up with “4 groups of 5”, which can then be written as “4 x 5”. Then ask your students to count all the gummy bears or add 5 four times, to get the answer 20. Quick and easy!