How to Introduce Multiplication to 2nd Graders
When I first learned that I had to teach second graders multiplication, I was a bit terrified. It seems like such a complex skill for young students, but in reality the foundations for multiplication are quite simple.
Having taught both second and third grade math, I understand the importance of building a solid foundation in second grade so students can master multiplication in third grade. In this blog post I’ll show you how to teach multiplication to second graders using:
Skip Counting
Arrays
Equal Groups
Repeated Addition
This is the exact order that I used to introduce my second graders to multiplication, and it worked incredibly well! Let’s jump right in.
Skip Counting
Do you remember lining up in first grade and having to skip count down the line by twos, fives and tens? Skip counting is a skill second graders should have the moment they enter your classroom. It’s a great way to introduce multiplication because it gets students to think about counting in groups instead of one by one.
Arrays
After skip counting, introduce students to arrays. Start by reviewing what rows and columns are, and then help students understand that when objects are arranged in rows and columns, it’s called an array. Demonstrate to students that they can skip count the number of items in each array to quickly determine the total.
Equal Groups
Teaching equal groups is important because students need to be able to match multiplication equations with the correct representation. They need to understand that 3 equal groups of 5 looks different than 5 equal groups of 3 even though the products are both 15.
Repeated Addition
Finally, it’s time to introduce repeated addition. Students in second grade will need to use skip counting and repeated addition in order to solve multiplication equations. In third grade, they learn strategies for remembering facts since the factors get larger and larger.
As you can see second grade multiplication isn’t all that scary. It incorporates a lot of different visual representations, so by the time students enter third grade they have a solid understanding of what multiplication really means.
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