Monday, November 9, 2015

Multiplication Number Talk

My 3rd graders were starting to do 2x1 multiplication, so I decided before we even had a lesson I wanted to see what they would do with the problem.  So, I gave them 18x6 to see what would happen.  As you can see below, there were several answers with some errors.  However, I could see that they understood multiplication.


We did our lesson on different strategies in class, and as soon as class was almost over I had a student ask if they could do another Number Talk because they thought they would do much better.  So, I planned this...




We did this Number Talk two days later and this is how it turned out.



I could really tell that they had a better understanding of the numbers and were using some more efficient strategies.  The student that was justifying 166 used the standard algorithm, but changed their thinking as they saw it written on the board.

Right now, I am continuing with some 2x1 problems, but I hope to move them into some 2x2 because they are struggling with those problems in class.  I hope it will help them better understand 2x2 multiplication as we move forward.








1 comment:

  1. Thank you for sharing! I'm glad you're sticking with 2-digit by 1-digit problems a bit longer to give them more time to get solid footing before moving on to 2-digit by 2-digit problems. I love that one of your students requested another number talk because they wanted to try again. Could this be your work on growth mindset paying off? I remember that was one of your goals before school started.

    I look forward to hearing how your students do with 2-digit by 2-digit multiplication. Thanks again for sharing!

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