Category: Teaching Multiplication

Video — Methods for Teaching Multiplication

Factivation — Teaching Multiplication

Creative Ideas for Using Worksheets

The profession of teaching is all about constantly responding to new challenges. As students evolve in the face of all the new technologies they are subjected to everyday, their demands change. What was once the leading edge in teaching can become passé quickly but one of the constants in the elementary school teaching ranks has always been the worksheet. These are invaluable tools for the elementary school teacher, and in changing times this useful tool has gone pretty much unchanged in its importance. And since mathematics continues as one of the most important subjects for elementary school children to grasp, the fundamentals of the elementary math worksheet and the thought processes behind them deserve a thorough look.

30 Tips for teaching Elementary Math

  1. Small dry erase boards (or white boards from your local home supply store cut into squares) and dry erase markers are great tools when teaching math. You write a problem out on the board and have all of your students copy it down and work it out. The first one that lifts their board in the air with the correct answer wins a treat. (Tip: Maybe set a time limit for each problem)

  2. You can create a game show in your classroom with touch light’s (those lights you push on and they turn on) and math problems. Divide your class into two teams (boys versus girls if you can) and each student gets a light. You give out math problems and the student or team that completes the problem first hits their light and their team gets a point (if the problem is right). Offer some type of prize to the winning team.

Creative Ideas for teaching multiplication

Teaching multiplication usually involves students reciting their times facts in a sing-song voice, whether it is one set or multiple sets at a time. Multiplication worksheets are common, and students fill in a new row and column at the beginning of each new set. While both of these methods are effective at teaching students basic multiplication, they have the drawback of causing students to mentally run through tables or silently recite the facts when trying to come up with the answer for a test. By adding creative methods of teaching multiplication, teachers can help students become more adept at recalling multiplication facts.