Modeling multiplication with rows and columns
http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L318
A lesson plan for grades 3–4 Mathematics
This lesson, the fourth of an eight-part unit from Illuminations titled “Multiplying Meanings,” encourages students to explore the array model of multiplication. Students make arrays with counters and then create a second concrete example of the array model using toothpicks. They also write problems which involve multiplication. A children’s book is suggested to connect multiplication with children’s literature.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Mathematics (2004)
Grade 3
- Goal 1: Number and Operations - The learner will model, identify, and compute with whole numbers through 9,999.
- Objective 1.03: Develop fluency with multiplication from 1x1 to 12x12 and division up to two-digit by one-digit numbers using:
- Strategies for multiplying and dividing numbers.
- Estimation of products and quotients in appropriate situations.
- Relationships between operations.
- Objective 1.03: Develop fluency with multiplication from 1x1 to 12x12 and division up to two-digit by one-digit numbers using:
Grade 4
- Goal 1: Number and Operations - The learner will read, write, model, and compute with non-negative rational numbers.
- Objective 1.02: Develop fluency with multiplication and division:
- Two-digit by two-digit multiplication (larger numbers with calculator).
- Up to three-digit by two-digit division (larger numbers with calculator).
- Strategies for multiplying and dividing numbers.
- Estimation of products and quotients in appropriate situations.
- Relationships between operations.
- Objective 1.02: Develop fluency with multiplication and division:


