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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

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http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L325

A lesson plan for grades 3–4 Mathematics

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Students use a web-based calculator to create and compare counting patterns using the constant function feature of the calculator. Making connections between multiple representations of counting patterns reinforces students understanding of this important idea and helps them recall these patterns as multiplication facts. Illuminations provides resources for completing this activity. After students skip count their multiplication tables, they explore a web resource that focuses on number relationships and properties. Then, students play a number card game and participate in a class discussion about multiplication tables.

Students will:

  • Skip count by twos, threes, fives, and tens.
  • Find products by adding equal sets.
  • Explore commutativity.
  • Practice the multiplication facts.
  • Record products on a multiplication chart.

NCTM Standards and Expectations covered in this lesson include:

  • Recognizing equivalent representations for the same number and generate them by decomposing and composing numbers.
  • Identifying and using relationships between operations, such as division as the inverse of multiplication, to solve problems.
  • Understanding various meanings of multiplication and division.

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 1.04: Use basic properties (identity, commutative, associative, order of operations) for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

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.