Math Activity to Teach Repeated Addition: How Long, How Many?

Math Game:  How Long?  How Many?

Math Strand:  Number Sense and Numeration - Multiplication
Math Strategy: Repeated Addition

English:

French:

Materials: 
Cuisenaire rods, one die, How Long? How Many? Recording Sheets ( MK12, one for each player) and pencil

Overview:
This activity can be found in the Alex Lawson’s “What To Look For” book on page 186.
The goal is to cover as many squares as possible on the recording sheet.  Students will roll a die twice, the first roll tells the length of the Cuisenaire rod and the second roll tells how many of these rods are to be used.  The player places the rods on his or her recording sheet to form a rectangle and traces around the outside.  The game encourages modelling of groups by representing the array and writing the total number of squares that the rectangle covers.  For example, four 3-rods would cover 4 x 3 = 12 squares.  The multiplication equation is written inside the array.  This allows students to double check their answers and helps reinforce multiplication facts by connecting them to a visual representation.

How this activity supports student learning?
How Long? How Many? helps students develop early multiplication facts.  This game supports students understanding of unitizing, which is the idea that objects can be simultaneously viewed as individual objects and as a composite units that can be counted.    Throughout the game, students use direct modelling to solve the problems, such as modeling 3 rows of 4, then counting each square.  Moving beyond counting by ones, children may begin to rhythmically count the rows or they may repeatedly count groups on their fingers. This will then lead to more efficient strategies such as skip counting or repeated addition.



Where to next?
Adaptation:  Depending on the needs of your students, new recording sheets can be created by adding or removing rows or columns of squares.

In the Alex Lawson text, What To Look For there are several other games that can be played to support unitizing on page 185 - 189, such as:
• Circles and Stars
• Skip-Counting Race
• Target 75
• Multiplication Change

Share your classroom experiences with us on Instagram and Twitter at @LKelempro #EngageLK!