Math Continuum: Multiplication and Division - Session 1

The session, Math Continuum: Multiplication and Division - Session 1, was presented online on Thursday, Oct 24h.  This online session was presented by Heather Wark (Lakehead University), Tien Ngo, and Denise Ladd(LKDSB Instructional Coaches).  

The continua referenced are:

- Multiplication and Divison Continuum by Dr. Alex Lawson, Lakehead University

Children should learn their number facts. However, they would benefit from
learning these facts by using an increasingly sophisticated series of strategies
rather than by jumping directly to memorization.
- (Lawson, 2016, p. 4)

Strategies help students find an answer even if they forget what was memorized. Discussing math fact strategies focuses attention on number sense, operations, patterns, properties, and other critical number concepts.
- (O’Connell & SanGiovanni, 2011, p. 5)

Strategies included:

• Unitizing
• Modelling composite units and counting by 1
• Counting Rhythmically
• Skip Counting
• Using Repeated Addition

Join us for the next sessions that will dig into the strategies:

Tuesday, November 5 3:45	Addition & Subtraction 1 Online location:  https://zoom.us/j/313562101
Thursday, November 7 3:45	Multiplication & Division 2 Online location: https://zoom.us/j/762357173

Math Strategy: Modeling Composite Units and Counting by Ones

What is Modeling Composite Units and Counting by Ones?:

Math Strategy: directly modelling groups of numbers and counting all by ones
Math strand: Multiplication - Number Sense and Numeration

English:




French:



Overview:
In the early stages of multiplicative thinking, students need to directly model problems in order to further develop their understanding. When using counting by ones, the student will count out the number of objects required in the group and will repeat this process until they have modeled the number of groups required for the problem. Finally, they count all of the objects in all of the groups from 1.


For example, if asked the product of 3 x 5, the student would count out 3 groups of 5.


Finally, they would count all of the objects by ones.


How this supports student learning:
During the early stages of multiplicative learning, it is imperative for students to have multiple opportunities to develop their understanding of the operations. By using manipulatives to represent problems and physically sorting them into groups they are pushing their thinking from 'one to one' correspondence to a 'many to one' correspondence. This in turn will support students with their understanding of the big idea of unitizing (counting groups instead of individual items).


Where to next
A next step is to model and encourage counting rhythmically so students can make the connection between the total number of objects represented in each composite unit.

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