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Week 3 – Multiplication Foundations

Welcome to Multiplication Foundations!! This research based program was developed to help your student or child understand multiplication concepts. This program is developmentally appropriate for children ages 6 and older.


Skipping weeks is highly discouraged. Many children already know the concepts covered in this week’s lesson. However, it is critical that they experience these activities, so that the concepts become more firmly rooted in their brains.

Repetition Is Key
Each time your student or child repeats this activity, the pathways in the brain that form understanding for these concepts, become larger and stronger. Your child may already know how to count, but this is not the only goal. Skipping weeks will decrease your child’s opportunity for this important repetition.

Week 3:
Time: 20 minutes each day for five days.

Instructions: Explain to the student that they are going to play a game with baskets of apples. Have the students follow along, and answer the questions in the game above.

Purpose: Students will begin to count the number of apples in each basket. Comprehension of grouping concepts will be strengthened. Basic comprehension of how numbers relate to one another in the multiplication process will be strengthened.

Transferring Concepts:
Parents and teachers should help students understand that the apples are being grouped into each basket, and that the first number in the multiplication problem represents the number of baskets, while the second number represents the number of apples.

At this time we are not concerned with coming up with a solution to the multiplication problem. Even if you feel students are ready to do so. Emphasis should only be placed on where the first and second number of the multiplication problem are coming from. Ie, the basket, and total number of apples in each basket. DO NOT ASK STUDENTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM AT THIS STAGE.

Use Math Vocabulary:
Parents and teachers should not be afraid to use math vocabulary with the student. Words such as “multiply”, “times”, and “equals”, will help prepare the child for success with math.

Encourage students to say the following or a similar sentence out loud with each new math problem. “seven times two equals “. Replace the numbers in this sentence with the actual numbers for each problem.

Suggested Follow-Up:
Students should not be allowed to forget the concepts learned. Children should be encouraged to continually practice by using the math flash cards provided on this website.