St Gabriel's School Newsletter

Learning & Teaching

Maths 

Multiplication and Division 

In maths the children are  learning about multiplication and division. Understanding multiplication lays a crucial foundation for higher mathematical concepts, and there are various strategies the children have been exploring in their hubs that you can reinforce at home. 

 

Multiplication Strategies

Here's a quick guide to the strategies and some tips for practise:

1. Drawing Pictures: Encourage your child to draw pictures to represent multiplication sentences. This visual aid helps them grasp the concept more tangibly.

2. Grouping: Utilise blocks or everyday objects to help your child group items into equal piles. This hands-on approach aids in understanding the concept of equal groups and multiplication as repeated addition.

3. Array: Introduce arrays as a way to visually represent multiplication. By arranging objects in rows and columns, children can see how multiplication works concretely.

4. Number Lines: Number lines aren't just for addition and subtraction! They can also help introduce skip counting, a precursor to multiplication. Encourage your child to count up by the number they're multiplying by, starting from zero.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tips for Strategic Practice:

Foundational Multiplication Facts:

  • Start with the basics: multiplication by 1, 2, 10, and 11.
  • Emphasise understanding rather than rote memorisation.

Mastering 3s, 4s, and 5s:

  • Use doubling and grouping strategies to tackle the 3s and 4s.
  • Utilise halving techniques for the 5s, connecting it to the 10s times table.

Nines Trick:

  • Explore the patterns within the 9s times tables, helping your child understand the relationships between numbers.

Tackling 6s, 8s, and 12s:

  • Employ multiples of 5 and 10 as stepping stones for efficiency.
  • Break down larger multiplication problems into more manageable parts.

Division Strategies:

In division, children have been learning a variety of strategies to efficiently solve problems. Encourage your child to explore equal groups, partitioning, the inverse relationship with multiplication and sharing. These strategies provide a well-rounded understanding of division and strengthen mental maths skills.