Friday, December 8, 2017

It's Time to Learn the X 3 Facts

Dear Third Grade Families,

          An important part of the third grade math program involves memorizing multiplication facts.  Third graders are off to a great start with learning the  facts.  Many students have learned the x 0, x 1, x 2, and x 4 facts already.  Way to go!  

         Practicing multiplication facts at home for five to ten minutes each day is an important part of learning the multiplication facts.  At parent/teacher conference time in November, families brought home skip counting activities and paper board games to help students learn the x 2 (Doubles Facts) and x 4 (Double - Doubles Facts). Please continue to keep up the great practice at home!  A few minutes of practice each day can make a big difference.  

         This week students are challenged to learn the x 3 facts.  Students have learned that the x 3 facts are called Doubles Plus One More Set Facts.  The x 3 facts were given this name because you can use  a Double (x 2 fact ) to solve x 3 fact.  If I know 2 x 8 equals 16, then I know that 3 x 8 is just one more set of 8, and 16 + 8 = 24. 

2 x 8 = 16, so
3 x 8 = 16 + 8 = 24.

3 x 8 = (2 x 8) + (1 x 8)
            Double + One More Set of 8

          Please let me know if you have any questions about the Doubles Plus One More Set multiplication strategy.   It is a different way of learning multiplication facts than the way that many of us learned growing up, but the strategies make sense.  The goal is to use known facts to solve unknown facts.  In this case, we are using our knowledge of Doubles to solve the x 3 facts.

          Please help your child to practice the x 2, x 3, and x 4 facts at home by playing the games that were sent home, building multiplication facts out of blocks or cereal, playing multiplication games online at Mrs. Simpson’s blog, or using flashcards.  The games Multiplication Bump x 3 and Multiples of 3 will be sent home with your child on Monday.  Watch for those games in your child's backpack.  
                                                                   
Sincerely,
Keelin M. Simpson

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