Discovery Academy Elementary School

CONTACT US TO REGISTER NOW 👍🏻

Discovery Academy Elementary School
Multiplication Lotto (Educational board game)

Multiplication and division are often used to solve word problems, and kids may get confused in their calculations unless they are confident with these actions. Our common mistake is that we try to explain multiplication and focus our children’s attention on understanding, instead of memorizing. From my personal teaching experience, in order to gain confidence in solving word problems with multiplication and division, students need to memorize multiplication tables first.

How can we help our kids do it without stress, fast and easy?

I have created a board game - a “Multiplication Lotto”. The objective of this game is to practice multiplication - the number to be found is the result of multiplication of two numbers, which are shown on the card. For example, if you pull out a square with the number 20, the child needs to find on the card in front of him two numbers whose product is 20: either 4 x 5, 5 x 4, or even 2 x 10. All answers are considered correct.

Before you can play the game, you will need to make it. You may get your kids involved. Ready? Let the fun begin!
The set includes (see Appendix):

1. General Multiplication Table.
Please print out this general table. If you have a color printer, great! If your printer is black-and-white, no problem! Just make sure that you have this table
cut into 8 pieces. Use these tables one by one, to help your child remember each of them. While the child does not remember, allow them to use the printed
table and give time to find the answer.

2. Squares with Numbers (product).
Please print out this table with small Squares with Numbers (product). Glue this table on a thick piece of cardboard, cut it into squares, and put
these squares in different envelopes. You will have 8 envelopes, each for a number from 2 to 9. The colors help memorize the tables faster, however black and white works anyway.

3. Multiplication Cards.
Print out these cards, glue them on a piece of cardboard and cut them out into 4 separate cards for each color.

4. 4-row Mixed Multiplication Table.
Print out this table. Have it cut into separate 4-row cards.

Setting up:
You have a Multiplication table (General Multiplication Table for the beginning), Squares with Numbers, 2-rows Multiplication Cards for each number and 4-rows Mixed Multiplication Table for confident users). You are all set to play the game.

How to play?

Beginners:

For an easy start, begin with multiplying by 2.
Put a Multiplication Card by 2 in front of your child. Take the envelope with the Squares with Numbers of multiplying by 2. Pull out one of the squares and call the number that is written there. For example, 12.
The child should count or look at the Multiplication Table to find two numbers that, when multiplied, give the result of 12. It will be 2 x 6. As soon as the child finds it, you give him the square to cover 2 x 6 on the Multiplication Card. Pull out the next square and call the number on it.
If the child did not find the answer or answered wrong, keep the square so that you can use it again later.
As soon as the child develops certain confidence in multiplication, challenge them by speeding up the game. You may pull out the squares with numbers faster and faster. Children will really like it.
If you used a color printer, all the numbers are purple on that table. You must have noticed that the answers on the Squares and the Cards for multiplying by 2 are printed in the same color. All cards are color-coded for your convenience. However, don’t tell your child about it – let them figure it out for themselves.
After playing all four Multiplication Cards (multiplication by 2), you will see improvement. However, do not move on to the next number until your child is confident in multiplying by 2. After that you can start with the next number.

Advanced:

When multiplication by all numbers is memorized, you may go to the 4-row Mixed Multiplication Cards.
In this case, all the squares with numbers are put in one envelope and you will randomly pull out one after another and the child will have to find the right place on their card.
To make this game fun for both sides, you may want to switch roles with your child and let them call out numbers.
I played this game with my children, grandchildren and recommended it to many parents. Believe me, it works. This game allows you to introduce multiplication to children of a very young age (6-7 years old). At this stage of learning children simply memorize what they see.
Understanding will come later: only after the child remembers that 2 x 5 gives the same result as 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2, they will be able to comprehend the idea of multiplication in order to get the same result. In other words, children start to understand that multiplication replaces addition and helps get an answer quickly.
So, let’s make our kids’ lives easier and memorize multiplication as early as possible in a fun way!

Sincerely,
Dr. Marina Blumin

It’s incredible how fast our kids have adapted to the change! 💙💙💙 keep studying and stay home 💙💙💙 @ Richmond Hill, Ontario

What to do when the child can’t solve a word problem.

"I don't get it..."

What are the main reasons that prevent the child from calmly solving math problems?
In case you are unsuccessful at helping your children develop methods in solving word problems, then this article is for you.
What should you do if a child cannot solve a simple task? The first thing is to calm down and remember that the difficulty of the task is subjective. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that now you are helping the child. Your child is not stupid and not lazy. You can’t explain, because you can’t find the right words, and the child can’t solve because he didn’t learn the needed skills yet.
In fact, there are common reasons as to why children have difficulty solving word problems. We will identify and learn how to overcome them and provide children with the right skills for success.
The first reason: children do not know how to read the word problem. Why is this so difficult for them?

Reading does not equal comprehension. You will not believe it, but having almost 40 years of teaching experience, I can say that even a 12th-grade student will not be able to do this after the first reading. Even as adults, we often need to read difficult problems multiple times before completely understanding the question. For children, it is difficult to read and process the information simultaneously the first time. The child is focused on reading. To make sure that children understands what the task says after the first reading, ask them to paraphrase. What the word problem is talking about? What do we know? What should we learn?
Therefore, the first step is: ask your child to retell the task in his own words. Very often this is already enough, and with shining eyes, the child will exclaim, “Oh! I understand!”
But what if it is not enough and the child still can’t answer the question? The next strategy is to write out and organize the information provided from the word problem. Teach your child to draw what is written in the task. It has to be done very schematically, with simple figures, just to figure out what is being sold or bought here, at what price, etc. Help the child imagine that it is he is the main hero of the word problem. It is he/she who drives a car, or catches fish, buys food or plant trees. This simple trick helps the child understand what is really happening and what he/she is asking about.
In case you are convinced that the child understands what the task says and yet cannot solve it, then the problem is in misunderstanding of arithmetic operations. Most children grasp the idea of addition and subtraction based on their life experience, but for many, multiplication and division remain an abstract concept. Of course, without experience, it’s hard for you to do this. I hope to share my insight with you through these letters so you are able to support your child more effectively through their academic journey.
In a second letter, I’ll show you how to help the child with multiplication and division. If you have any other questions? You can write it to me directly and I will answer you.
I think that each of us has been in such a situation. What follows next? In the best case, we suppress a sigh and say: think again. You can’t multiply cats by sweets! For a child, in our phrase there are two keywords: you can’t multiply, so you have to divide! And he/she looks into your eyes with hope. Do not be upset or annoyed! You just have to let the child feel the difference between the multiplication and division, just as he feels the difference between addition and subtraction.
Please, remember: it takes time to understand but if we are calm and kind, the process is going much faster.

Sincerely,
Dr. Marina Blumin