Kids like shortcuts, right?! When you are teaching your students let them know that when you multiply you are really just doing a shortcut.
3x4 is really doing a shortcut for 3 groups of 4 things and instead of adding them all one at a time we can remember the totals of these! I do have conceptual multiplication flash cards (for sale on TN, TpT) for 1x6 through 1x12. There are three cards for each multiple! This is what they look like...
Another way I like to teach it is by looking at patterns on a 100 chart.
It was a wise fourth grade teacher of mine who let me take a small group of struggling students and do small tutoring sessions during math time. That is the year I know I wanted to be a teacher. The moments when my classmates understood how the math patterns worked and how multiplication was really about groups was priceless. : )
P.S. Don't forget to enter my blogiversary giveaway from this post!
