Ray's New Primary Arithmetic · Lesson XXXVIII · Unit 5: Multiplication

38. Equal groups: the swallows

Goal: Your child sees multiplying as adding equal groups, and uses the word "times".

⏱ About 15 minutes · 4 steps

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You'll need

  • The book page (it has a picture of swallows)
  • About 20 small counters: dried beans, buttons, pennies or pebbles (the book suggests marbles, beans or pebbles)

What's in the book

A picture of swallows, with questions such as "How many birds are three times four birds?" and "Each swallow has two wings: how many wings have eight swallows?"

The lesson, step by step

  1. Talk about the picture

    Count the swallows flying and the swallows resting.

  2. Make equal groups

    Make 3 piles of 4 beans.

    SayThree times four. How many? It is 4 and 4 and 4: twelve.

  3. Wings and legs

    Each swallow has 2 wings. For 3 swallows, count 2, 4, 6. Counting by 2s is multiplying by 2.

  4. Book questions

    Work through the questions on the page with counters.

Afterwards

Look for equal groups at home: eggs in a carton, wheels on cars, legs on chairs.

@teddyrookbook GitHub