I’m so excited to share the first mini-unit of my full-year 3rd Grade Guided Math Curriculum! This mini-unit is part of the 3rd Grade Guided Math Unit 1 and will help you guide your students virtually or in person to solid conceptual understanding of multiplication and its relationship to addition. Multiple representations of multiplication, each concentrated in direct, scaffolded lessons, will get your students warmed up and ready for mastering these important 3rd grade skills.
Mini-Unit 1 includes:
- PowerPoint Lessons: Bright, engaging digital lessons introduce and model each concept, including interactive questions and error analysis tasks to check understanding.
- Math Mat & Task Cards: Task cards guide students through hands-on activities designed to reinforce the concepts introduced in the lessons.
- 2 Practice Pages: Perfect for in-class practice or homework, these activities provide plenty of support, but ask students to start demonstrating their understanding more independently.
- Exit Tickets provide a brief snapshot of student understanding for you at the end of each math block.
3rd Grade Unit 1: Mini-Unit 1 Lessons
- 1.1 Repeated addition with arrays and equal groups
- 1.2 Practice with equal groups
- 1.3 Practice with arrays
- 1.4 Jumps on a number line
Lesson 1: Repeated Addition
One of the biggest challenges in early multiplication instruction is differentiating it from addition, which students have studied exhaustively for 2 or 3 years already. Lesson 1 embraces this challenge by showing students how multiplication IS addition – and how it is different – through multiple opportunities to experience multiplication for themselves.
Lesson 2: Practice with Equal Groups
Equal groups are an excellent opportunity to get hands-on with multiplication! Students will build equal groups, relate them to repeated addition, and start to internalize the process of multiplication before moving on to more abstract representations.
Lesson 3: Practice with Arrays
Arrays are a more formal, geometric type of equal groups. Studied briefly in 2nd grade, arrays make a big comeback in this lesson to reinforce equal groups and explore thinking in “rows” and “columns.” Adding work with arrays to their previous practice with equal groups will help students develop flexible thinking patterns around multiplication concepts, rather than a rigid understanding that only applies to limited representations of multiplication.
Lesson 4: Practice with Number Lines
Number lines are such handy visual models that are both hands-on AND starting to move students toward more a more abstract understanding of multiplication. With less emphasis on counting and more emphasis (and practice) with thinking in groups, this lesson bridges students from basic concepts to starting to learn their multiplication facts.
Included: Editable Lessons
Each lesson includes all of the fundamental information students need for initial instruction in a concept or skill. The lessons are structured and concise, with plenty of examples, opportunities to practice, and error analysis to encourage critical thinking.
Included: Digital Math Mats with Editable Questions
These digital Math Mats are as “hands-on” as it gets with digital learning. Reinforcing the same material as our print versions, these mats allow students to do all of their work using full color drag-and-drop digital pieces and write-in text boxes.
Included: Digital Practice Sheets & Exit Tickets
The Practice Pages for this resource are designed to move students from small-group guided instruction towards independence. The digital version allow students to interact with full-color versions of the activities to demonstrate their learning.
The Exit Tickets are provided to give you, the teacher, a quick formative assessment of individual and class learning for each lesson. Timely data is critical for responsive teaching, intervention decisions, and teacher decision making about next steps for instruction.
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- BUNDLE & SAVE with the Multiplication & Division (Unit 1) Bundle!
- Unit 1 – Mini-Unit 1: Multiplication Concepts
Shop the 3rd Grade Guided Math Unit 1:
- Multiplication & Division Unit 1 Bundle
- Unit 1 – Mini-Unit 1: Multiplication Concepts
- Unit 1 – Mini-Unit 2: Multiplication Facts
- Unit 1 – Mini-Unit 3: Division & Inverse Operations
- Unit 1 – Mini-Unit 4: Division Facts
- Unit 1 – Mini-Unit 5: Strategies & Properties
- Unit 1 – Mini-Unit 6: Word Problems
- Unit 1 – Mini-Unit 7: Multiplying Multiples of 10
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