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Great Resources: Multiplication Mosaics

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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Amazon
  I started the school year with fresh resolutions to help my daughter memorize all her multiplication facts.  I had a nice pack of multiplication flash cards to help us, and we worked very hard for about three weeks - until we got sidetracked by other projects.  I tried a few times to pick back up on the flashcards, but I wasn't able to get them into our school day on a regular basis. 
  So I was very excited (probably more than my daughter) when she unwrapped a package from Grandma and pulled out this book: Multiplication Mosaics by Evelyn Christiansen.  I quickly added it to my lesson plans for the second semester, and we are now merrily working our way through the book - and memorizing math facts at the same time!
  The book is set up as a fill in the blank.  Each problem is set up in the following manner: 8 X __ = 16 (orange).  The student must fill in the missing number.  Then using the multipliers she finds the appropriate box and fills it in with the listed color.  If the student works each problem correctly, the chart quickly becomes a beautiful pattern or picture. 
  There are 30 mosaics in the book, so we don't do one every day - I reserve them for days when we have lighter math lessons.  So far we have made trees and flowers, dinosaurs and trucks.  It is fun to see the pattern emerge as we work each problem.
  The problems are presented in a fairly sequential order, so most of the first patterns are colored in the bottom left of the grid.  As we have progressed, adding problems that take us into the 7 and 8 multiplications facts, the patterns have spread across the grid.
  And the math facts seem to be sticking pretty well too.  Where she often had to stop and calculate problems like 4 X 6, now my daughter fills those in quickly and moves on to the harder problems. I haven't told her this, but she is also getting some good practice plotting items on a graph.
  The publisher, MindWare, also has books for addition, subtraction, division, decimals and Pre-Algebra.  Each book is $12 or $13.  You can find them on Amazon.com or on Fat Brain Toys.  Fat Brain Toys has sales pretty often so keep your eye out for a better price.
  If you or your student are discouraged by flashcards, I highly recommend Multiplication Mosaics.

1 comments:

Martha F. said...

With a blank piece of graph paper and enough time and interest, I wonder if older siblings would enjoy making review sheets for their younger siblings? Or to review, have them draw a simple picture or pattern then have them write out the math facts that go along with it.

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