Multiplication Arrays and Lego

The joys of Sunday when you are teacher...I spent about 30 minutes sorting through my son's old Lego, pulling out the flat pieces to use in class this week.

​What have we done with them? We are working on arrays. We've spent a couple of weeks focusing on picturing multiplication equations as 'groups of' the same size. At the end of last week, we started picturing multiplication equations as arrays.

​So on Saturday, I was having a look on Pinterest (don't we all?), to see what ideas I could find to reinforce this idea.

Pinterest led me to The Star Spangled Planner teacher's blog - particularly this post (it's well worth a look if you are currently teaching multiplication):

http://www.starrspangledplanner.com/2014/12/10-multiplication-center-ideas.html?m=1

​Among many great ideas, there was using Lego blocks to create and solve arrays. My class has really enjoyed this, and it has been the perfect self-differentiating activity. I have some kids who are struggling with the idea of 2 x 4, while at the same time I have a couple of kiddos who are quite happily multiplying double digit numbers (crazy for P3, right?). But these Lego arrays have been good - the kids are able to create easy or hard arrays and solve them - it's up to them.

​So here are the results of today's work in my 3 different groups:

This is my group who finds multiplication the trickiest. Most went for the very straightforward bricks, although I did have a couple of 2 x 17 type problems (and I know which kiddo needs to remember to put in an equal sign instead of another multiplication symbol). You can see one bigger green square block - it was 8 x 8. We came close, but needed a bit of support to figure it out. But I loved the fact that this kid was able (and wanted) to challenge himself this way.

 This group was a bit more adventurous, although you can definitely see a few wrong answers in there! But they were challenging themselves, which is great to see. I helped one person figure out 16 x 8, and several others then jumped on that particular bandwagon.

This last picture is from my kiddos who are largely getting the hang of multiplication quite well. Most of this group was out with SfL for a 'challenge' maths session, so they only had a few minutes right at the end to come up with these equations. These pictures show the challenge of teaching, don't they? A huge spread of understanding between the different groups.

​By the last group, I realised I needed to get them to use black markers, so I could easily read their equations in my pictures. Tomorrow, this will be an independent station, so I've prepared a simple sheet for them to paste into their jotters, so they can write down (and be held accountable for!) the Lego equations they solve. If you'd like to use this idea, click on the picture below to get your own Lego equations sheet (I've copied it in greyscale, rather than colour).