The 2 times table

Today Amy surprised me by knowing all the "doubles" from 1 +1 till 25 +25. Multiplication with 2 was easy. I then decided to do division ("splitting"). We had done some "splitting" when we went shopping and saw all the sales ads in the shop windows. Amy had to work out how much items would cost when they advertised 50% off or 1/2 price. "How much would you have to pay if the shirt is marked R100 and it is half price?" It seems that she really understands the concept of 5 =1/2: I think it is because we count money very regularly and she knows that R0.50 is 1/2 a Rand. Anyway, today we divided pegs ("sweets") into 2 "party packs" (rows on the pegboard). It took her a while to grasp, but once she did, we both were ecstatic! We did the sums with physical objects and also on paper, but always, always in sequence i.e. 2 + 2 = 4, 3 + 3 = 6 etc or 2/2 = 1, 4/2= 2 etc. After much practice, she was able to do the sums at random. Her "normal" grade 3 friend visited today and lo and behold, she also had to know the 2 times table and do division. This child is quite clever, but today she was totally confused. The jump from doubling and multiplication to division is a big jump - bigger than teachers seem to realise. Her homework division sums were at random and she really struggled until I forced her to first do a couple of division sums in sequence - also with the pegboard. Finally the light dawned and she understood: If you have to divide 24, you start with what you know i.e. that 20 /2 = 10 and then divide the extra 4 i.e. 4 / 2 = 2 and 10 + 2= 12. Oh!!! What joy sums are if you really understand and if you get enough practice. A row of 12 sums are definitely not enough. I love teaching!
Labels: Multiplication tables