Times Tables: 5, 2, 3, and 4

Multiplication expresses how many equal groups there are, and the tables are chanted in the order 5, 2, 3 and 4. Calculation asks for the product and Fill in the Blank asks for the missing number in a box, and children move back and forth between the tables until each one sticks.

A child who counts up 4, 8, 12 through the four times table skips a step and answers 24 for 4 × 7. An answer short by exactly the size of the table identifies this. In Fill in the Blank, children sometimes copy a number already visible in the expression, writing 3 or 18 for 3 × □ = 18.

The experience of counting squares arranged in a grid, such as 4 by 5, in Comparing Area connects directly to the idea behind multiplication. That experience is developed here into reciting and memorizing the 5, 2, 3 and 4 times tables aloud, and tables that stick lead on to Times Tables: 6 to 9 and 1.