Parent Support for K-5 Math

Fourth Grade Mathematics

Unit 2: Multiplication Division Patterns and Relations

What will your child learn in Unit 1?

In Unit 2, fourth graders will review basic fact reasoning strategies for multiplication and division. They will analyze patterns in products of multiplication facts and review the relationship between multiplication and division. Properties of Multiplication will be reviewed in Unit 2. These properties will help students solve multi-digit multiplication and division problems in Unit 3. The chart below lists the Properties of Multiplication.

In 3rd grade, students learned multiplication as equal groups and repeated addition. In fourth grade, students will be introduced to multiplication as comparison. In multiplicative comparison problems, there are two different sets being compared. The first set contains a certain number of items. The second set contains multiple copies of the first set. Any two factors and their product can be read as a comparison. Students will solve word problems to understand multiplication as comparison. The chart below displays the different types of story problems for multiplication and division. The Compare Problems are the focus for fourth grade.

Furthermore, fourth graders will generate and analyze number patterns. Number patterns allow students to reinforce facts and develop fluency with operations. A pattern is a sequence that repeats the same process over and over. A rule dictates what that process will look like. Students investigate different patterns to find rules, identify features in the patterns, and justify the reason for those features. See example below.

What math strategies will your child use in Unit 2?

There are a variety of strategies that your child learned in third grade to solve multiplication and division basic fact problems. The handout below gives an explanation of the different types of strategies.

Check out the videos below to see some of the math strategies in action.

Some of the explanations are from students from our district. Thank you to the students for volunteering to explain their thinking!

How can you support your child at home to reinforce the concepts taught in Unit 2?

There are several ways to have your child practice the math concepts at home. Try the following activities:

• Have your child create a story problem that involves multiplication or division to solve the problem. Challenge him or her to create different types of story problems.
• Give your child a flashcard that contains a division problem. Have your child find a multiplication flashcard that can be used to solve the division problem. For example, for 12 ÷ 3, your child will find 3 x 4.
• Visit Exploring Number Patterns to have your child explore number patterns.
• Visit Rectangle Division to have your child represent any two-digit number as a product of two numbers.
• Have your child practice Multiplication as Comparison Problems.
• Math Games for Home: Print the handouts to practice concepts through games.