They also recover facts by knowledge of the role of zero and one in multiplication, of commutativity, and of the regular patterned behavior of multiples of nines. Practice sets of problems are structured so that use of all these strategies is encouraged and the students are regularly asked to explain the procedures they are using. Each student rolls a die and draws as many circles as the number shown, then rolls again and puts that number of stars in every circle, and then writes a multiplication number sentence and records how many stars there are all together. Each student takes seven turns, and adds the total. The winner is the student with the most stars.
Students use color tiles to show how a given number of candies can be arranged in a rectangular box.
Students play multiplication war, using a deck of cards with kings and queens removed. All of the cards are dealt out. The player closest to the target wins a point. The first player to get 10 points wins the game. Students use computer programs such as Math Workshop to practice multiplication facts.