Goal:
Goal:
Goal: Learn about multiplication word problems.
We have 4 rows of 2 blocks. How many blocks did we move in all?
This is a word problem. A word problem tells us a story using numbers and words. It has key words that tell us what to do. Here are some of the key words that tell us to multiply:
Multiplication Key Words
each
by
of
per
in all
total
We will use arrays and repeated addition to help us find the total number.
factor times factor = product. blank + blank + blank + blank = sum. four blanks grouped and labeled repeated addends. 2 by 4 array of red dots labeled array.
The repeated addition sentence has repeated addends and a sum. The sum will be the same number as the product of the multiplication sentence that goes with the array. The multiplication sentence has two factors that equal the product. Let’s read this word problem and use our tools to solve!
4 and 2 are the numbers in the problem.
We have 4 rows of 2 blocks. How many blocks did we move in all?
How do we use the numbers? The problem says there are “4 rows of 2 blocks.” We can create an array that has 4 rows of 2 dots! Click 
to see!
We have a 4 by 2 array to help us find the total number of blocks.
What repeated addition sentence and multiplication sentence match this array? We know there are 4 rows. There are 2 dots in each row.
What repeated addition sentence can we use?
2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = ?
The array has 4 rows. We have 4 addends. There are 2 dots in each row. 2 is the repeated addend.
What multiplication sentence can we use?
4 x 2 = ?
The array has 4 rows. We have 4 groups. There are 2 dots in each row. 2 is the number in each group.
We need to find the total number of blocks.
2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = ?
4 x 2 = ?
Let’s use the array. We will add each group of 2.
What is 2 plus 2?
2 + 2 = 4
What is 4 plus 2?
4 + 2 = 6
What is 6 plus 2?
6 + 2 = 8
We can also skip count! We know how to skip count by 2s, 5s, and 10s!
2
4
6
8
We added the groups of dots to get 8!
2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = ?
4 x 2 = ?
Now let’s try using the repeated addition sentence. We will add each group of 2.
What is 2 plus 2?
What is 4 plus 2?
What is 6 plus 2?
The sum of the repeated addition sentence is 8.
2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 8
4 x 2 = ?
What is the product? Click to see!
We can use arrays and repeated addition to help us solve multiplication word problems!