Are you seeking ideas on how to teach multiplication tables?

Mastering multiplication facts can be a tricky hurdle for students in the upper elementary grades. The patterns are less obvious, and the numbers are larger, making those math timed tests feel like an insurmountable task. Help your students learn their multiplication times tables by providing multiple strategies to help them understand the relationships of these difficult numbers. Teaching multiplication strategies is all about using the best resources and ideas available. Multiplication charts, mnemonic tricks, and other multiplication strategies can be effective, and they are often part of a teacher’s math toolkit. Here are some proven multiplication strategy approaches to use in your class.

Basic Multiplication Strategies

Begin your unit by introducing four strategies of multiplication:

Commutative Property

Associative Property

Distributive Property

Known Equation

Download this free multiplication unit from Math Fundamentals: Multiplying Fluency within 100 for step-by-step models and instructions for understanding the strategies behind multiplication.

Tricks and Tips

It helps to have several strategies in your multiplication table toolkit because what works for one student often doesn’t make sense to another. Teach many different tricks and strategies throughout your unit and build a toolkit of ideas your students can lean on.

9’s

The nines are one of the most difficult multiplication families to memorize. Check out these strategies to make the process easier.

Mnemonic tricks

6 X 6 = 36
666

6 X 8 = 48
Six and eight went out to skate, and when they came back, they were forty-eight.

7 X 8 = 56 or 8 X 7 = 56
5678

8 X 8 = 64
Eight times eight fell on the floor, pick it up and it’s 64.

7 X 7 = 49
Football: the San Francisco 49ers

Multiplication Strategies Chart

Download this free multiplication chart from Building Math Fluency, Teaching Multiplication Strategies, grades 4–6. Print this chart and share it with students as a reference, or make a poster for your classroom.

Math Resources

Building Math Fluency

Math Fundamentals

Daily Math Practice

For more multiplication lessons, visit our Teachers Pay Teachers Store to purchase individual units:

Building Math Fluency: Multiplication Strategies Grades 4–6 Times 7
Building Math Fluency: Multiplication Strategies Grades 4–6 Times 8
Building Math Fluency: Multiplication Strategies Grades 4–6 Times 9
Building Math Fluency: Multiplication Strategies Grades 4–6 Fact Power Skill Builders

What strategies do you teach to help your students learn their times tables?

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Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.