Dividing and Multiplying - Lesson 4: Scaling Problems

They will learn how to multiply three single-digit numbers together mentally, identify factor pairs, and solve both scaling and correspondence problems.

This five-lesson scheme comes with everything you need, including detailed lesson plans, printable resources and lesson slides.

How well does your class know their multiplication and division facts? In this first lesson, children practise their skills of quick recall. During the teaching input, they work in pairs or groups to identify number sentences which prove that a given statement is either true or false. In their independent activities, children apply their quick recall skills to play games or solve puzzles.

In this lesson, children explore the different ways in which three digits can be multiplied together. The lesson begins with an interactive game. Children then discuss their strategies for working out each step of the calculations they made during the game. They move on to practising using the partitioning and recombining method to mentally multiply three single-digit numbers. In their independent activities, children multiply three given digits together to find the product, or in the alternative activity, they find the three digits that multiply together to make a given product.

What is a factor? What is a factor pair? Children use their knowledge of multiplication and division facts to generate factor pairs for different given numbers. They develop their understanding of factor pairs by playing a class game of bingo, before applying their knowledge in their independent activities, where they attempt to win points by finding as many factor pairs as possible for a given number within a time limit. In the alternative activity, children decide whether statements concerning factor pairs are true or false, and provide evidence for their opinions.

In this lesson, children learn how to use their multiplication and division knowledge in order to solve problems which involve scaling up and scaling down. They first look at a range of different problems as a class before moving on to their independent work, where they apply this understanding to solve clues to identify the winner of a scavenger hunt. In the alternative activity, children determine the different amounts of items in picnic baskets according to the size of the group of people.

In this final lesson, children learn how to solve correspondence problems using their knowledge of multiplication and division. As a class, they discuss and solve questions worded in a variety of different ways, before solving similar problems in their independent activities.