Grade 3 Math Blog: Exploring Multiplication & Division with Arrays! ➕➗

This week in Grade 3, students focused on multiplication and division with a special focus on arrays! Arrays help students visually organize numbers into rows and columns, making it easier to understand how multiplication and division work together.

One of our favourite activities this week was an Around the School Array Hunt! Students searched the classroom and school for real-life arrays and recorded the multiplication or division facts they discovered. From floor tiles to windows and classroom objects, students found many examples of equal rows and columns all around them. After finding each array, students determined the total number of objects and wrote matching multiplication and division equations.

Through hands-on activities, students explored how multiplication can represent equal groups, arrays, and area models. They also investigated different strategies for solving multiplication and division problems and discussed how numbers can be organized in different ways.

Students learned that when multiplying, the order of the factors does not change the product. For example, 3 × 4 and 4 × 3 both equal 12. This is called the commutative property of multiplication. Students also discovered that division works differently — changing the order of the numbers changes the quotient.

Using drawings, manipulatives, and real-world examples helped students build a strong understanding of how multiplication and division are connected.


Math Learning Outcomes
This learning connects to multiplication and division concepts, including:

  • Visualize and model products and quotients as arrays

  • Multiplication can be represented using equal groups, arrays, and area models

  • Investigate multiplication and division strategies

  • Understand that the order of factors in multiplication does not affect the product (commutative property)

  • Understand that changing the order of numbers in division changes the quotient

  • Use visual representations to solve multiplication and division problems


Student Learning Goals: “I Can” Statements
✔️ I can use an array to model multiplication and division.
✔️ I can identify rows and columns in an array.
✔️ I can use equal groups to solve multiplication problems.
✔️ I can write multiplication and division equations from an array.
✔️ I can explain how multiplication and division are connected.
✔️ I can use strategies to solve multiplication and division problems.


Ask Your Child

  • What is an array?

  • How can arrays help you solve multiplication problems?

  • What arrays did you find during the array hunt?

  • Can you draw an array and write the matching multiplication equation?

  • How are multiplication and division connected?

  • What happens when you switch the numbers in a multiplication equation?

  • What happens when you switch the numbers in a division equation?


Thank you for your continued support as we build strong mathematical thinking through hands-on learning and real-world connections!













Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing moms, grandmas, and caregivers in our Grade 3 community! We hope you have a wonderful weekend celebrating together. 💐

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