Multiply By Hand

$Multiply By Hand book cover$

Grade 3
3 skill lessons · 2 math-through-reading

Math

Skill lessons

The mathematics the book carries, taught directly. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1Curl one finger, read two places
2Two routes to forty-five
3Nine more each time

Math + reading

Math through the reading

The same book, entered through a sentence it prints. Change one word in the reading and the numbers change with it.

4Eighteen or eighty-one: which side is the tens
5The counts the book left out

Reading

Reading and language lessons

The same book read as a text. What a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how the writing is put together - no mathematics.

6Here's How: The Words That Hold a Set of Directions Together
7You, Your, Our: How This Book Talks Straight at the Reader
8Is Like, Is Really: Three Tries at the Same Explanation
9Handy, Pinky, Represent: What a Glossary Is Supposed to Do
10Did You Know? Wouldn't It Be Great? Sorting the Author's Questions

Both exports carry any edits you have made. Edits are saved in this browser only — nobody else sees them, and they are not sent anywhere.

Skill lessons

3 lessons on the mathematics the book carries. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1. Curl one finger, read two places Representation · Reading a two-digit product off a finger arrangement

The book teaches one procedure and states the rule that makes it readable: the fingers left of the curled finger are the tens and the fingers right of it are the ones. Students run the procedure with their own hands for the second, third and tenth finger, read a two-digit product off the two counts, and write it. What concept means here is that a finger count becomes a number only once a student says which count is tens and which is ones; students who read the sides in the wrong order produce eighty-one where eighteen belongs, and the book's own sentence is the correction.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Spread ten fingers and curl one down (5 min)
Lay both hands flat on the desk, palms down, and number the fingers one to ten from the left pinky. Curl down finger number one and leave every other finger standing. Count the fingers still standing and say the number aloud.
Word preview: curl, pinky
Spread your hands just like the hands in the picture.
Curl down finger number one.
Your left hand pinky.
2. Curl finger two and read the two sides (5 min)
Curl down finger number two and leave the rest standing. Count the fingers standing to the left of the curled finger, then count the fingers standing to the right. Say the two counts in that order, left first, and say what number the two counts make together.
Word preview: left, right
Now curl down finger number two.
You will have one finger sticking up on the left side of the curl down finger.
Count eight fingers sticking up on the right.
3. Name which side is tens and which is ones (5 min)
Put the fingers to the left of the curl on the tens side of the place mat and the fingers to the right on the ones side. Read the book's sentence about the two sides aloud, then say your own sentence naming which count is tens and which is ones. Write the product you read off your hands.
Word preview: represent, tens, ones
The fingers on the left represent the tens place, and the fingers on the right represent the ones place.
4. Run the trick on finger three and check the table (5 min)
Curl down finger number three and read off the tens count and the ones count. Write the product, then find the same product in the book's nine-times column and say whether the two agree. If they disagree, curl again and recount both sides before changing anything you wrote.
Word preview: trick
Try the finger trick with 9 times 3.
Do you have two fingers on the left of the curl down finger in the tens place and seven fingers on the right?

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Curl finger two and read the two sides (5 min)
Curl down finger number two with both hands flat. Count the fingers standing to the left of the curled finger, then the fingers standing to the right. Say the two counts in that order and say what number they make.
Word preview: left, right
You will have one finger sticking up on the left side of the curl down finger.
2. Name which side is tens and which is ones (4 min)
Read the book's sentence about the two sides aloud. Then say your own sentence naming which of your two counts is the tens and which is the ones, and write the product you read off your hands.
Word preview: represent, tens, ones
The fingers on the left represent the tens place, and the fingers on the right represent the ones place.

Three levels

Support: Work only the second finger and keep the place mat under both hands so the two counts land in labelled columns. Count the left side aloud, stop, then count the right side aloud, and say the two numbers in that order before writing anything. The mat carries the place naming so the counting stays the only load.
At Grade: Run the curl on fingers two, three and ten, reading tens and ones off each arrangement and writing the three products. Say aloud for each one which count is tens and which is ones before writing it, and check each product against the book's nine-times column.
Extension: Curl finger ten and find the ones count is nothing at all. Say what the book calls that count and write the product, then say why nine fingers on the left and no fingers on the right reads as ninety rather than as nine.

English learners

Tens and ones is a naming task, not a counting task, and the counting transfers whole: a student who counts fingers fluently in any language already has both numbers before any English is needed. The left-to-right reading order does not transfer; it is a convention of how English writes numbers and not a fact about hands. Give the frame The left side is my ___ and the right side is my ___ and let students rehearse it twice with a partner before writing. Invite students to count both sides in their strongest language first and report the two numbers in English.

Materials

Both hands
Finger-number strip labelled 1 to 10
Two-column place mat labelled tens and ones
Pencil and recording strip
Printed nine-times column card
Word cards: represent, tens place, ones place

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

2. Two routes to forty-five Fluency · Checking a product by adding equal groups

The book poses one unfinished problem and then instructs the reader to answer it twice, first by the finger procedure and then by adding five nines. Students do exactly that and put the two results side by side. What fluency means here is not speed: it is that a student who can reach forty-five by two independent routes has a way to catch an error in either one, and the book supplies both routes and the instruction to use them in that order.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read the problem and predict (4 min)
Read the book's unfinished problem aloud with a partner and say what number you expect the answer to be. Write your prediction on the left side of a folded strip. Do not check it yet.
Word preview: problem
Try this problem.
5 times 9 equals...
2. Get the answer by the finger trick (5 min)
Curl down finger number five with both hands flat and count the fingers standing on each side of the curl. Read the tens count and the ones count in that order and write the product on the middle of your strip. Say aloud which count gave you the four and which gave you the five.
Word preview: multiply
First, multiply 5 times 9 using the finger trick.
3. Get the same answer by adding nines (6 min)
Build five equal piles of nine counters, one pile for each of the five nines. Add the piles together, keeping a running total aloud as each pile joins, and write the sum on the right of your strip. Say how many nines you added and what they came to.
Word preview: sets, add
Next, check your math by adding 5 sets of 9.
9 plus 9 plus 9 plus 9 plus 9 equals 45.
4. Say why the two routes agree (5 min)
Put your two answers side by side and say whether they match. Then tell your partner in one sentence why curling a finger and adding five nines give the same number, using the book's sentence about what multiplying really is as your reason. Point at your five piles while you say it.
Word preview: multiplying
Remember, multiplying is really adding a number over and over.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Get the answer by the finger trick (4 min)
Curl down finger number five and count the fingers standing on each side of the curl. Read the tens count then the ones count and write the product.
Word preview: multiply
First, multiply 5 times 9 using the finger trick.
2. Get the same answer by adding nines (5 min)
Build five equal piles of nine counters and add them, saying the running total aloud as each pile joins. Write the sum beside your first answer and say whether the two agree.
Word preview: sets, add
9 plus 9 plus 9 plus 9 plus 9 equals 45.

Three levels

Support: Build the five piles of nine first and count them all, then run the finger curl second. Having the total already in counters means the finger reading is being confirmed rather than produced, which takes the arithmetic load off the new procedure while leaving the procedure itself to be done.
At Grade: Answer the book's problem by the finger trick, then by adding five nines, write both, and say in one sentence why the two routes agree. Keep the piles in front of you while you say it.
Extension: Run both routes on a second number the book does not work, four nines, and then say which of the two routes you would use if you had to answer twenty such questions and why. Your reason must name what each route costs you in time or in counters.

English learners

Number and operation transfer directly: a student adds nine plus nine identically in any language, and the piles make the total visible without English. The phrase sets of does not transfer; it is doing grouping work here and has no single equivalent across languages. Give the frame I made ___ piles of ___ and I got ___ and rehearse it aloud against the actual piles before the sentence is required. Students may count the piles and keep the running total in their strongest language and report the final number in English.

Materials

Folded prediction strip
Pencil and recording strip
Both hands
Counters, forty-five per pair
Five paper plates or pile mats
Word cards: sets of, multiply, check

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

3. Nine more each time Concept · Building the nine-times count as a running total

The book prints its nine-times count twice as a bare column and once as a running list, and states in words what the list is doing. Students rebuild that count in cubes so each total sits at the end of one more bar of nine, then say what one bar adds. What concept means here is that the column is not ten separate facts to be held but one repeated move, and a student who has laid the bars can recover a covered total from its neighbours without recalling it.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read the column of products aloud (4 min)
Read the book's nine-times column aloud with a partner, one line each, from one nine up to ten nines. Point at each product as you say it. Say which product is the largest and which is the smallest.
Word preview: column
You can check your answers on the 9th Times table.
2. Build the count as a strip (6 min)
Snap nine cubes into a bar, then a second bar of nine, and lay the bars end to end down a strip of paper. Write the running total at the end of each bar as you lay it: nine, then eighteen, then twenty-seven, and keep going until the strip holds ten bars. Say each total aloud as you write it.
Word preview: total
9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72, 81, 90, and so on.
3. Say what each new bar adds (5 min)
Look at any two totals next to each other on your strip and say how much the second one is above the first. Do this for three different neighbouring pairs and say the same number each time. Then read the book's sentence about counting by nines aloud and say whether your strip agrees with it.
Word preview: again
When you count by 9's, you're adding 9 again, again and again.
4. Write the missing total from the count (5 min)
Cover one total in the middle of your strip with a card. Work out what is under the card using only the totals on either side of it, then say aloud which two totals you used and what you did with them. Lift the card and check.
Word preview: missing

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Build the count as a strip (5 min)
Snap bars of nine cubes and lay them end to end down a paper strip. Write the running total at the end of each bar as you lay it, saying each total aloud, until the strip holds ten bars.
Word preview: total
9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72, 81, 90, and so on.
2. Say what each new bar adds (4 min)
Look at two totals next to each other on your strip and say how much the second is above the first. Do it for two more neighbouring pairs, then read the book's sentence about counting by nines and say whether your strip agrees.
Word preview: again
When you count by 9's, you're adding 9 again, again and again.

Three levels

Support: Build the strip only to five bars and forty-five. Write the running total at the end of each bar with the cube bar still in your hand, so the number and the bar it came from are together. Say the totals in order twice down the finished strip before comparing any two of them.
At Grade: Build all ten bars, write the ten running totals, and say how much one bar adds by comparing three different neighbouring pairs. Read the book's sentence about counting by nines and say whether your strip agrees with it.
Extension: Cover two totals that are not next to each other and recover both, then say which of the two was easier to recover and why. Your reason must name what the neighbouring totals gave you that the distant ones did not.

English learners

The count itself transfers: a student who has learned a nine-times count in another language already has these ten numbers, and the cube bars make the structure visible with no English at all. The English phrase again and again does not transfer; its repetition is doing the mathematical work of the sentence and is easy to hear as emphasis rather than as iteration. Rehearse One more bar is ___ more against the strip before it is required in the comparison. Students may say the running totals in their strongest language while building and report the comparison in English.

Materials

Printed nine-times column card
Connecting cubes, ninety per pair
Long paper strip, one per pair
Small covering cards, one per pair
Word cards: total, again and again

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

Math through the reading

The mathematics is reached through a sentence the book prints: change one word in the reading and the numbers change with it. These carry their own standards, matched against these lessons rather than inherited from the skill ones.

4. Eighteen or eighty-one: which side is the tens Integrated · Students run the book's finger procedure, then read one unchanged pair of hands under the book's place sentence and under its reversal, producing two different products from the same fingers.

Students run the book's finger procedure, then read one unchanged pair of hands under the book's place sentence and under its reversal, producing two different products from the same fingers.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Curl a finger and get two counts (5 min)
Students lay both hands flat, curl down finger two, and count the standing fingers on each side of the curl. They say the two counts aloud in the order left then right and write the two numbers, without yet calling either one an answer.
2. Read the book's sentence and name the places (5 min)
Students read the book's sentence about the two sides aloud, place their two counts on the labelled mat accordingly, and say their own sentence naming which count is the tens and which is the ones. They write the product this gives.
3. Swap the sentence and compute again (6 min)
Students hear the sentence again with left and right traded, leave their hands exactly as they are, and read the same two counts under the new assignment. They write the second product beside the first and say aloud which sentence produced which number.
4. Say which sentence the book means (4 min)
Students check both products against the book's nine-times column, tell a partner which of the two sentences the book actually gives, and say in one sentence how they can tell from the column rather than from memory.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Curl a finger and get two counts (5 min)
Students lay both hands flat, curl down finger two, and count the standing fingers on each side of the curl. They say the two counts aloud in the order left then right and write the two numbers, without yet calling either one an answer.
2. Swap the sentence and compute again (6 min)
Students hear the sentence again with left and right traded, leave their hands exactly as they are, and read the same two counts under the new assignment. They write the second product beside the first and say aloud which sentence produced which number.

Three levels

Support: Keep the labelled two-column mat under both hands for every reading, so the place assignment is something a student physically puts a count into rather than holds in mind. Work only finger two, and give the sentence frame My ___ side is the tens, so ___ is my answer to be completed aloud before either product is written. The counting and the two-digit reading stay entirely with the student; what is carried is the sentence.
At grade: Students run the curl on finger two, produce both products under the book's sentence and under its reversal, write the pair, and say which sentence the book gives and how the printed column settles it. They then repeat the whole swap on finger three, where the competing products are twenty-seven and seventy-two.
Extension: Students find the one finger in the book's range where the swap does not produce a different number, and say why. Curling finger ten gives nine on the left and none on the right, so the book's reading is ninety and the reversed reading is nine, which does change; students must work through the ten curls to establish that no case is immune, then say what would have to be true of the two counts for the swap to make no difference.

English learners

Number and counting transfer completely here: students who count fingers in any language arrive at the same one and eight, and nothing in the arithmetic needs English. Two things do not transfer. The first is that left and right are doing mathematical work rather than describing the room, and in this book the word right also appears as agreement in That's right, three sentences before it appears as a position, so the same sound carries two jobs within one page. Name that collision out loud rather than letting students meet it cold. The second is that the left-to-right reading order of a two-digit number is a convention of written English and is not shared by every writing system a student may already read fluently. Rehearse the frame My left side is the ___ and my right side is the ___ twice with a partner before any writing. Students may count both sides and reason about the swap in their strongest language and report the two products in English.

Materials

Both hands
Two-column mat labelled tens and ones
Pencil and recording strip
The book's sentence about the two sides, written large with left and right underlined
The book's nine-times column

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

5. The counts the book left out Integrated · The book poses five times nine and prints its answer but never gives the two finger counts its own procedure would produce; students establish them from the sentences that fix the numbering, then check the product two ways.

The book poses five times nine and prints its answer but never gives the two finger counts its own procedure would produce; students establish them from the sentences that fix the numbering, then check the product two ways.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Establish the numbering from the text (6 min)
Students hunt the book for the sentences that fix which finger is number one and how many hands are in play, read the ones they choose aloud, and mark them. They agree with a partner on which finger is the fifth before curling anything.
2. Work the fifth curl and cite the lines (7 min)
Students curl the fifth finger, count each side, and write the two counts. Beside each count they write or point at the sentence that told them how to count it, then apply the book's place rule and write the product.
3. Check the product by adding nines (4 min)
Students build five piles of nine counters and add them, keeping the running total aloud, then compare that total with the product they read off their hands and say whether the two agree.
4. Say why it is four and five, not five and four (3 min)
Students tell a partner why the fifth curl leaves four fingers on the left rather than five, naming the sentence about which finger is number one as their reason.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Establish the numbering from the text (6 min)
Students hunt the book for the sentences that fix which finger is number one and how many hands are in play, read the ones they choose aloud, and mark them. They agree with a partner on which finger is the fifth before curling anything.
2. Work the fifth curl and cite the lines (7 min)
Students curl the fifth finger, count each side, and write the two counts. Beside each count they write or point at the sentence that told them how to count it, then apply the book's place rule and write the product.

Three levels

Support: Give the four candidate sentences on separate strips rather than having students hunt the whole book, and let students choose among the four and read the chosen one aloud. Every count, the place reading and the check by nines stay with the student; what is reduced is the searching, so the citing still happens but against a short field.
At grade: Students find the constraining sentences in the book themselves, establish four and five, write each count beside the line that funds it, read the product, and confirm it by adding five nines. They then say why the order of the two counts cannot be reversed.
Extension: Students establish the counts for a curl the book never works and never prints an answer for, the seventh finger, and produce the product from the counts alone with no printed total available to check against. They must then say which of their citations does the most work, and what they would have to be told if the book had not named the left hand pinky as finger one.

English learners

The counting and the two-digit reading transfer directly and need no English. This task requires a sentence as well as a number, and in many classrooms a student who produces forty-five has finished. Say plainly that the number alone is half the answer here. The vocabulary the citing runs on is small and worth pre-teaching against real hands: pinky, curl down, sticking up and left of. Give the frame I know it is ___ because the book says ___ and let students rehearse it once with a partner before writing. Students may establish the counts and reason about the numbering in their strongest language and give the citation in English, reading the book's sentence aloud as it stands.

Materials

Both hands
Sentence strips carrying the candidate lines
Counters, forty-five per pair
Pencil and recording strip
The book's page working the second curl
The book's problem line posing five times nine

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

Reading and language lessons

5 lessons on the reading and language the book carries - what a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how a text is built. No mathematics: these are matched against the English language arts curricula, which are a different and smaller set than the mathematics ones.

6. Here's How: The Words That Hold a Set of Directions Together Comprehension · Following the Words That Order a Procedure

This book teaches by directions, and the directions are held in place by a small set of ordering words: Here's how, Now, First, Next. Students mark those words in three printed passages, notice that they always sit at the front of a sentence, and rewrite one passage with the ordering words removed to hear what is lost. The work is reading how a procedure is built, not carrying it out.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Mark the words that open each direction (6 min)
Read the passage below with a partner. Underline the two words that announce directions are coming, then draw a box around the first word of each sentence that gives a direction. Say aloud what all your boxed words have in common as a kind of word.
Word preview: procedure, direction
Did you know you can use your fingers to learn how to multiply by 9? Here's how. Spread your hands just like the hands in the picture. Curl down finger number one. Your left hand pinky. Count the fingers that are sticking up.
2. Find the word that means keep going (5 min)
Read the passage below. One word at the very front tells a reader this is not the beginning but the continuation. Circle it. Say aloud what a reader would lose if that word were deleted.
Word preview: transition
Now curl down finger number two. You will have one finger sticking up on the left side of the curl down finger. Count eight fingers sticking up on the right.
3. Read a pair of ordered directions (5 min)
Read the passage below. Two ordering words open two sentences here. Write them on your sequence marker sheet in the order they are printed. Then swap them and read the passage aloud that way, and say what changes for a reader.
Word preview: sequence
First, multiply 5 times 9 using the finger trick. Next, check your math by adding 5 sets of 9. How's your math?
4. Read a passage with the ordering words taken out (4 min)
Read the passage below aloud once as printed. Then read it aloud again, skipping the very first word. Tell a partner what a reader loses without it, and point to the words that tell you the direction is not the first one.
Now curl down finger number two. You will have one finger sticking up on the left side of the curl down finger. Count eight fingers sticking up on the right.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Mark the words that open each direction (5 min)
Read the passage below. Underline the two words that announce directions are coming, then box the first word of each direction sentence. Say what those words have in common.
Word preview: procedure, direction
Did you know you can use your fingers to learn how to multiply by 9? Here's how. Spread your hands just like the hands in the picture. Curl down finger number one. Your left hand pinky. Count the fingers that are sticking up.
2. Read a pair of ordered directions (4 min)
Read the passage below. Write the two ordering words on your sheet in the order printed, then read the passage with them swapped and say what changes.
Word preview: sequence
First, multiply 5 times 9 using the finger trick. Next, check your math by adding 5 sets of 9. How's your math?

Three levels

Support: Work only with the step 1 passage. Underline the words Here's how. Then read the next three sentences aloud, one at a time, and say the first word of each.
At Grade: Mark the ordering words in the step 1 and step 3 passages, note them in order on the sheet, and say what a reader loses when they are removed.
Extension: The step 1 passage opens with a question and the step 3 passage opens with a direct order. Write three sentences on why a procedural writer might use both openings in one book, quoting from each printed passage.

English learners

English procedural sentences drop the subject, so Curl down finger number one has no visible you, and students used to a marked addressee may look for a missing word. Read one direction, then read it again as You curl down ___, so the hidden addressee is heard once. Ordering words like Now and Next are short and unstressed in speech; read them with deliberate stress the first time. Rehearsable frame: First you ___. Next you ___.

Materials

Multiply By Hand, the passage printed in this step
pencil
sequence marker sheet
Word cards: procedure, sequence, transition, direction

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

7. You, Your, Our: How This Book Talks Straight at the Reader Language · Noticing Who a Text Is Speaking To

This book almost never says a person's name. Instead it says you, your and our, and it changes which one it uses depending on what it wants. Students collect the address words from three printed passages, sort them by who they include, and rewrite one sentence as if it were about somebody else. The skill is hearing a text's audience in its pronouns.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Collect the address words (6 min)
Read the passage below with a partner. Circle every word that names the person being spoken to and every word that includes the writer as well. Write them in two columns on your address sorting sheet. Say aloud which column is longer.
Word preview: audience, pronoun
Our fingers can be handy when it comes to math. You may have used your fingers when you first learned to add.
2. Read a passage that speaks only to you (5 min)
Read the passage below. Underline every you and your. Then say aloud whether the writer has put herself inside this passage anywhere, and how you can tell from the printed words.
Word preview: address
Now you're ready for 10 times 9. Curl down finger number 10, the pinky of your right hand. How many fingers are on the left of the curl down finger? How many are on the right?
3. Rewrite a sentence about somebody else (5 min)
Read the passage below. Choose its first sentence and rewrite it so that it is about a girl named Ana instead of about you. Read both versions aloud to a partner and say which one makes a reader more likely to try the trick, and why.
Word preview: include
Now you're ready for 10 times 9. Curl down finger number 10, the pinky of your right hand. How many fingers are on the left of the curl down finger? How many are on the right?
4. Say who the book thinks you already are (4 min)
Read the passage below again. Its second sentence assumes something about the reader's past. Say aloud what the book assumes, and read out the exact words that carry the assumption.
Our fingers can be handy when it comes to math. You may have used your fingers when you first learned to add.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Collect the address words (5 min)
Read the passage below. Circle every word that names the person spoken to and every word that includes the writer too, and write them in two columns.
Word preview: audience, pronoun
Our fingers can be handy when it comes to math. You may have used your fingers when you first learned to add.
2. Read a passage that speaks only to you (4 min)
Read the passage below. Underline every you and your, then say whether the writer has put herself inside this passage anywhere.
Word preview: address
Now you're ready for 10 times 9. Curl down finger number 10, the pinky of your right hand. How many fingers are on the left of the curl down finger? How many are on the right?

Three levels

Support: Work only with the step 1 passage. Circle the word Our in the first sentence and the word you in the second. Say aloud who each one means.
At Grade: Collect the address words from both printed passages into the two columns and say what changes between the passage that includes the writer and the one that does not.
Extension: The step 1 passage opens with Our and then switches to you within two sentences. Write three sentences on what that switch does to a reader, quoting the exact words from the printed passage.

English learners

English collapses formal and informal address into one word, you, and uses our to pull a reader into a shared group, a move that is marked very differently across languages. Read the two sentences of the step 1 passage back to back and ask who is inside each one. Invite students to say how a teacher would address a whole class in their strongest language, and whether it includes the speaker. Rehearsable frame: This sentence is speaking to ___.

Materials

Multiply By Hand, the passage printed in this step
pencil
address sorting sheet
Word cards: audience, address, pronoun, include

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

8. Is Like, Is Really: Three Tries at the Same Explanation Comprehension · Reading an Explanation Built on a Comparison

The book explains one idea three times in three sentences, and each try uses a different move: a comparison, a restatement marked really, and a picture of something happening over and over. Students read all three, name the move in each, and say which sentence a confused reader would want first. The skill is analysing how an explanation is constructed.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read the comparison sentence (5 min)
Read the passage below. It is one short sentence and it explains by putting one thing beside another. Circle the word that makes it a comparison. Say aloud what the sentence is claiming and what it is not claiming.
Word preview: compare
Multiplying is like adding.
2. Read the sentence that says it again, harder (5 min)
Read the passage below. It restates the same idea and it uses two words the first sentence did not: one that asks you to hold on to something, and one that pushes the claim further than like. Circle both. Say aloud how this sentence is stronger than the comparison.
Word preview: restate
Remember, multiplying is really adding a number over and over.
3. Read the sentence that shows it happening (5 min)
Read the passage below. This third try explains by describing something a reader does. Underline the words that are repeated to make the idea feel like it keeps going. Say aloud what the repetition adds that the other two sentences did not have.
Word preview: explain
When you count by 9's, you're adding 9 again, again and again.
4. Choose the order that helps most (5 min)
Read the three passages below, which are the book's three tries at the same explanation. On your chart put them in the order you would give them to a confused reader. Say aloud which one you put first and quote the words that made you choose it.
Word preview: clearer
Multiplying is like adding.
Remember, multiplying is really adding a number over and over.
When you count by 9's, you're adding 9 again, again and again.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Read the comparison sentence (4 min)
Read the passage below. Circle the word that makes it a comparison and say what the sentence claims.
Word preview: compare
Multiplying is like adding.
2. Choose the order that helps most (5 min)
Read the three passages below. Put them in the order you would give a confused reader and say which you put first, quoting the words that decided it.
Word preview: clearer
Multiplying is like adding.
Remember, multiplying is really adding a number over and over.
When you count by 9's, you're adding 9 again, again and again.

Three levels

Support: Work only with the step 1 passage. Circle the word like. Say aloud what two things this sentence puts beside each other. One sentence is enough.
At Grade: Name the move in each of the three printed sentences and put them in a helpful order on the chart, saying why you chose the first one.
Extension: The step 2 passage says is really where the step 1 passage says is like. Write three sentences on the difference between those two claims and which one a careful writer should be readier to defend, quoting both printed passages.

English learners

Is like and is really look almost identical in structure but make very different claims, and the difference is carried by one small word. Read the two printed sentences back to back and ask which is the bolder claim. The word really is used here to mean in truth, not very, which is a common false friend for students. Rehearsable frame: The writer says ___ is like ___, and then says it is really ___.

Materials

Multiply By Hand, the passage printed in this step
pencil
three-tries chart
Word cards: compare, restate, explain, clearer

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

9. Handy, Pinky, Represent: What a Glossary Is Supposed to Do Vocabulary · Reading a Glossary and Judging What It Gives You

This book ends with a glossary, and the transcription has left its entries as broken strings of commas rather than as sentences. Students read it exactly as printed, work out which fragments are the meanings, then check one word against the sentence where the book actually uses it and say which source served them better. The skill is using a text feature and judging its reliability.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read the glossary exactly as printed (6 min)
Read the passage below exactly as it is printed and do not repair it. This is the book's glossary and the transcription has broken it. Circle the four words being defined. Say aloud what has gone wrong with the parts between them.
Word preview: glossary, entry, damaged
Glossary Number sign, the symbol for the word number. Handy, hand, D, useful. Pinky, pink, E. A name for the last and smallest finger. Represent, rep, re, scent, to stand for. Zero, zero, oh, none.
2. Pull the meaning out of a broken entry (5 min)
Read the passage below again. For the word handy and for the word represent, write on your worksheet only the part of the entry that is actually a meaning, and cross out the parts that are not. Say aloud how you decided which part was which.
Word preview: definition
Glossary Number sign, the symbol for the word number. Handy, hand, D, useful. Pinky, pink, E. A name for the last and smallest finger. Represent, rep, re, scent, to stand for. Zero, zero, oh, none.
3. Check the word against a real sentence (5 min)
Read the passage below, where the book uses one of the glossary words in a full sentence. Say aloud whether the meaning you pulled out of the glossary fits this sentence, and read out the words that show it.
The fingers on the left represent the tens place, and the fingers on the right represent the ones place.
4. Say which source you would trust (4 min)
Read the two passages below side by side. Tell a partner which one gave you a more usable meaning for the word represent, and quote the exact printed words from whichever one you chose.
Glossary Number sign, the symbol for the word number. Handy, hand, D, useful. Pinky, pink, E. A name for the last and smallest finger. Represent, rep, re, scent, to stand for. Zero, zero, oh, none.
The fingers on the left represent the tens place, and the fingers on the right represent the ones place.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Read the glossary exactly as printed (5 min)
Read the passage below exactly as printed, without repairing it. Circle the four words being defined and say what has gone wrong between them.
Word preview: glossary, entry, damaged
Glossary Number sign, the symbol for the word number. Handy, hand, D, useful. Pinky, pink, E. A name for the last and smallest finger. Represent, rep, re, scent, to stand for. Zero, zero, oh, none.
2. Check the word against a real sentence (4 min)
Read the passage below, where the book uses a glossary word in a full sentence. Say whether the glossary meaning fits it, and read out the words that show it.
The fingers on the left represent the tens place, and the fingers on the right represent the ones place.

Three levels

Support: Work only with the entry for pinky in the step 1 passage. Circle the word pinky. Then read out the part of the entry that tells you what a pinky is, and hold up that finger.
At Grade: Pull the meaning out of the handy and represent entries in the step 1 passage, then check represent against the full sentence in the step 3 passage.
Extension: The step 1 entry for represent reads rep, re, scent before it reaches its meaning. Write three sentences on what those fragments were meant to be, why the transcription makes them unusable, and what a reader should do instead.

English learners

Glossary entries in English print a pronunciation guide before the meaning, and here the guide has lost its brackets, so the fragments look like extra meanings. Say clearly that hand, D and rep, re, scent are broken sound guides and not definitions, so students building English do not learn them as words. Invite students to give the meaning of useful in their strongest language before writing the worksheet.

Materials

Multiply By Hand, the passage printed in this step
pencil
glossary worksheet
Word cards: glossary, entry, definition, damaged

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

10. Did You Know? Wouldn't It Be Great? Sorting the Author's Questions Comprehension · Working Out What an Author's Question Is For

This book asks the reader questions constantly, but they are not all doing the same job: some open a topic, some check that a reader is keeping up, and one at the very end asks for nothing at all. Students read four printed questions, sort them by purpose, and say which one they could not answer even in principle. The skill is reading an author's move rather than answering the question.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read the question that opens the topic (5 min)
Read the passage below. It begins with a question and answers it two words later. Underline the question and underline the answer. Say aloud what the question is doing there, given how fast it is answered.
Word preview: hook, purpose
Did you know you can use your fingers to learn how to multiply by 9? Here's how. Spread your hands just like the hands in the picture. Curl down finger number one. Your left hand pinky. Count the fingers that are sticking up.
2. Read a question that checks on you (5 min)
Read the passage below. This question expects a yes or a no from a reader who has been following along. Put it on the checking side of your purpose mat. Say aloud what a reader is meant to do if the honest answer is no.
Word preview: check
Do you have two fingers on the left of the curl down finger in the tens place and seven fingers on the right?
3. Read the question that wants nothing back (5 min)
Read the passage below, which is the last question in the book. Say aloud who could possibly answer it, and put it on the third side of your purpose mat. Then say what the book is really doing by ending on it.
Word preview: rhetorical
Wouldn't it be great if there were a finger trick for all the other timestables?
4. Sort a fourth question and defend it (5 min)
Read the passage below, which ends with one more question. Decide which side of your purpose mat it belongs on and put it there. Tell a partner your reason and quote the exact printed words that decided it.
First, multiply 5 times 9 using the finger trick. Next, check your math by adding 5 sets of 9. How's your math?

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Read the question that opens the topic (5 min)
Read the passage below. Underline the opening question and the answer that follows two words later, and say what the question is doing there.
Word preview: hook, purpose
Did you know you can use your fingers to learn how to multiply by 9? Here's how. Spread your hands just like the hands in the picture. Curl down finger number one. Your left hand pinky. Count the fingers that are sticking up.
2. Read the question that wants nothing back (4 min)
Read the passage below, the last question in the book. Say who could answer it, and what the book is doing by ending on it.
Word preview: rhetorical
Wouldn't it be great if there were a finger trick for all the other timestables?

Three levels

Support: Work with the step 1 passage only. Underline the question mark. Then read the two-word sentence that comes right after it and say aloud what the book promises to do next.
At Grade: Sort the three printed questions onto the purpose mat and give a reason for each, quoting words from the passage it came from.
Extension: The step 3 passage asks a question the book never answers and then stops. Write three sentences on what a writer gains by ending on an unanswerable question, quoting the printed words.

English learners

A question that is not meant to be answered is a strong convention in English writing and a genuine trap for students who will try to answer every question mark they meet. Read the step 3 passage aloud and ask, plainly, whether anyone in the room could answer it, so the convention is named rather than assumed. Invite students to say whether their strongest language uses questions this way. Rehearsable frame: This question wants ___, not an answer.

Materials

Multiply By Hand, the passage printed in this step
pencil
question purpose mat
Word cards: purpose, check, hook, rhetorical

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.