The purpose of this activity is for students to make sense of the multiplication table, using what they know about factors and finding the area of a rectangle. They also are encouraged to notice and explain patterns they see as they make sense of the structure of the table.

• Invite 3–5 previously selected students to share their rectangles and how they created them.
• “Esta se llama la ‘tabla de multiplicar’. Los números de la parte de arriba y del lado izquierdo son los ‘factores’, o los números que multiplicamos” // “This is called the 'multiplication table.' The numbers along the top and on the left side are the 'factors,' or the numbers we are multiplying.”
• “El número que está en el cuadrado de abajo a la derecha del rectángulo es el valor del producto. El valor del producto se alinea con el factor que está encima de este y el factor que está a su izquierda” // “The number in the lower right square of the rectangle is the value of the product. The value of the product lines up with a factor above it and a factor to the left of it.”
• “Podríamos representar los factores y el producto que está en la última tabla del primer grupo de tablas con ‘3 por 4 es igual a 12’” // “We could represent the factors and the product in the last table in the first group of tables with 3 times 4 equals 12.”
• Display
• “¿En qué son diferentes la tabla de multiplicar y otras formas en las que hemos representado la multiplicación?” // “How is the multiplication table different from other ways we’ve represented multiplication?” (It’s harder to see the factors. There’s no equal sign. We can picture a rectangle that helps us find the product.)

The purpose of this activity is for students to find the values of products in the multiplication table. Students are encouraged to find familiar products before working on those that are less familiar. They do not need to fill in all of the products in the table. The Activity Synthesis focuses on patterns students find in the table, how they can show the patterns with equations, and how they explain their patterns, using what they know about multiplication and the properties of operations.

• “¿Qué patrones encontraron en los productos de 5? ¿Cómo los mostraron con ecuaciones?” // “What patterns did you find in the products of 5? How did you show them with equations?”
• “¿Por qué ocurre ese patrón?” // “Why is that pattern happening?”
• “¿Qué otros patrones vemos en la tabla? ¿Cómo podríamos mostrar los patrones con ecuaciones? ¿Por qué ocurren esos patrones?” // “What other patterns do we see in the table? How could we show the patterns with equations? Why are these patterns happening?”