Count by twos, fives, tens, and other steps, and recognise the resulting sequence as the multiples of that number.
NUM.SKIP_COUNT“I can skip count by any small number and say what the numbers I land on have in common.”
Count by 4s to 48, then say whether 30 would be landed on and justify it.
| Course | Unit | Depth | Role | Checkpoint |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 1 | Skip counting and patterns | intro | introduce | ✓ |
A 10x10 grid of 1–100 where +10 is a row and +1 is a column.
Turns base-ten structure into a map you can walk.
engine: grid with path highlighting
Chains of coloured bead bars laid out and labelled to reveal multiples and squares.
Multiples as distance, and squares as literal squares.
engine: repeating linear layout with label markers
A measured line for locating, comparing, ordering, and jumping between numbers.
One representation carries whole numbers, fractions, integers, and irrationals.
engine: axis scene + tick generator + hop actor
Scene archetype: number_line
NUM.SKIP.ADD_ONEDrifts to counting by ones after a few steps.
Repair: Mark the landing points on a hundred chart and check the row/column pattern.
One row per instructional system. Rows marked cluster carry authored treatment for this family of topics; rows marked template are derived from the system’s general pattern and are not topic-specific research. Confidence is recorded on every row.
Multiplication is defined as equal groups in Grade 3 and connected immediately to arrays and area, with the distributive property used to derive unknown facts from known ones. Fluency with all products to 100 is a stated Grade 3 requirement.
Multiplication and division are introduced together as inverse views of the same equal-group picture, and the bar model carries "times as many" comparisons that would otherwise be language traps. Multi-digit work is done first with place-value discs, then compressed.
The tables are memorised early and thoroughly, but the emphasis quickly moves to using factor structure to simplify: rearranging a product, factoring out, and estimating. Division with remainder is treated as a topic in its own right with its own problem types.
Level C is multiplication tables and multi-digit multiplication as pure drill; Level D is long division. Both are taught by graded worksheet increments with a time standard, and division is reached earlier than in most school sequences because placement is by level rather than age.
The multiplication tables are learned through a formal chanted sequence (kuku) in Grade 2, but the meaning is established first through array lessons where the class compares ways of counting the same rectangle. The area model then carries multi-digit multiplication.
Tables are memorised by recitation and timed drill as a non-negotiable gate, and the long multiplication and long division algorithms are taught explicitly as procedures with worked examples, then spiralled through mixed practice for years.
Multiplication is laid out as bead chains and bead bars, so the multiples of seven are a physical distance and seven squared is a literal square. The checkerboard then handles multi-digit multiplication with place value colour-coded rather than remembered.
Multiplication is a route into number theory: factors, primes, and divisibility are pursued for their own sake, with puzzles that reward knowing 84 as 2 x 2 x 3 x 7 rather than as a table entry.
Times tables to 12 x 12 are a statutory Year 4 expectation with a national check, and the tables are built through arrays and scaling contexts before being drilled. The bar model handles "times as many" comparison problems.
Units move from equal groups to arrays to area, with students inventing partial-product strategies that are then connected to the standard algorithm in a synthesis rather than replaced by it.