Box Method Multiplication Worksheets

About this resource

Box method multiplication, also called the area model: split each number into tens and ones, write the parts on the edges of a box, multiply to fill each box, then add the boxes. This file teaches it and practices it with two-digit by one-digit and two-digit by two-digit problems, at three levels. Every student page has a big "My name" line, one short instruction, and boxes made for a child's handwriting. Untimed: no clock, no score on the page.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (29 pages: 13 student pages, 16 for you)

• 43 different problems, 28 two-digit by one-digit and 15 two-digit by two-digit, totals from 48 to 5472, all computed in code; no problem and no total is used twice on the student pages
• Look: two problems worked out in the boxes, one of each kind (1 page)
• Fill the Boxes: the split is printed and the child fills the boxes, then adds; on Set A one box is already filled in to start (11 problems, 3 pages)
• Blank Boxes: only the problem is printed; the child writes the split, the boxes and the total, with a "Show your work" room (5 problems, 2 pages)
• Find the Error: a finished box and a total; circle right or wrong and write the right total (7 boxes, 3 right and 4 wrong, 2 pages)
• Match It: six problems and six lettered boxes; write the letter (12 problems, 2 pages)
• Cut and Glue: six pieces a page in a 3 by 2 block, three straight cuts; the steps of one problem in order (2 pages, one two-digit by one-digit and one two-digit by two-digit), then problems glued to their boxes (1 page) (18 pieces, 3 pages)
• 3 answer keys (16 rows, 19 rows and 18 rows), a tracker, a class grid, a team note, a home page with blank boxes for the family to fill in, a filled example (an invented student), a phrase and strategy bank (17 starters), a binder cover and 6 divider tabs with a spine label
• Start Here, a how-it-works page and a "What's next" back page

Built For The Child, Not The Office

Every student page has a big "My name" line, one short instruction with a picture (a pencil, a circle or scissors), rounded boxes at least half an inch tall, and plenty of room. Blank Boxes has a big work room under the problems. Everything for you (directions, answer keys, scoring) is on separate teacher pages. No clip art: the only pictures are the boxes themselves.

Three Levels, Marked By Dots

One dot: starting (the split is printed, or one box is already filled in). Two dots: building (multiply every box, find a wrong box, match). Three dots: ready for more (split the numbers yourself, find the error in a two-digit by two-digit box). The dots are the only level code, so children at one table are not comparing papers.

Every Item Is Computed

Every box, every total, every wrong box on the Find the Error pages, every step on the cut-and-order strips and every row of the three answer keys is read from the same two numbers that draw the page. There is no second, hand-typed key. Where an answer sits (the letter in a match, right or wrong, the piece under a mat box) is placed by a seeded shuffle that rejects any order a child could guess. Each wrong box on Find the Error has one slip (a tens box that lost its zero, a ones box that is off, or boxes that are right with a total that was added wrong), and the key says which.

Type In, Or Print

The name and date lines, every answer box, the tracker, class grid, team note and home page are type-in fields in any PDF reader; the printed boxes and cut pieces are always printed. Every page also prints clean in black and white. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides, Google Docs or PowerPoint file.

Who This Is For

Fourth grade teachers, third grade teachers meeting two-digit factors, special education and resource room teachers, interventionists, and families who want the same method at home, with the tracking and home pages already made.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

An untimed practice set for multiplying with boxes, with the record-keeping around it. It is not a timed fluency probe or a goal page, not a full math curriculum, and not a claim about any student's grade level or rate of progress. Every problem is two-digit by one-digit or two-digit by two-digit; there are no three-digit factors, no division and no decimals. Stacked partial products (written one under the other, with no grid) are a different method and a separate product.

Also From Bright Path Sped

Area Model Multiplication Progress Monitoring Probes (the data side), 2-Digit by 2-Digit Multiplication Progress Monitoring Probes (timed forms), Distributive Property of Multiplication Progress Monitoring Probes (the idea behind the split) and Arrays and Repeated Addition Worksheets K-2 (where multiplication starts).