3rd grade · 12 facts · multiplication

1 times table

The 1 times table is the one children usually find easiest, and it is still worth a few minutes, because it carries an idea they will use for years: multiplying a number by 1 leaves it exactly as it was. One group of 7 is 7. Eight groups of 1 is 8. Nothing is added and nothing is lost.

Many children know the answers before anyone teaches them. What they may not know yet is why, and that is the part worth talking about. A child who can explain 1 × 9 = 9 with a drawing understands what multiplication means, and the other tables make more sense because of it.

All 12 facts of the 1 times table

  • 1 × 1 = 1
  • 1 × 2 = 2
  • 1 × 3 = 3
  • 1 × 4 = 4
  • 1 × 5 = 5
  • 1 × 6 = 6
  • 1 × 7 = 7
  • 1 × 8 = 8
  • 1 × 9 = 9
  • 1 × 10 = 10
  • 1 × 11 = 11
  • 1 × 12 = 12

Printable practice sheet (PDF) — 24 problems: the 12 facts in order, then the same facts mixed up. The answer key is on page 2. Free to print, no sign-up.

Timed drill: the 1 times table

12 facts in a random order. A right answer within 3 seconds counts as by heart. Free, no sign-up, and nothing is saved: it all happens on this screen.

Type with the keypad or your keyboard, then press Check or Enter.

What to notice

Read down the list below and the answers simply count: 1, 2, 3, all the way to 12. That is the whole table. Each answer is the number being multiplied by 1, which is why 1 is called the identity for multiplication: it keeps a number’s identity.

There are two ways to picture it, and they feel different to a child. 1 × 6 is one bag holding six apples. 6 × 1 is six bags holding one apple each. The answers match, which is a first look at turnarounds: the order of the two numbers does not change the answer. That rule matters far more in the harder tables, where it halves the work.

Ones also sit inside every other table. Each table begins with its own 1 fact, such as 7 × 1 = 7 and 1 × 7 = 7, so once this idea is solid your child already has one fact of every table.

How to practise at home

  • Ask for a drawing rather than an answer. Have your child draw 1 × 5 as one box of five dots, then 5 × 1 as five boxes with one dot each, and say what is the same and what is different.
  • Throw in some silly big numbers: 1 × 100, 1 × 1,000, 1 × 437. Children enjoy answering facts that look hard, and it shows the rule works for any number, not only the ones on a chart.
  • Put 1 next to 0 on purpose. Ask 1 × 8 and then 0 × 8. One group of 8 is 8; no groups of 8 is nothing at all. Hearing the two side by side usually sorts out any mix-up.
  • Keep it short: a minute or two, then move on to the 2s and 10s. The drill on this page makes a good confidence warm-up rather than something to repeat every day.

Slips to watch for

  • Answering 7 for 1 × 6. A child who has just been adding sometimes adds the 1 instead. Ask them to read the sign aloud, and to say it as “one group of six”.
  • Mixing up 1 and 0, so that 0 × 6 comes out as 6 or 1 × 6 as 0. The picture fixes it: one plate with six grapes, or an empty table with no plates on it.
  • Believing that times always makes a number bigger. Times 1 is the first multiplication a child meets that does not grow, and it is worth saying so out loud, because fractions in 4th and 5th grade break that rule again.

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