Nan Egger, creator of Multiples in Motion, has taught for more than 30 years as a speech therapist and classroom teacher. She developed the Multiples in Motion system to be a more effective way to teach the multiplication tables rather than the traditional skill and drill.

Over the course of her teaching career, she watched time and time again as students struggled to learn and memorize their multiplication tables.

She came up with the idea to apply the multiples to nursery rhyme songs - something we can all recall with little difficulty. Later, she decided to put some motions to the songs to allow them some physical activity that would stimulate their bodies as well as their minds. Students need more exercise than ever before and this provided them with another form of physical exercise but in the classroom. All songs and exercises can be completed in less than ten minutes by using the student's desk, two pencils or pens, and one book.

Over the years, she has had the opportunity to use this program in the third grade, fourth grade, and now the fifth grade. During this time, she has continued to use the Multiples in Motion songs throughout each grade. Each year the students continued to enjoy and apply the jingles to their math concepts. It helped them with multiplication problems, multiple patterns, division, finding lowest common multiples, and common denominators. There are several questions asked on the third grade standardized test in a pattern format. Students who knew these jingles commented on how helpful these songs were answering those questions.

These nursery rhyme songs are so easy to learn that students at the early age of 5 and up can relate to these tunes to begin learning their multiplication tables. Nan’s students comment to her that they continue to use these songs throughout middle, high school, and college years. If you need more information, contact Nan Egger at info@multiplesinmotion.com.

Students in this video were in Nan Egger's '05-'06 5th grade class.