4th Grade Multiply in Columns worksheets

About this worksheet

4. NBT. B. 5 asks fourth graders to multiply a whole number of up to four digits by a one-digit number, and this worksheet uses the standard column algorithm to do it: multiply the ones digit first, write down one digit and carry the rest into the next column, then repeat for the tens, hundreds, and thousands. That carrying step is where most mistakes happen. A child who correctly finds that 4 x 7 is 28 will still get the wrong final answer if they write down the whole 28 in the ones column instead of writing 8 and carrying the 2 into the tens column. This worksheet asks about that carry directly: what digit gets carried, why it gets carried, and what happens when a carried digit is added into the next column's product.

It also asks your child to estimate a product by rounding first, to double-check a finished multiplication for reasonableness, and to see the same product written a different way, as two smaller multiplications added together, which is a good way to check the column method by hand. Real three- and four-digit numbers, not just round ones, keep the carrying genuinely necessary on most problems. Encourage your child to say each step out loud: multiply the digit, add any carry, write the last digit, carry the rest.

What your child will learn

• Multiply a three- or four-digit number by a one-digit number in columns
• Explain what digit to carry and why
• Estimate a product by rounding before multiplying
• Check a product using a different multiplication
• Judge whether a calculated product is reasonable