3 × 4 means 3 4’s.
I count my blocks by fours—I take 1 four, another, another.
I find that 3 4’s are 12.
3 × 4 = 12.
To the Teacher:
Now the child is ready to give a number story about 3 × 4.
PRIMARY MEASURES FOR CHILDREN
The child has been taught to count. Now while he is telling you how many objects he is dealing with, teach him to tell how much he is dealing with.
In other words, have the child measure and compare as well as count.
Ideas of larger and smaller, longer and shorter, and the like, should be made important. The need at the outset, is to learn, in a simple way, the basis of all arithmetic—the comparison of quantity,—in as many of its forms as possible.