Book excerpt: This workbook for students changes what is often a painful "drill and kill" memorizing process into an opportunity to build a rich network of connections, patterns, thinking strategies and applications. Acquiring a solid knowledge of basic multiplication facts becomes a way to experience math as a thinking activity. In the process, students develop number-sense and discover the rich interaction of factors, prime factors, Greatest Common Factors, Least Common Multiples, preparing them for a smooth transition to fractions and algebra.