Times tables - best way you found to help your dc remember them

[dinny]

repeition?

writing them down...?

[dinny]

sorry - repetition!

[LIZS]

dd has a cd she listens to in bed . She is so much better at retaining them than ds was though. Then dh tests her on whichever one she's learning.

btw is your dd N or T ?!

[kid]

I made DD a set of matching pairs. She looked at all the cards and paired them together. Then we mixed them all up and got her to match them together. We timed how long it took her and each time, she had to beat her score.

She loved it and now knows ALL of her times tables. Not just going through them all in order, she can answer random ones.

[dinny]

dd turns off at the least mention! good ideas though

LIZS, hello - yes, dd is T, were you there today??

[LIZS]

dh did the run today - was late collecting too. dd is in purple !

[Blu]

After some tortuous sessions of trying to learn them by heart with me, DS is now racing ahead by listening to this CD

He loves it - it has less soppy voices and tunes than some of the others available, he thinks it's funny, and because each one has a differnet voice and style, it is easy to instil them in his memory. It's also quite well structured, with 'karaoke' versions after each song t sing the numbers themselves.

It's driving me whacky - but it is working!

[smartiejake]

Lots of good games here The one called "Hit the button" is good fun.

[singersgirl]

DS2, 7, was given a copy of the Percy Parker CD (google it!) before half-term and he learned all his tables up to 12 x 12 in 2 weeks (OK, he already knew 2, 3, 5, 10 and 11, but he's learned all the tricky ones)! We love Percy!

[dinny]

this is such a rubbish problem - do have a CD, but by far the best time would be in the car but fecking stereo is broken

can't think when else she'd actually listen to it - I could put it on but she'd hate it

LIZS - how did you know dd was T? is your dd little with dark hair?

[LIZS]

lol just by a process of elimination - there are only 4 in that line , 2 non school plus dd(very petite with fair/reddish hair) and one very tall year 1. I reckoned your dd was one of the the 2 ! The bulk of the class which will remain next term are younger as the lines in front take exams today.

[dinny]

ah, I see....

just sorting out uniform for tomorrow am - is parking hard first thing in the morning?

[LIZS]

What time are you due there ? After about 8.45 you should be ok. Allow plenty of time for hair etc ! Good luck .

[dinny]

exam starts at 9 on the dot, so was planning to get there about 8.15...prob the worst time!

[LIZS]

No parking should be ok, most people will just drop off and run at that time. There will be a queue to get past the school building and drop off point to park though and probably out onto the lane. Best park before the building itself.

[LIZS]

Hope it has gone well - I did pass a lady and daughter when dropping dd but don't think it was you !

[dinny]

Hi, LIZS!

Phew, can't believe it's over at last!!!! Miss T said they'd all done well and examiner was happy - dd was soooo excited

wonder if we crossed paths this morning - I am quite noticeably pregnant btw!

[LIZS]

That's good, fingers crossed. The last one was a miserable cow - very few top grades !! Lady I passed was in a black 3/4 coat, no discernible bump but could have been I suppose, hair tied back, daughter fair haired in lilac coat and jeans ...

[dinny]

yes, wasn't the usual examiner, I don't think...

no, wasn't me - dd has dark hair

see you one day!

[ErnestTheBavarian]

we have the triangle cards and seem to work really well, boys learnt pretty much all of them really quickly. double up as handy travel game

[LIZS]

dinny please tell me your dh wasn't there dropping off earlier in an Audi estate....

[dinny]

no, don't have an Audi! and dh didn't come

why?

[LIZS]

phew ... now I can do an aibu thread! I challenged a male Audi driver about coming in the back entrance of school to park, passing by us at speed in the semi darkness ! Had a nasty thought it may have been yoru dh I offended!

[dinny]

nope!!!

what did he do - get angry?

[LIZS]

He was most indignant, while I had a mini rant at him about safety and how he'd narrowly missed hitting dd. There are signs up but he said he didn't see anything to stop him - er, common sense when all the other cars were coming out that way so he had to wait, may have been a clue ! I've already emailled the school and suggested they improve the signage(it isn't lit at that end). Traffic is bad enough at times and especially in the winter evenings it can be really hard to see small kids.

[dinny]

ooh, no, wasn't dh! and everyone at the exam was brought in by their mums, no dads....

dd wants to be a ballerina now, she's decided, lol