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Original poster

Helping learning times tables??

63 replies

andirobobo · 18/03/2010 21:35

Ok - back from Parents Evening and DD (8) in Yr 3 is struggling with maths as she does not know her tables very well.

Talking to her - she thinks she knows them as she can recite the pattern -eg- 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 ,etc but if you ask "What is 6 x 2" she cannot give the answer very easily.

So a crash course in tables is needed - anyone have any sure fire ways to learn it as I can see a battle ahead!

Thanks!

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piscesmoon · 18/03/2010 21:53

I don't think you can beat using the BBCSkillswise site Start with game one, with a grid and no timer, progress to no grid and a timer. The go to game 2. They only need to to do a short amount each day but the repetition gradually gets the numbers lodged in the brain-hopefully.

Original poster
andirobobo · 18/03/2010 22:12

Thanks - had a look at that - she is keen on doing s PC based game. She is getting stick from the other boys in her class and this has led to her teacher (different one for Maths) to be concerned that she is distracted in her normal class. She is one of life's little worriers and it took nearly an hour of tears for me to get to the bottom of this. I felt a bit bad has her teacher was almost (but not quite) questioning if there was any problems / issues at home that they should know about. That is absolutely fine as they would have a right to know and there is nothing except a 3 year old brother who needs lots of attention has he is a typical toddler, so she may perceive that she gets left out. Anyway, I digress!!

A crash course over Easter hols will be a good start. I intend to start with the 2's then move onto the 3's and then the 4's and 5's. I think the harder ones will be too much for now.

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stealthsquiggle · 18/03/2010 22:15

We got DS a CD - it's annoying (they sing the times tables) but, in 10 min bursts in the car to/from school, it seems to work.

TheFallenMadonna · 18/03/2010 22:16

Post it notes around the house. 7 x 5 on one side, 35 on the other. Put them all over the place, so she can test herself.

It's not maths, this instant recall thing. It's rote learning I reckon. DS is very good at maths, but it took him ages to get to quick recall with his tables, because he would just work it out every time. Post its worked for him.

accessorizequeen · 18/03/2010 22:18

Carol Vorderman's new site (um the mathfactor I think) has a tutorial just on times tables although it does cost £20. I thought the site looked fantastic and loads of parent feedback.

MathsMadMummy · 18/03/2010 22:26

When my DSDs were struggling, I cut up loads of little squares and wrote numbers up to 12 on them (there was more than one of each number). Laid them out face down and DSDs had to turn 2 over, they had ONE guess to get it right. Obviously I stayed with them to say Yes or No!

If they got it right, they put the cards aside and picked 2 more, if not they turned them back over and picked 2 more (so they can't just keep guessing the same one IYSWIM?) - keep going til they used up all the cards.

I timed them every time they visited so they could see the time get shorter - and pretty soon the school commented how much they'd improved!

I also thought of a 2-player version which has the same rule as find the pair i.e. if you get it wrong, it's the other person's turn.

THK · 19/03/2010 05:16

Car CD worked for us.
Doing timed test against one of us - we intentionally got some incorrect and let her mark our tests to see if she could find the incorrect answers.
Maybe there are certain ones she gets stuck on if so find a strategy eg.
dd always stuck on 7x8 so she now remembers by thinking 5 and 6 come before 7and 8.

Galena · 19/03/2010 08:21

As an ex-Y3 teacher, start with 2, 5 and 10 times tables, and then move onto 3 and 4.

I used to do a daily practice sheet for my maths set. For example, if they were working on the 2x table, it would have 0x2, 1x2, 2x2, 3x2, etc muddled up and also 2x0, 2x1, etc. So 21 calculations all muddled up. They would have up to 5 minutes to complete the calculations, if they finished early they would write the time they took, and then we would mark them. Their goal was to improve on their own work, so if they were not getting them all right, their first goal would be to get gradually more right until they were getting 21/21 every time. Then their next goal would be to improve their time. Once they were confident with the 2x, we'd move onto the 5x AS WELL - so they had 40-odd calculations, all the 2x ones and the 5x ones. Remember to include 0x whatever, as some children cannot be persuaded that 0x5 is 0, they are convinced it's 5!

Eventually they would have a grid of 121 squares with numbers 0-10 muddled up on either side, and have 5 minutes to complete it, multiplying the numbers.

MathsMadMummy · 19/03/2010 08:45

ooh galena, I like that method too

OhYouBadBadKitten · 19/03/2010 09:18

A little bit every day helps. dd has stupidly long knotty hair, so with her I used to practise while doing her hair. Poor child - double torture, but she does know them very well.

lovecheese · 19/03/2010 09:45

Practice, practice, practice. Its really important to make sure that the child knows the sum that gives the answer ie dont just count up 2,4,6,8,10 etc, make sure you do 2x2=4, 6x2=12 etc otherwise they are just learning a pattern without any real application IYKWIM; DD1 is in yr4 now and being the PFB we didnt know any different and thought that knowing the sequence of the answers was enough, now she is having to really work hard at mental maths. We are making sure with DD2 in yr1 that she is learning 1x5=5, 2x5=10, 3x5=15 etc and she seems to be pretty proficient (will be better than DD1 soon but of course wont tell either of them that!)

lovecheese · 19/03/2010 11:50

Forgot to add - little and often too.

singersgirl · 19/03/2010 12:34

Percy Parker CD. Very funny (to children at least, and not too bad for adults). DS2 learned all the tables he didn't know fluently in about 2 weeks of this in the car for short journeys (so 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12). My favourite is the 4 times about wellington boots for cows.

MrsWobbleTheWaitress · 19/03/2010 12:50

The timez attack game is fantastic. My 6yo and 5yo learnt their 2 times table in three days flat without any prior teaching.

Do they teach times tables just as 2, 4, 6, 8 etc. nowadays? My niece is struggling with hers and her mum thinks she's learning it like that too. How on earth is that helpful?

Original poster
andirobobo · 19/03/2010 13:36

Thanks - this is all helpful. She is a stubbon thing and me having a Maths degree doesnt help as I think she should just know it!!

Will take on board comments of doing 2 and 5's first, then 3 and 4's.

OP posts:
lovecheese · 19/03/2010 13:43

2, 5 and 10 first, then 3 and 4; get her doing 11s aswell, sounds mad I know but a really easy one to get the hang of and will impress her mates

Strix · 19/03/2010 14:01

I buy index cards from Rymans and bring them out often. If DD does not know then she writes them down ten times and that seems to sink them in. I also review them at bed time so she goes to sleep thinking about them and that seems to help as well.

MathsMadMummy · 19/03/2010 15:29

I know what you mean OP, if you find maths easy it can be difficult to understand why someone else doesn't!

Out of interest, what do people think of all the techniques for learning the 9s? A piano pupil taught me one you can do on your fingers (up to 10x9) and there's various others, and my DSDs learnt them but I'm in two minds about it now, as they seemed to think of them as an excuse not to learn them off by heart IYSWIM?

lovecheese · 19/03/2010 16:22

The fingers idea for 9's has worked a treat for my head-in-the-sand y4.

Galena · 19/03/2010 16:41

It's a method for finding the answer quickly, but it's not the same as knowing them IMHO.

claig · 19/03/2010 16:42

I agree with you MathsMadMummy. The best way is to learn them off by heart, there's no getting around it.

karen162 · 20/03/2010 15:49

Wondered if you could use these for helping them recognise target tables (they're not mine or anything, and are free). Best to get them to practice the particular tables first so they get a better score, as they've no time for 'working out', it's more about recognising the multiples in any order.

On the first game you can choose a particular table to go for, and on the second one you can limit the range of tables you get them to look at. Kid I've used them with seem to like them!

www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/Ghostblasters1/gbcd.html

www.arcademicskillb uilders.com/games/meteor/meteor.html

Hope links work!

karen162 · 20/03/2010 15:59

Ach! Sorry, trying again

Ghostblasters

uilders.com/games/meteor/meteor.html Meteor Multiples

karen162 · 20/03/2010 16:03

And, for my third and final effort:

Meteor Multiples

I thank you

Original poster
andirobobo · 20/03/2010 21:10

Well done Karen you got there!

Have done the 2s today quite well and will start the 5s tomorrow as well. She is keen to learn at the moment - not sure how long that will last!

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