Times Tables App?

[Cuppatea14]

My DD (10) doesn’t know her times tables properly, and it’s really holding her back in maths.

We’re going to start all the way back at 3 x tables and work our way up at home, does anyone know of any good online resources, or shall I just bash them into her head 1980’s style?

DK do a free 10 minutes a day app with a racing car

But if you can bear it, 1980s style is more effective

My daughter loves TT rockstars

Mine too! I really recommend it

Topmarks.co.uk has plenty of multiplication and division fact exercises/games. You can do one a day for free as I recall.

I admit with dd, who hated TT rockstars, I taught her in the kitchen during breakfast: same with spellings - 5 mins of each every morning, sometimes I’d write out a test and she’d have to fill it in, sometimes I would quickfire questions. And on the way walking to school we did quickfire for a few mins at a time. Very effective

Start with a multiplication table in order then division facts in order; then mix up that table.

It’s speed of recall that you really need and division is as important as multiplying!

Many schools use Times Table Rockstars, they subscribe as a school and give everyone a login. But you can also subscribe yourself and 10 mins a day will make the difference.

I’d be a bit wary of apps at this point as I’d be amazed if she hasn’t used TTRS at school and if it hasn’t worked yet, it’s possibly not going to.

I’m convinced some kids just don’t always respond to apps and need a different form of learning for it to sink in. My eldest just did spellings via app and built no muscle memory or ability to spell despite hitting high marks on the app. She needs to write and write and write to learn them. She learnt her tables orally and through writing. The 80s way worked much better than the apps for her. Also making sure she gets doubling as it makes it much easier eg if you know 4x6 =24 then you just need to double 24 to get 8x6 =48. I also think a visual multiplication chart is useful as they can see the numbers in context and spot patterns.

My youngest by contrast has absorbed a lot of tables by playing some random games on her tablet despite not being taught tables yet. I suspect she’ll love TTRS.

I love doodle tables. Really helped my son learn them all, now I'm getting my 7 yr old to do doodle too.

Hit The button or topmarks.

Buy flash cards. Far more effective than apps.

Use regular playing cards and make a game out of it. Take out the Kings, Ace = 1, Jack = 11, Queen = 12. Shuffle and split the pack into 2. Each turn a card over and times your card’s value by her card’s value.

Also, lay one set of 12 out in order (1 to 12) and practice, say 3 times table. Point at 1 and say 3 x 1 etc. Point to the easy cards first, 1 x, 2 x, 5 x, 10 x etc to build confidence then slowly bring in the x they don’t know.

Played this for years with my SEN DC, we still play sometimes having changed the value of the cards as they DC got better, King = 13, Ace = 14, 2 = 15, etc.

My DC use Hit The Button on Top Marks. Very effective.

We tried lots of apps, including some I thought looked fab like the rockstars ones. In the end what worked was a rule that every time we got in the car, regardless of journey time, we’d run through 2 x tables. Only once per day though. We had a car school run, so would do in the morning, but not the return journey. He would say them three times: once together, twice in his own and then I would quiz him on the two tables he’d done. We got really fast and both boys would be done within 10 mins. It really is worth the time. Good luck.

Thanks all, I bought a set of funkey cards, she’s quite a visual learner so I’m hoping these help. Going to start on 3x this week and see how we go!

It is all about rote learning really, so whatever method works best for her, is the one.

The thing is to be consistent.

I am an older parent, and my dc did Kumon back in the day. As much as they (and me, as I had to mark everything) disliked it, now at ages 25 and 22 you can never catch them out with multiplication. It just works but is just constant rote learning.

https://blackdogworks.co.uk/dragongame/

Old school but worked for my son.

Most times tables apps either run too long or never bring back the facts a kid got wrong two weeks ago, so they look fluent in week one and have forgotten 7x8 by week three. The two things that actually moved the needle for mine were a strict three second per fact target and short sessions, around five minutes. If an app does timed recall and brings back missed facts at widening intervals it will work. If it is just a pretty interface over flash cards it will not.

don't start at 3 times tables, start with one and then two, easier for child to understand and they have immediate success to build on.

What I did with my grandchildren was that they decided which table, say 4. When they were ready I would give them three random questions from the 4s table (always easy, but they had prepared them all)

If they got it right, they had £1. last table, £4 which made it a total of £15 for doing their tables at their own time and initiative.

Encourage the times table to be worked out by constant addition if you REALLY want them to 'get' times tables.

By adding 6, 7 times for 6 x 7.... 6,12,18,24,30,36,42 and practising this regularly is the best way in the long run. They will natually, eventually know that 6 x 7 = 42, but will also understand why which is immeasuably more powerful for their future learning.

Most children who do not know their times tables in secondary is because they have not been bothered to do the above.

Another vote for Times Table Rock Stars

mathbuilders.com seems to be fairly new but the approach is like how I mentioned earlier and it has a way to focus on the facts that each kids struggles with individually.

‘Hit the Button’ website and try to improve score each time