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Original poster

Times Tables, what age are they expected to know/learn them?

53 replies

Linnet · 24/05/2005 22:21

Dd1 is 7,nearly 8, and in Primary 3 (we're in Scotland)we got her report card on Friday and the teacher has written that she needs to practise her 2,3,4,5 and 10 times tables.

Does anyone elses child/children of this age know their times tables off by heart?

Should I be worrying? We have parents evening tomorrow night with her teacher and I have lots of questions to ask but just wondered if I should be worrying or not about the maths situation.

OP posts:
Carla · 24/05/2005 22:24

DD2 will be at the end of Y2 (six, some of them are seven) and has started to learn it at school. I've bought the poster, bought the tape (but not played it), but it does seem jolly early to me. BTW, though, this is from someone who's never learnt them

Cam · 24/05/2005 22:24

My 8 yr old dd does know those tables off by heart. We have a tape which we played in the car and I practised them with her until they sunk in!
When I was at school we did them at school chanting by rote but it seems they don't do it that way nowadays and we have to help them.

Carla · 24/05/2005 22:25

Linnet, can your dd count in two's? My dd can, but I don't yet think she equates it with times tables!

SaintGeorge · 24/05/2005 22:26

DS1 is a similiar age (8 in September) and his current list is 2,5 and 10. He knows them and is bored so his teacher suggested he do 3,4, 6 and 7 - but that is over and above what he is expected to learn.

Cam · 24/05/2005 22:27

In answer to Carla, its not early, I remember learning them at age 7. I think 6/7/8 are optimum ages for this kind of rote learning and luckily I did take them in - its the only maths I can now do automatically!

Original poster
Linnet · 24/05/2005 22:30

She can count 2,4,6,8,10 etc but I'm not sure she's always understanding that 2x3 is 6. The workbooks are helping and I've been doing the chant that we used to do at school, but from what dd tells me they don't seem to do that at school. We also have the poster but not a tape although I'm thinking of getting one.

I really don't want her to fall behind in maths, I was never very good a maths and I'm really trying to help her but I don't want to put her off at the same time. I don't remember learning tables until I was in Primary 4.

OP posts:
Milliways · 24/05/2005 22:31

Mine started properly in Yr3. By Yr6 they have the table tree. To be at the top have to recite each table forwards & backwards within a set (v.short) time. The competition was intense. Once at the top of the "tree" (fastest times up to 14x table) you could be moved down if the teacher asked you a question at ANY time (break, lunch, leaving at end of day) and didn't get a correct instant response. But, they all thought it tremendous fun and demanded to be tested all the time

DS is 9 and knows all his tables up to 10 - but he loves Maths. I would say at age 8, 2x 5x & 10x should be known, with 3x & 4x the next targets. Do you know any songs to recite them to?

Cam · 24/05/2005 22:39

Oh linnet, I got dd to understand that , eg. 2x3 was if you had 6 bananas and 3 people, how many bananas would they each get? I always think that numbers in isolation are fairly meaningless (esp. to females!)and it is necessary to relate them to something important like slices of cake.

Shazzler · 24/05/2005 22:56

My dh would like you all to know that he knew all his tables up to the 10x by the age of 5.

His dad taught him and is now working on our ds who is 4.

Shazzler · 24/05/2005 22:56

He's such a show off

Milliways · 24/05/2005 23:04

BBC website here can be fun

Original poster
Linnet · 24/05/2005 23:10

Cam I've been trying that with her as well. dd doesn't call it dividing she calls it sharing but says that she doesn't do this the other groups do. I'm going to ask her teacher tomorrow what exactly her group does.

the workbooks we've bought cover multiplication and some basic dividing as well. But because I'm not exactly sure what stage she's at I don't want to bamboozle her with too much information that she's not ready for.

thanks for the bbc site Milliways I'll let her play on that as well, she likes the maths websites.

OP posts:
Frizbe · 24/05/2005 23:36

SS is starting to do his now at end of year 2

slug · 25/05/2005 10:14

I get college students who still can't do their times tables. I've found that playing a game helps:

Times Table Snap (for 2 or 3 players)

Make up some cards, or cut out rectangles of thick paper. On one side write single numbers. It dosen't matter if you have more 2's 3's and 4's than 9's or 12's. Divide the cards into two equal piles. Each player holds their cards face down. At the same time each player turns the top card over (like snap) the first player to correctly say what those two numbers multiplied together equals wins. They put the cards on the bottom of their own pile. If both get the answer right at the same time, each player gets one of the cards. The winner is the one who gets all the cards in the end. If you want to have a third player, they can be the referee, deciding who was first and who was correct. In these cases I usually supply them with a times table grid so they can do the checking. Inevitably they will get some pairs e.g. 8 x 7 which they may not have learnt in class yet. Don't worry, it's a way of stretching them.

I find this works very well, especially in boys for whom the competetive element is a real motivator. It's also great with siblings who generally love getting one over an older brother or sister.

roisin · 25/05/2005 15:02

DS is 7, nearly 8, and they do 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10. DS can 'work them out' extremely quickly - when doing mental maths they get several seconds to write the answer and the teacher reads the question twice - so he doesn't see the point of learning them off by heart.

I've got a tape which he plays at bedtime, which may help.

Has anyone tried one of those electronic things: like this one ? Are they any good?

PrettyCandles · 25/05/2005 15:16

I remember that in primary school we new our tables up to 12x12 by about age 10. Curious that Linnnet's dd has to practice 2, 5 and 10, which are the easiest, but doesnt' need to practice 6,7 and 8, which are the hardest - or hasn't she started them yet?

I don't think that it's a worry, just exactly what it says: she needs to practice.

Original poster
Linnet · 25/05/2005 23:01

ok, had parents evening tonight. I asked the teacher about the times tables. She told dh and I that dd hasn't actually started her times tables yet, none of the class have apparently, not according to dd though. She did say that they had gone over the 2x table as a class but she doesn't need to know them off by heart before starting primary 4.

Ok, so now I'm really confused, why put it in the report card that she has to practise these if they aren't even doing them in the class?
We're going to continue with the workbooks that we have, Dd enjoys doing these and I'm going to get some more to brush up on her mentals maths etc. Maths seems to be her stumbling block. Plus I figure if she knows them then at least she'll have a tiny bit of a head start as it were in primary 4.

Thanks for all the great tips. I'm going to see about getting a tape for her to listen to in bed and the snap game sounds fun slug, will help me to brush up on my tables as well.

OP posts:
zaphod · 25/05/2005 23:17

My dd was expected to learn her tables from when she was 7, or in 1st class here (Ireland). IMO far too young, and it is only now that she can actually do them properly(she is just 9), even though we tried everything from tapes, to singing them. Admittedly, she is NOT good at maths, but I think that is a seperate matter entirely, IYSWIM.

sorrel · 25/05/2005 23:42

dd is coming to the end of year 5 and times tables seem to have been the basis of all her maths this year. the revision they are doing at the mo is all times tables up to 10 including the extended ones. ( 9x 90= 180 or 360 : 6 = 30) This has been leading to fraction and decimal exercises( for which you need to know your tables really well) DD is 9 and stil needs a bit of help to remember the hard ones(like me! 9x8 has always eluded me!

sorrel · 25/05/2005 23:43

sorry i know 9 x 90 is 810!

sorrel · 25/05/2005 23:44

and that 360:6 is 60 Just checking if anyone is still awake.......

tatt · 26/05/2005 06:30

I'd say it was normal to start tables at 7 - but they aren't expected to know them all until 10. Also they are taught now differently to when I learnt mine. We used to chant once 2 is 2, 2 2s are 4 but my children just do 2, 4 ,6 .... Personally I think the old way was better

Playing games like snap, dominoes and pontoon really help kids with mental maths as do PC games like maths rabbit (learning company).

sammac · 26/05/2005 07:26

Linnet, I am in the midst of teaching this to my lower group in P4. The other 2 groups started learning it at about this time last year in P3, so what the teacher is doing is right on target. Depending on where the class is on their workbooks, the times tables are introduced at the very beginning of Heineman 3 (If this is the scheme being used)There's about 8 or 10 pages of working on the concept of tables and of introducing the 2 times tables. This will probably be supplemented by lots of additional material- games, using counter type things to help etc.

Once the 2 times is mastered, then it's the 3, 4, 5 then 10. When I'm doing this, I take about a week per new table, dependent on the children. After this they learn the concept of dividing.

The other tables are not touched for ages, because they then move on to working in numbers up to 999.

To add to the recommendations look at \link{http://teachingtables.co.uk\ this site. My class love it. You can time yourself, play bingo, or climb table mountain.Or do a search for times tables games- there's loads around.

sammac · 26/05/2005 07:26

Linnet, I am in the midst of teaching this to my lower group in P4. The other 2 groups started learning it at about this time last year in P3, so what the teacher is doing is right on target. Depending on where the class is on their workbooks, the times tables are introduced at the very beginning of Heineman 3 (If this is the scheme being used)There's about 8 or 10 pages of working on the concept of tables and of introducing the 2 times tables. This will probably be supplemented by lots of additional material- games, using counter type things to help etc.

Once the 2 times is mastered, then it's the 3, 4, 5 then 10. When I'm doing this, I take about a week per new table, dependent on the children. After this they learn the concept of dividing.

The other tables are not touched for ages, because they then move on to working in numbers up to 999.

To add to the recommendations look at \link{http://teachingtables.co.uk\ this site. My class love it. You can time yourself, play bingo, or climb table mountain.Or do a search for times tables games- there's loads around.

sammac · 26/05/2005 07:27

Try again

\link{http://teachingtables.co.uk\

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