Secret to timestables success?

[MrsDThaskala]

Hi.

DD is really struggling to learn times tables after all these years. She's in year 6 and still panics and says the wrong number. When she was younger I tried posters, and songs, and then books, but she still hasn't learned them. Yesterday an older relative said Hey What's 7x7? And she just panicked and got embarrassed.

Any tips or ways your DC learned the tables? Books or just parrot learning? I once bought a book that said times tables in a story which was good, but it never sunk in. Anything you might suggest?

It’s pure repetition.

How is she with mental addition/subtraction. I found it hard to remember when I was in the school but I found if I knew the easier ones to remember (2,5 &10's) then I could figure out the trickier ones for me. So id think of 5x7 and the add on until I got 7x7. It wouldn't take much longer to answer for me that way.
I'm sure your relative meant well but I'd avoid putting her on the spot. If she is like me, it will just add to her mental block and affect her confidence. I had a great teacher that realised I was finding it hard and only asked me times tables she knew I found easy when doing them out loud in class. That helped me hugely

We do comedy ‘chanting’. They have had times tables placemats for a few years now and periodically do a tables chant in deliberately exaggerated tones “ seven sevens are forty NINE”, and the story is that it’s their numbskulls who are learning so the dc don’t actually have to hold the knowledge themselves. Much like learning nonsense nursery rhymes.

Time tables rockstars was a game changer for us when it came to tables.

Times table Rockstars is great!

Times tables rockstars is great. I’m a teacher and have never seen kids as motivated by anything else, progress has been incredible. It’s just repetition through ‘games’ (various ways of presenting the questions as far as I can see 😂) but they can spend their points on things for their avatar. And it’s only about £7 per year for a family subscription.

Oh thank you all. Timetables rockstars? Is that an app?

There's a book called times fables which was useful.

Practice.
Not having a child with SEN.

If you have been practicing properly and they still don't get it then teach strategies to work it out on paper. At secondary they can get away without it being instant if they can work it out on paper. It isn't ideal but better than nothing.

Does she know the finger trick for the 9x ?

Squeebles have a great app. DD does 5 mins before school every day.

@TeenMinusTests

Practice. Not having a child with SEN.

If you have been practicing properly and they still don't get it then teach strategies to work it out on paper. At secondary they can get away without it being instant if they can work it out on paper. It isn't ideal but better than nothing.

Does she know the finger trick for the 9x ?

The problem is when it comes to things like simplifying fractions. I can glance at eg 24/96 and know it can be simplified by dividing by 12 as both those are in the 12x table. It takes a long old time to sit and work out, are they in the 9s? The 8s? The 7s? And so on.

It is bloody hard for some SEN kids though 🙁 I’ve taught some dyslexic kids who have logical brains that can understand the maths, but can’t do it easily because despite huge amounts of effort they just can’t retain times table facts. It’s so frustrating for them.

OP yes TTRS is an app or you can use a web browser.

Does she not know the answer or does she panic when people expect her to perform on demand?

modge The problem is when it comes to things like simplifying fractions. I can glance at eg 24/96 and know it can be simplified by dividing by 12 as both those are in the 12x table. It takes a long old time to sit and work out, are they in the 9s? The 8s? The 7s? And so on.

Oh I agree. It is much better if you do know your times tables, but the world doesn't stop if you don't.

It is bloody hard for some SEN kids though 🙁 I’ve taught some dyslexic kids who have logical brains that can understand the maths, but can’t do it easily because despite huge amounts of effort they just can’t retain times table facts. It’s so frustrating for them.

My DD2 seems to be one of them. She's 17. Can do times tables with repeated practice, but that then means nothing else gets practiced. As soon as we stop it goes again. But also has trouble with time (telling it and general concepts), struggles with left and right.

Quite capable of factorising simple quadratics though.