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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Times tables - looks like I'll have to teach DD myself

25 replies

NormanTebbit · 05/11/2011 21:13

Dd is seven. She is in P3, but doesn't seem to know her times tables.her teacher doesn't know what she does in Maths because she is in the top group and goes to another class for tuition.

Homework is very easy - think number lines and fill in the missing number in a sequence which she can do in her sleep. Yet they don't seem to be tackling times tables which for me were a basic foundation to later arithmetic.

So how do I teach her? Are there any materials which could help? Any online games etc?

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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welliesandpyjamas · 05/11/2011 21:18

If you spend time travelling in a car (or your DD will listen to a CD anywhere else, obviously), this will drive you mad is good and helped DS1. Sort of catchy, tbh

Original poster

NormanTebbit · 05/11/2011 21:24

That looks just the sort of thing - thanks- have a four year too so she might as well get going with them too.

I don't know...are times tables out of fashion now?

OP posts:

welliesandpyjamas · 05/11/2011 21:29

It should help both then. My 2 yr old started singing along too

No, I doubt they are out of fashion. They probably try and incorporate it in ways that give it more context first, before making them learn to recite them? It was definitely part of Yr 3 Maths for DS1, and he needed to be able to recite (and know) at least 2, 3, 5, and 10 times tables properly by the end of the year.

joanofarchitrave · 05/11/2011 21:31

I've just ordered that, thanks

sounds like you should go to see the teacher she is having maths with?

Lifeissweet · 05/11/2011 21:36

No - not at all out of fashion. At my school every child in the school has a sheet of 'key Instant Recall Facts' that they have to learn at home and are tested weekly. These include times tables.

They do have to do the learning in their own time, though. It takes a lot of practice and memorising. I would ask her maths teacher.

Original poster

NormanTebbit · 05/11/2011 21:40

Yes I think I will go to see the other teacher. It's hard to track dd's progress in Maths as the h/w seems deliberately easy and Dd is not forthcoming about her work in class. We don't seem to get much info about how Maths is taught and I am starting g to get worried. I want dd to feel confident as the work is only going to get harder.

OP posts:

Iamnotminterested · 05/11/2011 22:18

NormanTebbit - so your daughter is in the top group but does not know her times tables ?? Begs the question, then, as to why she is in the top group?

Iamnotminterested · 05/11/2011 22:19

And kind of begs the question as to WTF the other groups are doing??

Original poster

NormanTebbit · 05/11/2011 22:26

Indeed.
I suspect the 'top group' is very large and the other group are children struggling with the basic of basics.

Actually I was surprised to hear that she was in this group, especially as last year's teacher pointed out DD had some difficulty grasping new mathematical concepts.

OP posts:

Iamnotminterested · 05/11/2011 22:34

Norman I think you need to go in and ask exactly what her targets are. My DD's go to a very good community school and I would hope that ALL of the year 3's know at least 2, 5, 10 and 3 X tables, and if they didn't I would be asking if it is a particularly weak year ?.

Iamnotmin... staggers off to ruminate on the groupings in the top ability set that do NOT know X tables...

feetheart · 05/11/2011 22:45

We are in the same position with Yr4 DD. She is also in top group but I was HORRIFIED recently to find out how little she knew of her tables.
She had a very disrupted year last year and very little in the way of spellings/tables homework. We presumed, wrongly it now seems, that she was doing things in class - oldest child and DH and my school experience is eons ago. Luckily she is a good speller but we have found Timez Attack brilliant for improving her tables whilst playing a 'proper' computer game.

Seona1973 · 06/11/2011 10:53

dd started times tables in P3. She also has a times table poster on her wall that I got from the library.

handsomeharry · 06/11/2011 11:13

Is it P3 in Scotland? That is a year 'behind' Y3 in England isn't it? More like Y2.

I know DS started his tables in P3 but it was after the Christmas holidays. I only remember specifically because he was so excited that he spent some of his Christmas money on a poster and CD.

I think it would be a good idea to go in for a chat with the maths teacher though.

multiplication.com has some fun games on it.

Carrotsandcelery · 06/11/2011 11:18

My dd (now 10 and in P6 Scotland) started her tables in P3 but is constantly revising them and seems to struggle with them.

Things we have done to try to help:
times tables CD
times tables poster above her bed
times tables workbooks for at home
playing games in the car firing questions at her

The thing that seems to interest her most is playing times tables games online. There are loads of them. It is also worth asking schools if they subscribe to a website. Ours does and gives the pupils a password so they can play online.

Dd's current teacher said that it gets to a point where they may just have to learn it by writing it out. Reciting doesn't solve it entirely as my dd can do that no problem but can't select out a random sum.

redskyatnight · 06/11/2011 13:51

My Y3 DS has a times table to learn every week. If he gets them all right (or just one wrong) in the end of week test, he moves on to the next one. From what I can gather this is repeated ad-nauseam until he has instant recall.

However, in Y2 he didn't know any tables at all. He did know the theory of how they were worked out (repeated addition) but couldn't tell you what any given table was without staring at 1x and working through.

So it may be you have this to come further up the school.

handsomeharry · 06/11/2011 14:00

Yes that's exactly what I was thinking redsky. I'm sure in P2 there is a section in the workbook that introduces the multiplication sign but it is more for the concept of repeated addition rather than learning the actual tables.

I don't think a wee chat would do any harm though just to ask how best to support at home.

aries12 · 06/11/2011 15:27

Children seem to find it difficult to remember them but eventually they "sink in" . My Dd knew the 2,3,5,10 last year in Y2..however, she seems to have forgotten them this year much to my shock considering she too is in a Maths top group! I am now starting all over again with the three times tables. I have the CD...must admit I never used it...but I will have to try it now!
The tables are so important in my opinion as they can't do problems until they know the tables. My Dd had a page of problem Maths this weeknd...pretty difficult to do if you do not know your times Tables!
I think one of the best ways is perhaps spending 10 minutes a day doing a particular set..."easier said than done!" (I know!!)

Sparklingbrook · 06/11/2011 15:32

The CD worked for us (it gets stuck in your head mind). Added advantage that DS2 picked it up as well even though we got it for DS1 because they both listened to it in the car. I think we had a Ladybird book one with CD.

DeWe · 06/11/2011 15:55

Dd2 (yr3) learnt her 2,3,5 and 10 x tables last year.
They've just been set and she's either top or second (not sure as they're not told which, just the name of teacher) and they've been told they will have a test on 2,3,4,5,6,8, and 10 times tables next week.

She basically knows her 11 x (up to 10) and 9 x (up to 11) by the patterns as well.

She's ben doing number squares to help her learn, timed to give her something to aim at, and that's pretty much taught her 6, and 8 in a few days.

LindyHemming · 06/11/2011 17:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

NormanTebbit · 06/11/2011 19:47

Yes I think parents have been left a bit in the dark - our school is new, the result of three merging - and things seem to be a bit disorganised.

I think I will see the depute for infants to ask about Maths - it's easy to see how well your child is progressing in reading and spelling as this is a major part of DD's h/w. the contrast with the simplicity of the maths h/w - last week was find the even numbers in the maze - is very obvious.

I just feel very confused about what she should be learning in P3 and how to support her.

I'd rather go through her tables with her every night than make rockets out of cardboard boxes ( also last week's h/w)

But thanks for your suggestions! I will look online and purchase CD.

OP posts:

daisysue2 · 07/11/2011 11:58

Both my dds were on completely different schools, on a top state primary and the other an independent school. Neither learnt their times tables. In the state primary it was expected that the parents taught it to the children at home even though we weren't told this. They never had a times table test. This school scores 1 in everything in it's Ofstead. The independent school sent the times tables home once to be tested for each number in year 2 but not since. So I seem to spend years teaching them both their tables (they both have very poor memory) without any follow through in schools. So it really depends on the schools maths policy.

SarahfromPearson · 09/11/2011 16:55

NormanT, there's a times tables game on the Mumsnet Learning pages (www.mumsnet.com/learning/maths/interactive-times-tables-activity). There are some (hopefully) useful ideas for using it with your child. Any help?

Ferguson · 09/11/2011 21:57

I just gave this site to someone else, but you might find it useful if you still following this thread:

www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/index.html

Also some of these are fun, I like "Save the Whale"!

/www.ictgames.com/resources.html

cheera

Ferguson · 09/11/2011 21:58

Sorry - that was meant to be " cheers "

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