Times tables in Y2, I'm worried.

[LingDiLong]

So DD has come home with a letter from her Y2 teacher asking us to ensure they know their 2x tables by the end of the weekend. Sounds easy but DD is struggling to understand. She can count in 2s no problem - up to 24 and beyond. But the minute you try and get her to 'recite' the 2x tables properly (i.e. "1 x 2 is 2, 2 x 2 is 4") she struggles big time. I'm worried because she should surely be able to do this by 1/2 way through Y2 and I really don't know how to help her other than to keep getting her to recite it again and again.

Any tips?? Or reassurance?

Do they learn it 1x 2x etc? There seems to be a lot of chanting 2,4,6, etc in my ds year 2. 2s, 5s and 10s times tables here I think. Mainly a chant though.

Yes, they do. I got her to tell me how she did it in school first to be sure!

It just seems to really confuse her, as soon as I say "1x2 is....??" she responds with "4? 12? 24??" and other outlandish answers. It's infuriating and exhausting trying to hide that infuriation!

Get her to use her fingers.

Model counting in 2s on each finger, then point to a finger and see if she can tell you what the number should be.

If she can do this, then she knows her 2x table, but just isn't sure of how to recall the number sentence.

Otherwise, see if she recognises the relationship between repeated addition and multiplication.

Show her a group of 2. Add another group of 2. How many groups does she have? ie 2 groups of 2 is 4. Keep going, and when she's comfortable talking in terms of groups or lots, then she's got it.

Hi LingDiLong

Agree with juniper904 using fingers as your calculator helps.

If she needs something more visual because she's struggling to imagine the multiplies try getting some raisins or smarties and then set them out in 10 groups of 2 (or twelve if your school teaches to x12).

Then say how many are in 1 group of 2 - pushing two smarties toward your daughter. She should say 2. Now let me show you how we would write that. Then write on a piece of paper 1 x 2. Then show her the sum and say that reads one times two. The x stands for times and is the symbol for multiplication.

Now push another two smarties up. So you have 2 groups of 2. Then say to her what is 2 groups of 2 or 2 x 2. She can see all four. If she's struggling ask her to count them. When she gets four she can eat them.

Carry on - either eating your smarties or saving them for the end (I told my DD when she got to x12 she could eat them all).

Once she's confident - you can then explain that with multiplication it doesn't matter which way you write the sum - 5 x 2 or 2 x 5. This will help if she sees different ordering on homework/ SATs/ etc...

HTH.

sorry that should have read - imagine the multiples

Does she understand that the 2X table is simply doubling numbers?

Believe it or not, the other alleged 'top group' children on DD2's table in year 2 didn't know this when she said it in front of her techer

Try something like 2 groups of, or lots of 2 are.....

Or buy smarties and practice with those. Concentrates the mind wonderfully.

Just asked my ds what they do in their class - 'can't remember' he said predictably. Grrrr!!

Thanks all. I did try using lego bricks to emphasise the groups of 2 thing but that seemed to confuse her further. I might try it again with Smarties though!

I also like the idea of a 'finger calculator' so will give that a whirl too.

She won't be the only one who can't do it by the end of the weekend, so don't panic unduly.

I would just start with one fact '1x2'. When she knows the answer to that teach her one more fact. When she knows both of them ask her both in random order......

If she knows 1x2 and 2x2 by the end of the weekend she's done brilliantly.

I use Percy Parker - 1X2 is 2 arms 2 X 2 is 4 arms 3 X 2 altogether makes 6 arms ...

I'd make some flashcards with the sum on one side e.g. 2 x 3 and the sum and answer on the other. Teach her the first two or three and practise them until reasonably firm and then add the next one. Shuffle them up so she remembers the answer, not the sequence. If she gets one wrong, tell her the answer and tuck it behind the next card. Go through the pack a couple of times and then put them away for at least a hour, that way it's quick and painless and she won't have to chant throught the whole table to get the answer to 2x12!

It sounds like she doesn't 'understand' what she is being asked. Try putting little piles of things out - one 'lot' of two is ? where's that pile? It might be easier for her to understand if she can visualise it, once she grasps the point of it, the chanting is the only way to actually learn them (unfortunately) .... when we got to the point of chanting I got my kids to do a worksheet every night with 24 questions jumbled up and they eventually got the hang of it :/

I find having a "maths teddy" useful. Having a toy joining in makes it more fun. They can also help her with the answer if she struggles and can ask her for help when they get stuck.
Also I found with my dd at this age, they don't get new concepts all at once; it used to take her about 3 months between introducing something new and her understanding it. Every time I went over something it became clearer to her. Little and often, with the message that I didn't expect her to get it first time (or even second or third) really helped.

Thanks to those who replied later on. Mrz Percy Parker looks great but she's in a Welsh school so she needs to learn her times tables in Welsh unfortunately! We made great progress over the weekend, she definitely understands what multiplication/times tables means now and could work out 5x2, 3x2 etc by adding up two 5s and two 3s. She can recite the whole 2 xs table as well but gets a bit stuck when she's asked them out of sequence. Not a bad weekend's work though, she's very pleased with herself!

I started telling DS that
2+2+2 is the same as 2x2
2+2+2+2+2 is the same as ... (he counted the 2s and then wrote 5x2)
we did that for a while until he had understood how xtables work. We then used other numbers, e.g. 6+6+6 = 3x6 = 18

To learn it, we listened to songs (Percy Parker, there are others too), flashcards, there are online games (domino etc)....

The above took longer than a weekend though!

I don't speak English to DS, I found a great xtalbes CD and plenty of materials in German and make up my own songs and rhymes. I am sure there is plenty out there in Welsh too.

I recommend Percy Parker too for learning the rhymes. Some of them are on Youtube.

Yes, I use a lot of YouTube, very useful for stuff in other languages too.

Thanks for the Percy Parker tip, just downloading it now from iTunes. My DCs will really respond well to that i think.

gabid Hope you didn't start with saying that "2+2+2 is the same as 2x2"...

Mine did "doubles" in year 1, then were told in year 2 that another way of saying double 4 is 2 x 4 and worked on from there. that way they already knew the answers before they used the times table notation.

For now just help her to memeorise it.Make it into a silly game starting really really easy.
For example you could do a relay race Write out 2 cards 2x2, 3x2 and 2 cards for the answers put the 2 'question cards at one end of the room and the 2 answers at the other end.
Your DD picks up one reads the question runs to the other end of the room finds the card ,runs back you and you set off with the next question card do the same . Time yourselves so she thinks it's a running game not a maths game.swap so she is doing different questions and then gradually add in more questions and answers.hop instead of run, crawl jump etc make if fun, praise her to the hilt

DeWe - Ups!

Mine loved being chased around the house and when I caught him he had to answer 1-3 times tables questions in order for me to release him. We started off with 1x2 - 3x2 and then I gradually added more, or just 4x2 - 6x2, depending on where.

You could also count socks. She can help you put the washing away, matching pairs of socks - and count them up in twos as she goes.