Arghhhhhhhh best way to learn times tables

[kilmuir]

Thats it really. Have a DD who is 7 and hates times tables. I may be a fogey but I believe that once you know them they are a bonus. We have an ipad which she enjoys.

My dd is in year 3 and knows her tables from 1-15.
Repetition is the key. Do them in the car on the way to school.
My best friend is a secondary school maths teacher and she she said that the children who find maths difficult are the students who do not know their tables.

Timez Attack

In the end it, it doesn't matter at all.

DD1 and I will never know our tables (dyslexic, crap working memory).

I have an A for maths and she will get at least a B probably an A too.

Like agonising over handwriting and spelling it gives primary teachers something to do, parents something to stress about and children something to rebel against. Only the children are right.

It's been said a few times here, but the Squeebles app is brilliant (and for spelling too)

Your teacher friend is partly right that tables help with somethings, but it's not knowing the actual answers that matters is understanding the concept.

Being comfortable with the commutative nature of multiplication, being able to manipulate fractions, being happy with brackets and the order of operations all those things make algebra less scary.

Being treated like an idiot for not knowing 6x8=counts on fingers 48 just makes you hate maths.

"Harry's magic tables" book worked for me. I can't do link from phone but I think it is available through amazon. It worked really quickly for my children.

We tried times table CD's in the car, times attacks etc, but what really got DS (Y3) to learn his last three tables X7 X8 and X12 was taking his DS, Kindle and laptop off him until he learnt them. He had been stuck on those three for almost 2 terms and once we gave him a reason to learn and pass he didn't get a single sum wrong.

Now we just need to get him through his 100 badge (100 mixed tables in 10 minutes for 10 weeks)

Stick them on the bathroom door! My Dad did this for us and for the amount of time spent on toilet or in bath . . . we knew them by heart!

I wish I'd been shown how easy the 9x table is the method where you hold ip both hands and have a bisula aid:

E.g hold both hands up for 1 x 9 put left hand thumb down. The remaining fingers up equal 9.

Both hands up again, 2 x 9 put index finger of left hand down instead. Now you have 1 thumb up, then a gap, then 8 fingers = 18!

3 x 9 put third finger down of left hand. Now you have 2 fingers up(thumb and index finger) then a gap, then 7 fingers up = 27

And so on.....

Bisula?? Read that as VISUAL !!

Ip is up!

Why can't we have an edit function please MNHQ?

Times tables are the lynch pin on which just about everything (other than addition & subtraction) in maths is based. Without them, you are utterly stuffed

Just wanted to offer an alternative view: I was never that good at times tables as a child, especially the 6s, 7s and 8s. I couldn't always recall them instantly and needed a bit of time to work them out. However I was, and still am, very mathematical, got a A for GCSE Maths quite easily and went on to do A Level Maths.

My own dd is in Year 4 and has recently made a massive improvement. They practice them so much at school, for some children they just need time.

Not sure if it's been mentioned - you can buy times tables DVDs that sing daft songs

So put it on in the back ground or car - easier to learn and don't know they are doing it

What a transparent interesting first post, curlykay.

We love Percy Parker tables in KS 1, They are on YouTube, but the kids sing a selection every day.
In KS2 we do TT Rockstars, which is timed tables test against each other and even other schoolls, on line.
We have a league table in school, which the kids are very competitive over. Plus they get to have a rockstar avatar/persona and the option to have some rock music playing !
This seems to have had a really good effect on times tables learning.

We also do TT Rockstars, they love it!

Walking. Seriously, it helps

I only found out that my sons school didn't really do much on times tables when he was in year 3 and struggling. In year 4 he would come home with tables to learn but again it wasn't something they really did in class. I tried everything at home with him and he couldn't seem to crack them so I started paying for him to go to a maths club where he would focus a lot on times table and get timed every week reciting them. All about repetition really and he has really started to master them.

I expect your school's attitude will change dramatically when the statutory tables test for Y4 starts in 2020.

Wrap Ups?

Oh, I feel very nostalgic reading post by PastSellByDate
I really used to love her post. Are you still here?

Past and mrz was my heros when I was lurking before joining!

A recommendation: my son loves Table Fables - www.tablefables.net/ - it has funny animations with silly voices which make the rote-learning of times tables fun. He has been totally into it, wanted to play with it it every day. He hadn't started division but the division option led us to a great talk about it. It also has a matching pairs game which is really clever and which he can do for ages. It has a subscription cost, but it's not high - check it out?