Y3 ds doesn't know his number bonds to 10...

[MerryMarigold]

Just feel so down about this. His teacher came up to me today and asked me to go over them with him as she had tried to do this at lunch isn't lunchtime for playing/ winding down and he couldn't manage. He's nearly 8! Ds2 who is 4 nearly knows his number bonds to 10.

He's worked really hard this holidays (relatively speaking). He managed his 3x table in the end and started joined up writing. It's so slow to get him to learn and then he forgets so quickly. It's frustrating for me, let alone for him.

Sorry, just had to vent as he is now playing around a friend's house and I want to get the 'upset' out of my system. If anyone's had experience of this, please share!

One nice thing about cuisenaire rods is they allow for simultaneously doing multiplication and division, manipulating number families, which makes more sense for some children than coping with a series of lists to learn, one after the other (addition tables, followed by subtraction, multiplication, division, starting with 1 and ending with 12 in each case). You can see how addition and subtraction are related, and how multiplication is related to addition and to division.

I agree with Ferguson's suggestions, especially trying to point out patterns among the numbers (2, 4, 8 3, 6, 9 - 5, 10).
7 is a bit irregular, and 12 can go in the 2 group or the 3 group.
11 can be learned quite easily.

I found when the DCs were small they loved doubles in addition (2 + 2 etc) and harnessed that enthusiasm to explore subtraction of doubles (2 - 2, etc)

I second the dyscalculia book.

9 x tables

The answer always adds up to 9 (sort of)

1 x 9 = 9
2 x 9 = 18 (1+8) is 9
3 x 9 = 27 (2+7)
4 X 9 = 36 (3+6)
etc.

Also, the first number in the answer is one less that the first number in the question

2 x 9 (one less than two is 1 so it's 1 and 8) = 18
3 x 9 (one less than three is 2 so it's 2 and 7) = 27
4 x 9 (one less than four is 3 so it's 3 and 6) = 36
etc.

It sounds complicated but I learned it when I was about 7 and it helped me. Some children need to see visual patterns, some can visualise them in their head, some can remember rhymes, some need objects to move around. Use all the strategies and at least one of them will work, I'm sure.

It only works up to 9x9 btw but 10 and 11 are easy anyway.

Get 2 pieces of A4 paper and ten pennies. Divide the ten pennies between the 2 sheets of paper in different ways.
That way he'll see that the total amount doesn't alter and they can be shared in different ways.

Thanks so much Ferguson. Lego is a great idea and we have loads of it. He loves lego so I hope it feels less 'work-y'.

Fairenuff, the 9x table thing, my sister showed me something with fingers which was similar! I prefer this as it's written down. However, he never remembers that 11x table is just the number written twice 11x2=22, 11x3=33. SO, not sure he's going to get this. The teacher says she is only expecting instant recall (out of sequence) on 2,3,4,5,8,10 by the end of Y3. I think Y4 will be 6,7,9,11,12.

I think I always 'got' concepts quite easily, which ds1 doesn't so I am always trying to remember how it feels to totally not understand something (mine would be instructions on electronic appliances!).

It seems very unimaginative and illogical to do it by disjointed lists as your teacher seems to be doing. There isn't really any teaching of a concept there.

Sometimes children do better if they know the big picture, not just each little disjointed part. Some can understand tables if they are presented with multiplication and division at the same time.

You've had lots of good advice which I won't bother adding to, but just wanted to say how kind it was of your DS's teacher to try to help him during her lunch break when she could probably have done with a few minutes winding down and a . :) DC#1 had a teacher like that and I have never stopped thanking them. As parents, we're quick to and take proactive teachers for granted, when actually there aren't as many as we would like out there.

I haven't read all the posts just op

Put two rings on a table (bangles/coasters) and using pasta or orange segments say to your son both circles have to have a total of 10. Let him play with different options.

He may start with 1 in the first circle and 2 in the second. Let him get use to the idea.

Once he gets the hang of it a few times - it may take a few days the next stage is for him to write the sum in front of him.
On a piece of paper I like to write + and = I then place these two signs in between the circle so he can see exactly how the sum comes about and how to translate on paper.

If you let him play this game independently he may not forget so quickly.

Daily practice is the key - writing is not always necessary.

I just ran across this while wasting time on Pinterest - multiplication for 6x, 7x, 8x and 9x using fingers

Actually, you can go up to 10 x 10, thinking about it.