How to teach 7 & 8 times tables

[X2mum]

My DD is in year 3 and needs to learn her 7 and 8 times tables in the next couple of weeks and her 9s by end of Nov.
We learnt the others ok but really struggling any tips please
Thanks

No tips, but gosh, my dd is also in year 3 and they haven's got that far!

9s you can work out by using your fingers. Put bth hands up, so to work out 3 times 9, put down the 3rd digit. To wrk out the answer, the digits left standing up to the left are tens (so, 2 tens) and the digits on the right are the the units (7), so answer is 27. Hope that makes sense!

I don't know why I have a problem with vowels!

We're just about to tackle 7's for next week.
I found that pointing out to my dd all the sums she did know helped as it made it less daunting so she already knows 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 10x 7 therefore 'only' needs to learn 7x,8x,9x,11x and 12x. We've been crossing them off a multiplication grid as we learn them.

Assuming she knows her other tables, she hasn't got many facts to learn because 4 x 7 = 7 x 4 etc (It's late, I hope that makes sense) So she should only need to learn 7 x 7, 7 x 8, 8 x 8
Try multiplication.com for some fun tables games.

For the nine times table, use the fact that

9xTheNumber = 10xTheNumber - TheNumber.

i.e. 9 x 8 = 10 x 8 - 8 = 80 - 8 = 72

The 10 x 8 should be immediate, so really she just needs to work out 80-8, which should be pips.

I don't like the fingers method as it produces the answer fairly slowly and with no understanding.

DD had to learn most of her tables in Yr3.

The weeks she had to learn the 7s and 8s, I printed off the sums (7 x 5 = 35 etc), cut them out and sellotaped them around the house. She had a great time looking for them and there would always be at least 1 in her line of sight. It helped her learn them individually and not just learning them in order.

I would also fire off a what is 7 x ? when we were walking to/from school and in the car etc.

My BIL taught her the finger method for her 9s (which I didn't know) and she loves showing it off to her friends!

Endless repetition. Not a very exciting answer but the most useful one. You need to set them up for instant recall when they do maths that requires mental arithmetic.

Write it out on a sheet of paper, go over them allowing DC to see the answers, going up and back down in list order. Then do the same, but covering the answers. Then do them in random order (still letting them have the paper with the answers covered, it will give them confidence). Then the same - up and back, no paper. Randomised, no paper. And do them in reverse, to teach them factorising ie 56 = 7 x ?. 10 minutes a night, and dizzy's right about putting them round the house and asking at random times.

(Am a former 11+ tutor :) )

I always remembered 8x as goes up 10 and drops 2 when I was little. It's ingrained now due to years of working with binary and octal, but that's how I started. All of the double-up numbers from 8 onward are on the 8x table - 8 - 16 - 32 - 64 - 128. It's every other number on the 4x table, which I'd guess she already knows? There're links all over the place from 8x.

7x, being a multiplication table of a prime number, is an utter sod to learn. Nothing for that one but brute memorisation and up 10 down 3 once she's got a few waypoints memorised.

Hi x2 mum

Is your DD secure with x4

Then x8 is simply doubling x4

So

1 x 8 is the same thing as 1 x 4 = 4 & then double it = 8
2 x 8 is the same thing as 2 x 4 = 8 & then double it = 16
3 x 8 is the same thing as 3 x 4 = 12 & then double it = 24
4 x 8 is the same thing as 4 x 4 = 16 and double it = 32
and so on....

7 x 8 is always easier to remember if you think
5 - 6 - 7 - 8

7 x 8 = 56 or other way around 56 = 7 x 8 (see 5 -6 - 7 - 8)

Now sevens are tricky but here's the thing if you learned them elewhere

1 x 7 = 7

2 x 7 = 14

3 x 7 = 21

etc...

then all you really have to learn is 7 x 7 = 49 (there's no trick just learn it).

But you can work on facility with adding in sevens (the trick if a leap of 7 is too difficult is no all your number bonds to 7

so if you have 35 and are adding 7 and know 7 = 5 + 2
you can add in two quick jumps - 35 + 5 = 40 +2 = 42

Practice always helps.

Play multipication snap.
Cards are Ace = 1, number cards as shown, Jack = 10, Queen = 11 and King = 12.

Flip over card (let's say it is Jack)

First to shout out 70 gets the card.

Can be fast and furious - worth spicing it up with sweets (10 right answers = 1 rolo)

--------

Some great websites for times tables:

TABLE TREES (very gentle practice): www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/tabletrees.html - just select appropriate table

Maths Champs: www.mathschamps.co.uk - in games 7 - 9 years of age - Multiple match 4 will give plenty of practice on just x6, x7 & x8 tables.

Woodlands Junior school Maths Zone has all sorts of links to 'times tables' games - just select times tables: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/timestable/index.html

My DD1 says multiplication.com (link here: www.multiplication.com/games/all-games - DD1 liked ping pong panda & sketch's world.

If you want more of a challenge (and don't mind the increased stress) - try out Timez Attack. There are several versions - but a 2 platform (castle & dungeon) version is free (and that's all we've ever used). You're a little ogre and you run through a platform solving multiplication problems and getting quizzed by big ogres every now and then. I like it because it shows but multple additions (so counting up 4 x 4 as 4, 8, 12, 16) and then shows traditional vertical multiplcation problem where you type the answer in. link here: www.bigbrainz.com/

We found repetition through play very effective - both DDs have got in lots of practice on times tables without even realising it. They just want to play the fun game.

I think a good recall of times tables is invaluable - I'm glad schools seem to be going back to 7 x 6 = 42 rather than just the very stupid 6 12 18 24 36 42 that some schools were doing.

Chanting 5 7's are 35, 6 7's are 42, 7 7's are 49 is good, it just sinks in.

We do mental arithmetic in the car for at least 15 minutes every day - it really, really does make a difference. I tend to alternate between tables and 'money/buying' type questions.

The 'Yr 3' is now good up to & including 12x (as well as 2 & 10 times pretty much anything) - she had a bit of an 'Oh I can't do 12x ' until I pointed out that she already knew them given she can do 12x2 12x3 12x4 etc Dafty!

I like the same number x same number ones myself - particularly 3x3 7x7 so I usually start with those (I ask the questions she gives the answers) and she says 'You always start with them ' and she's right. I do it because a) I like them and b) things like that 'stick' (she knows I always do them first - her recall of them is instant).

Tricky ones - or rather ones she finds hard to 'get stuck inside her brain' I make a point of doing then somewhere 'different' (ie her recall of 12x12 is associated with hot chocolate in Costa Coffee!).

Whilst the 'finger thing' for 9's is fun, I wouldn't 'teach' it because I think it makes them lazy learning it because they feel they don't need to.

I also talk about the relationship between the numbers and make sure she really understands them - rather than just learning the times tables. Things like 3x12 is 3x10 plus 3x2. We are working on this at the moment because her 'recall' of times tables is brilliant and her written maths is too - but still her 'sense' of the number being right or wrong isn't too good. For example if she does mis-remember a times table it doesn't occur to her that if she has just answered 5x6 as 30, then 6x6 is not going to be 42.

We are now onto 'doing it backwards' - me saying 30 and her saying 3x10, 2x15, 1x30, 5x6 etc

I have to say though, it's just luck that she likes maths & she likes getting things right etc, it's much more difficult if you are doing it with a child that isn't interested/is reluctant.

I teach Year 6, and spend a lot of time reminding the teachers in Yrs 3 and 4 to find some time for practising times tables each week. By the time they get to year 6 and are doing long multiplication and 'bus stop' division, the ones that are having to 'count up' to each number are at a real disadvantage. For example, if you say 'What are 4 sevens?', the child needs to be able to say '28!' and not '7...14...21...28!'

It is VERY obvious in my class which children have parents who practise this with them - it is a great help.

As has been said above, for 7s, there are only 4 more to learn 7x7, 8x7, 9x7 and 12x7.

Oh and my favourite, for 8x7, you just remember 5,6,7,8 - 56 = 7 x 8.

Write out the 'question' e.g. 7x8 on piece of paper. Answer on back. Cut up a sheet of A4 into small squares.

Shuffle. Ask as - correct answers in one pile, wrong answers in another. Repeat until all have been answered correctly.

Repeat often!

Easy to do, was effective for both my older boys. And chant tables on the way to school.

Thanks everyone loads of ideas here going to print off and put them around the house etc and use the websites thank you