best ways to teach times tables ?

[ChaffinchOfDoom]

Ds in yr 1 has to learn various times tables over easter -
2s...5s..10s...3s and 4s! seems like a load, really wish there was an easy way to sink them into his head? is there a song or something?

Try Percy Parker - available on itunes or CD

That's a lot for yr1. Ds is yr3 and the only way they stick in his head is by chanting them. It's dull but seems to work

Try different ways. Chanting, turn it into a game (we used to play shops), when out use the numbers around you, there are some funky songs, try you tube for a selection m.youtube.com/watch?v=vzXcI49jdV0 Look on the web for different sites resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/timestable/ www.maths-games.org/times-tables-games.html

my dcs loved mwipe www.primarygames.co.uk/pg3/mwipe/mwipe.html

oooh thank you

yes, it is a lot- my dd in yr 3 had easter homework - make a clock.
ds 's teacher was a sub; but she is very good, heavy on the homework though

have favourite all of those links, thanks again

will check out percy parker too,

wow that is lots I have not heard of so many being done at that age, is this state school?

nope bog standard local primary!

Ive bought percy parker

I also agree that's a lot for year 1 - but the new curriculum programme of study (www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/239129/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_Mathematics.pdf - see page 11) does say that for year 2 children learn to count in steps by 2s, 3s, 5s and tens.

Now most start with counting by 2s - also as part of teaching odd and even numbers. This can be easily done by just having your child notice house numbers as you walk to the park or school. Our school also handled this by teaching them the 2-4-6-8 who do we appreciate song to learning counting by 2 to 20. School house rock has this nice video as well: - which teaches that x2 is doubling.

x5 is also about teaching your child that any multiple of 5 will either end in 5 or 0. Really nice video about counting by 5s on school house rock:

I think the next logical times table to learn by counting intervals would x10. This can best be explained by looking at a number square and seeing the pattern of what changes (the tens digit) and what stays the same (the units digit is always the same - so 10 - 20 - 30 etc.. or 13 - 23 - 33 etc). Number square find 10 more game here: www.ictgames.com/100huntplus10.html

Finally learning counting by intervals of 3: - you may recognise the tune from the BBC 3 theme song.

math champs (which is free) has a nice multiples of 2/ 5/ 10 game for practice in 5 - 7 age range: www.mathschamps.co.uk/#home - there are some other games as well.

Woodlands Junior School Mathszone (also a free site) has all sorts of links to games/ resources for learning to count by number sequences resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/interactive/numbers.htm#Sequences - scroll down to spooky sequences games and chose appropriate ones.

At this point - it may be easier for your child to think about this as counting in intervales/ sequences - so 3 - 6 - 9 - 12 rather than thinking of it as times table facts.

HTH

gosh that's brill. thank you. house numbers is ace.

can your son count in 2s, 5s & 10s?

I was just about to say, are you ure it's not skip counting?

homework specifically asks to learn the times tables 2,5,10, and 3 and 4 written like that, as in, do 3s and 4s last

plus its his phonics test after easter so need to talk to him about the whole made up word thing scenario - they still use a mix of real and bonkers words don't they?

he is tricky with maths, v reluctant to do any but knows more than I think, IYSWIM . was doing the 10x table fish game with him, that was really helpful - keeping it fun

gah, it annoys me as I do a lot to support at home; but I do think holidays should be a rest, he was v tired at end of term

Marking spot!

We bought Squeebles on the ipad and dd really enjoyed it, her tables are fantastic now, she's quicker than I am and it didn't seem like work to her at all. (It was theon of reason I let her use my ipad so she saw it as a treat!) ;)

I purchased a little machine for my year 3 boy, called a Multiplication Master - he is now top of the class for times tables! Got it on amazon. Its fab! He just learnt one table at a time.. and then practiced it until his score was around 20/26 in the time on the machine. I also bought large printed cards on amazon.. a4 with each table printed on it... we would study it together and then do the machine game until we got a great score.

Counting in 2, 3, 5 etc proved useless in my child's experience. It made him even slower later on when he had to solve double digits multiplications as he was spending too long counting in his head and using his fingers as well. He made quicker progress after using an online game called 'Hit the button'. The game was similar to those on Nintendo DS. It worked really well for my child, but not for his close friend.