Maths Gage

[GobbolinoCat]

I was utterly appalling at Maths at school, in the bottom groups GCSE of one less than U? Can't even remember its always been an anathema to me...

My DD seems to have shed the maths burden, she seems to be able to recognise patterns in numbers...

For children or people who are balanced in Maths at 6, would you be able to recognise patterns in tables....tonight in the car out the blue she said " I think I know my 12 x table....there is a pattern isn't there, 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 etc..."

I was astounded! She then started to say it out and got to 60 something, was confused, then carried on working it out to 100 something...

Is this usual for good maths people.....

I am just a Mum but I think at 6 what your DD is doing is fantastic.

I will stress that in Year 1 (even Year R) schools should be tackling counting by intervals. And teaching number patterns is one way of doing this. (A lot of this is done with 100 number squares)

So your DDs teacher may be pointing out that counting in 5s results in numbers alternately ending 5 then 0 (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30....)

or that counting by tens results in the first number increasing at intervals of 1 - 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, ....

It may be that she's applying this principle to other numbers - which is a very logical thing to do.

Keep encouraging that interest in maths - is my advice!

Yes, well done!

'Odds & Evens' is also useful - imagine children lining up in pairs, if everyone has a partner, it's Even, if there is one left over it's Odd.

If she wants to do more, 'data collection' and bar charts is interesting: count, and log things she sees on a walk: birds, animals, plants; types of vehicle, car, van, bus etc. Colours of front doors of houses; types of shops in street.

Then represent them as pictures, or bar charts, to see which are the most frequent or common, and which the least.

If she is confident, 'interview' friends or relations for favourite foods, TV shows, colour of eyes or hair.

An inexpensive solar powered calculator (no battery to run out) would be a fun 'toy' to entertain and stimulate; our DS had his when he was three; now aged 31, doing a Masters, and going on to PhD.

" I think I know my 12 x table....there is a pattern isn't there, 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 etc..."

Not sure where the error comes in but that number sequence is the 2x table! Whatever it is, she sounds like she has a handle on number patterns! Well done dd!

It's also the 12 times

1X12 = 1 2
2X12 = 2 4
3x12 = 3 6
4x12 = 4 8
5x12 = 6 0
6x12 = 7 2

Thanks people!
I am so chuffed, she said she read it somewhere actually, but I was still impressed as she went to add it up in her head! She got a few wrong But I am praying this is the sign of a brain that could cope with Maths.

I never learned any tables at school bar the easy ones and would never ever have thought there were patterns!

Ferguson the bar chart thing is interesting...I am cautious to mention Maths too much as I want to keep her enthusiam pu.

She does know her 2, 3, 5, 10 and 11 tables. sometimes the language used in some maths tests she gets from school confuses her though.

GobbolinoCat:

My advice to you is whether you enjoyed maths or not - support her interest.

Some great free websites:

Woodland Junior School Maths Zone: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/ - all sorts of resources and links to great games - just select the particular subject area you want to do more in.

Cool Maths for Kids: www.coolmath4kids.com/ - a bit clunky website - but there are some lessons to explain how to do things (useful when you're not quite sure what to advise or the terminology has changed). Games are good.

For multiplication practice: Multiplication dot com: www.multiplication.com/

Finally - at times we've found that just typing how do you do 'bus stop method' or whatever on a search engine will get you links to all sorts of web pages or you tube videos. It takes a bit of editing to find the one that makes best sense (or sometimes your child will recognise a video/ website their teacher was using) - but there really are a ton of things out there on the web to help these days.

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For learning times tables be aware there are families:

So you've said She does know her 2, 3, 5, 10 and 11 tables

So knowing x2 - make sure she understands this is doubling.

then she can use this to learn doubles of some of these tables:

x4 - in effect doubling x2 table facts (4 x 4 = 2 x 4 = 8 and double 8 (2 x 8) = 16). So x 4 is double the multiple of 4 and double again.

x8 - in effect two further doublings of x2 table fact. so 7 x 8 = 2 x 7 = 14, then double that = 28 and double again = 56. Alternatively with 7 x 8 (which was always a tricky one for me) just remember 5-6-7-8. 56 = 7 x 8.

If you know x3 then x6 is a doddle - just double x3 facts. 4 x 6 is the same thing as 2 x 6 = 12 and double that answer = 24.

If you know x3 then x 12 (like x 8 ) is just double the x3 fact twice. so 3 x 12 is the same thing as 3 x 3 = 9 - double that = 18 and double again = 36.

So using doubling with the families of tables + presuming your DC knows x0 and x1 - you have in fact now mastered:

x0, x1, x2, x3, x4, x5, x6, x8, x10, x11 and x12

that leaves x9 (there's some great patterns & tricks there) and x7 (which is a stinker but we'll come to that last).

x9

Pattern:

1 x 9 = 09
2 x 9 = 18
3 x 9 = 27
4 x 9 = 36
5 x 9 = 45
...
9 x 9 = 81
10 x 9 = 90

o.k. first off notice that the first number in the answer is always 1 less than the multiple of 9 you are working on. so 8 x 9 - one less than 8 is 7. The answer will start with 7.

Next thing to notice is that the digits in the answer add up to 9.

72 - 7 + 2 = 9
18 - 1 + 8 = 9

Therefore the pattern is one less than the multiple and the second number is whatever plus that one less than the multiple number = 9. So for 8 x 9 - one less than multiple of 9 is 7. What + 7 = 9 - that's 2. So the answer is 72.

After 10 the one less than the multiple trick doesn't work - but the answers to the 9s times table no matter what always reduce to 9.

275 x 9 = 2475 - 2+4+7+5 = 18 - 1 + 8 = 9.

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Second x9 table trick. HAND CALCULATOR.

flips your hands palm upwards with both thumbs on outside. Number from left thumb from 1 to right thumb - 10.

Now to work out 1-10 x 9 - just fold over the corresponding finger of that number. So let's say you wanted to know what 4 x 9 is - fold over finger 4 (your left hand ring finger) - you'll see you have 3 fingers up to the left of the finger and 6 fingers up to the right of the finger. digits to the left are the tens and digits to the right are the units - so 4 x 9 = 36.

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So we're left with x7 table. In fact because you've learned all tables except this you know x7 for x0 - x6 and x8 - x12 - you just need to learn one fact - 7 x 7. 7 x 7 = 49 and there really is no easy trick - but I have found over the years that it helps to remember 7 is a SWINE as that rhymes with 49.

HTH

forgot to add a video game site MN recommended called Maths Champs - it's divided up into age bands 5-7/ 7 - 9/ 9 -11 - which can be a bit disheartening if you're older than the band and finding the game difficult - but ignore the 'age bands' and focus on the learning. This is also free.

link: www.mathschamps.co.uk/#home

If things are presented to children as a fun and entertaining activity, some academic topics can be introduced without the child even realising.

It's when they are told, or think they have to do WORK they are less keen!