Teaching of timestables

[allsingingalldancing]

Hi,

I'm curious how times tables are taught in schools, can anyone explain the method they use when teaching the 6,7,8 and 9 times tables in a classroom environment please!

Hi, TA here. There are lots of different ways to teach them it all depends on the children really. What works for one doesn’t always work for another. I always get the children to learn the pattern of the numbers first. Once they know the pattern both forwards and backwards you can then get them to remember the easy ones so eg 1x6 2x6 3x6 5x6 and 10x6. I also like them to know the square numbers. Once they know these facts for a given times table they can use them to go backwards or forwards from a given number. E.g I know That 5x7=35 so 6x7=42or I know the square number 7x7= 49 so 6x7= 42.

It will vary from school to school. There will probably be lots of chanting/learning by rote because this does actually work well for many children. I would always make sure they're aware of the parts of those tables they already know (so if you know your 10x 5x 2x 3x and 4x, then you only have to learn 6x6, 7x6, 8x6, 9x6, 11x6, 12x6). The more tables you learn, the easier this gets! I would also talk about using things your already know - so if you know your 5x table then you know 5x6=30 so you can quickly work out 6x6 and 4x6 as they're just 6 more or less than the one you know. There are also various "tricks" for certain facts - 8x8=64, or "I ate and I ate and I was sick on the floor"; 7x8=56 can also be written as 56 divided by 7=8, so 5678 all in a line. If there's one fact that children are finding hard to recall, designating it as "your favourite" is a good way to help them remember.

In DD's school, they played the BBC Super Movers songs a lot in class.