Times Tables

[Panders]

Hi everyone, just wondered whether you wise owls have any tips on learning the times tables for a reluctant 7nearly 8 year old, she is very good at most other subjects, but maths has always been difficult for her. She says she doesn't care about learning them and all methods so far have not motivated her one little bit

 

Any suggestions - even bribery considered

[Inge]

have you tried a you tube search for times tables... loads come up, you may find a video with a song or a rap which would appeal...

 

my son had a song tape for times tables he listened to and learnt the songs... along with the 9x table trick using fingers which he found cool!

 

as it was a long time ago he also had a little calculator which gave him sums to do... perhaps a computer programme for this.. there has to be one out there

 

 

[Guest]

I was lucky becausetwo children out of three were much better at maths than me from the off!

But the first one needed quite a lot of help and we used to do things like making card games, putting the times table question on the front and the answer on the back. I don't think we ever played it much but she liked making them and had to work out the answers.

Then there are the tricks, like the nine times table is "one down and the number bond" 7 times nine is "one down" 6 and the number bond 3. She liked that sort of thing as it made her think of it more as a game.

[Cait]

Don't panic!

 

There's two ways of doing it - by rote or by understanding. I learned by rote and most are still with me, although I hadn't a clue what the rhyme thing I was learning meant!

 

Neither of my children learned - they were classed as 'old fashioned' when they were at school - It's not held my son back at all as he graduated with honours in an engineering degree.

[Guest]

I was pretty useless at maths at school, but we learnt these by chanting them over and over, and I can still pluck out of the air any times table up to 12! I do actually find them really useful in day to day life, although I'm not sure I could give you an example of why off the top of my head.

 

I always found that I liked to look for patterns within the tables, so it was useful to have a chart with them all written out. I like the 'tidy' numbers like 4 x 4 or 7 x 7.

 

How does your daughter learn other subjects - is she good at visual learning? If she is, looking for patterns might help.

[Jo A]

Have you tried the colouring books where you colour in blobs within a shape if they are in the correct times table and then they make a picture.

 

does this make sense at all?

 

aah found an example on Amazon

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Second-Multiplicat...k/dp/1899618309

[eyfs1966]

vtech used to make a toy (looked a bit like a tube) that quizzed you on the times table either you requested or in a random mode. Mine liked it.

However, still had to do the rote learning method as well. I found short sharp bursts were the way forward, one times table at a time. When i learnt, my dad used to write the answers on my fingertips, and then i would have to say eg, 8x4 is then touch then look at my 4th finger and read the answer, then do it just by touching the finger tip, until I had learnt it. Quite good if you are a kinesthetic learner.

[Guest]

Timezattack is a game that can be downloaded, HERE, my son loves it. It is very clever and adapts to the users abilities, repetition and action helps the learning process.

 

see it here on utube

 

This is the latest version, FREE, my son has an earlier one which is similar but this has more graphics.

 

 

Peggy

[Panders]

Thanks all, I will pass on these titbits of info - it's not my daughter, but a good friend's daughter. She is a bright enough child, especially writing, reading and art, but maths has always been a struggle for her.

[Beau]

I never learnt my times tables either and Maths has always been my strong subject!

[Panders]

Just thought I would update - my friend tells me that Timez Attack has proved popular and successful - thank you for suggesting it Peggy

[Guest]

Glad to hear that Panders, thanks for the update.

 

Peggy

[Guest]

I was rubbish at my tables and mental maths in general. In the end my parents sent me to Kumon, which is basically an after school program that's probably against every thing the EYFS stands for! Basically you sit down every day with a workbook full of calculations that you have to do as fast as possible and the speed at which you progress through them is individulaised to how many you get right and how fast you do it.

 

Was it boring? Yes

Was it annoying having to do it every night? Yes

Am I glad I did it? Yes

Would I do it again? Yes

Would I subject my child to it? Absolutely 100%!

 

Far from putting me off maths I became incredibly good at mental maths which in turn made me better at maths in class and so increased my enjoyment of the subject. I went on to take an A level in it!

[Panders]

Hi Kariana, yes I had heard of the Kumon method, however, funds are hard to come by for this family and getting a place at a Kumon class is nearly as hard!! But I have heard that this type of maths class does work through its repetition, something which is needed by some children to get it in! After all, with a lot of maths it is confidence and if this system works to give confidence in remembering certain bonds and tables then it's done its work. I feel I would have responded to this system as a child because I had bad short term memory for maths and find even now to be able to do something well i have to "do it" I can't just read about it or watch someone, I have to do whatever it is and practice it as well.

 

Times tables were drummed into us at school through rote and generally even these days I can remember most without too much trouble!