Multiplication Mastery: Times Tables Are Everything
This week we are continuing to look at ways of remembering the multiplication facts. Last week I showed you some of my favourite rhymes, this week we will be looking at a variety of methods to support with writing out the full times tables. It doesn’t matter how your child completes their times tables, they just need to do them!
Use your fingers….
Doing the 9 times table on your fingers may seem okay for a child but not an adult, but I disagree – and do it myself – we need to allow ourselves to do any strategy that works, and demonstrate it to our children, so that they know they can use a strategy to help them. Watch my video showing you how to do the 9 times table on your fingers.
Combine multiplication facts
You can combine times tables to get a different set of multiplication facts.
For example if you don’t know the 12s, but you do know the 6s and you can double, then for 4 x 12, do 4 x 6 (24), then double it to get 48.
In this video I demonstrate how to find the 6 times table using the 3 times table and doubling.
Writing out patterns
I find patterns really helpful because they enable me to be able to write the full set of facts without having to work them out.
The 8 times table has an incredible pattern that can help with finding it. To find this pattern watch this video.
Writing out a pattern is another way that you can find the 9’s too. The units digits go from 9 through to 0, and the tens digits go from 0 through to 9.
And of course the 11 times table is a great one for a pattern!
Keep adding on
A strategy that every child should be able to use is adding on the multiplier. For students who struggle with that, they can use techniques such as tallying to find the next number.
This strategy though can easily lead to mistakes , as a slight error somewhere will result in the rest being wrong. It is also time consuming to write them out every time and therefore is not a good method for exams.
I do recommend though, that if there is a particular fact that can’t be recalled, go back to one that they can remember and add on. For example when finding 9×12 do 9×11 and add on 9. They do need to understand why this works though, as they might add on the wrong number.
Why should we worry about the multiplication facts?
When I was teaching, I saw how a lack of confidence with the multiplication facts would impact on many areas of maths. Mistakes would be made, children would feel like they weren’t sure, and it would slow them down. I’m not just talking about primary age children, it was at GCSE from those getting grade 1 all the way through to grade 9. ‘Oh I don’t know my 7 times table’ was a familiar sentence.
Finally, remember that in learning anything we need to use the forgetting curve. Don’t expect your child to always have good recall of the facts, but come back to it over and over, spacing out the times you go over these facts.