How did you teach your child multiplication facts?

[marshallandcartersmo]

If your DD is getting the conceptual part at school (building arrays and such), then do "just the facts, ma'am -- just the facts" at home. Start with zeros, ones and twos (the zeros and ones are to add confidence ). Make two piles -- correct and incorrect. After you've gone through the cards, pick up the incorrect pile and keep working on those several more times until she gets all of them (or most).

The next day do the same thing. She may forget them, but the consistency of daily practice will help over time. Once the 0,1, and 2s are solid, flash only the 3s facts. Then, add these to the pile of 0,1, and 2s facts. Again, make 2 piles of correct and incorrect. Go back and do the incorrect ones over and over. If there's a particular fact that she just keeps forgetting, have her repeat it several times, or try to make up a story about it. Something she'll remember.

I used to do weird things like that with my DS (DD learned them on her own w/out the excessive drill). For example, on the 7X7 card, I'd pencil in a vertical line to make one of the sevens look like a 4 and then I'd lightly pencil in a loop on the other seven to make it look like a 9 (answer 49). After a few days, I was able to erase the pencil marks on the flash cards because DS could visualize the marks still being there).

Fives and 10s are easy. The 7s, 8s and 9s are the hardest. There's also some good tricks for learning the nines facts.

The 9 Times Quickie

1. Hold your hands in front of you with your fingers spread out.
2. For 9 X 3 bend your third finger down. (9 X 4 would be the fourth finger etc.)
3. You have 2 fingers in front of the bent finger (this is your tens column) and 7 after the bent finger (your ones column)
4. Thus the answer must be 27
5. This technique works for the 9 times tables up to 10.
The other trick for the nines facts is this. Say the problem is 9X7. Subtract one number from 7 and you get 6. Then find the difference between 9 and 6 which is 3. Put the two digits together and you get 63.

Try it with another number -- 9X4 -- Subtract one number from the 4 and you get 3. The difference between 9 and 3 is 6. Your answer is 36.

Granted these are tricks, but the more your DD can get these quickly, over time she'll remember and rely less on the tricks.

10 minutes a day for a month and she'll have her facts down pretty solid.


Editing to give you this link. Your DD can practice her facts online. The program will time her. My students do it twice a day. The goal is to get 20 facts within 60 seconds. Once this is done, you can add more facts.

http://mathusee.com/drill.html

I never knew this!! Neat tip!!

DS7 is in 2nd grade and they haven't started multiplying at all.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I had this toy grid with the numbers 0 to 12 on each side then button that listed the two numbers on the grid. I would press down on the plastic button and it would tell me what the multiplication amount was. Thats how I memorized them.

 

[clori]

my dd is in third grade. While she easily learns the old fashioned way she likes to play a bit on the computer for practice. While it is very basic she uses www.honorpoint.com to review and I have this site bookmarked http://www.learnyourtables.co.uk. DD is an auditory learned and we walk to/from school and often practiced on the way.

 

[Cindy B]

I never knew this!! Neat tip!!

DS7 is in 2nd grade and they haven't started multiplying at all.

Multiplying usually begins in 3rd grade-- usually around this time.

 

[meliss8599]

Editing to give you this link. Your DD can practice her facts online. The program will time her. My students do it twice a day. The goal is to get 20 facts within 60 seconds. Once this is done, you can add more facts.http://mathusee.com/drill.html

WOW! Thank you, thank you, thank you for this link! The math drills are ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS! They adjust to the level of the child and repeat ones that she is showing difficulty with.

DD kept wanting to play b/c she wanted to beat her previous times. The repeated drills improved her knowledge and greatly increased her confidence in the facts.

I have to say that this site beats flash cards HANDS DOWN. Again, I can't thank you enough for introducing me to it and I HIGHLY recommend it to other parents/teachers teaching multiplication.

 

[Handbag Lady]

Well, I just spent a good portion of a month teaching 3rd graders multiplications.

The concept that my (then) district was to show was that multiplication is repeated addition. If my students did not know thier addition facts, multiplication was really rough for them.

It was easier for them to learn the 2's first. I emphasized groups. For example 2 x 2 is two groups of 2. 2 x 3 is two groups of three, etc... you get the idea.

I then went to 3's and 4's.

After they have mastered the 2's, 3's and 4's, we then went to 0 and 1. I know it sounds crazy but that is how the curriculum was set.

I played math games all the time. These games reinforced concepts and also did centers. These games and centers helped them learn so much.

ETA: My students loved using www.shepardsoftware.com There is a section on math games, and there is a multiples games (I think it is called multiples mania) Knowing the multiples will help them later.

Also think about the idea of skip counting "2, 4, 6, 8"-- this is an easy progression to multiplication. I have a home activity for skip counting if you want it.

I am so glad I don't have kids. No, I don't get the idea of "groups" and that would have never helped me in school. Two, two times. Three, two times. THAT I get. What is this grouping non-sense they teach these days?

 

[teacups]

I told them they already knew multiplication and division. Multiplication is really just addition, with a shortcut. Division is really just subtraction, with a shortcut. Once they understood that, it made it much simpler. There are really only two things you can do with numbers, add & subtract. All of the other fancy stuff is just a variation on the two basic things you can do with a number.

When the kids were learning multiplication I just told them:

5 x 10 is really just adding the number 5 together, 10 times. I think when they understand WHAT multiplication is, then it makes it easy to figure out how to multiply. I'm always surprised that teachers try to use various methods to teach multiplication, but never really explain to the kids that it's really just addition. Instead they act like it's some new concept.

Another thing that I taught my kids that really helped them with math...use common sense. Does your answer make sense? Always ask yourself if the answer you came up with makes sense. For instance if Johnny has 5 apples and he gives 1 apple away, but your answer is 6, does that make sense? You can't have more apples than you started with if you are giving away. The same thing with multiplication...if you have a problem like 5 x 10, would it make sense that your answer is 1,000? NO, because just common sense will tell you that five sets of 10 wouldn't be that many.

My kids always come home with complicated math problems. But we just break it down into the simple "you can only add or subtract a number, nothing else" and "does your answer make good common sense". Makes math so much easier.

If you really think about it math should be much easier than reading. Reading involves 26 characters. Math only involves 10 characters and you can only add or take away...that's it.

Great Advice! My first grader is already learning (we homeschool) but my fourth grader had more trouble. She got it down (finally) last year. Each kid is individual. Also, there is that CD "Mutiplication Hip Hop". Thats good to play in the car (If you can stand the kids nasal-y voice!). Sorry if that has already been mentioned.

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

Saxon Math starts kids out in second grade with daily oral counting in groups of twos and threes...both backward and forward. They also do fives.

Then one lesson has you teach them the fact that when you're counting by twos, threes, or whatever...that you've memorized the multiplication facts.

Recognizing patterns that occur with the multiplication tables also really helps.

Another thing that is beneficial for the visual learner is putting multiplication families on triangle shapes...with each of the three numbers in one corner. You can then cover the answer to use them as flash cards. This method is especially helpful preparation for division.

 

[Cool-Beans]

Went over the concept of multiplication and did flash cards until my fingers bled.

 

[Sinderelli]

Flash cards worked for the most part with my son. Funny story- he was having a LOT of trouble with his 7 facts. We kept studying and studying but he kept getting the answers mixed up. I was so frustrated and didn't think he would ever get them. He is a football fanatic- GO SAINTS!!- and one day a lightbulb went off.
Me: How many points is a touchdown?
DS- 7
Me- What about 3 touchdowns?
DS- 21
Me- What about 7 touchdowns?
DS- 49

And on and on. Hello! Those are your 7 facts!!!! So now, whenever he is presented with 7 facts, he thinks in terms of touchdowns. Works like a charm!

 

[tazdev3225]

They use Everyday Math in his school, which I can't stand. They also teach it in groups, which I don't understand. I really think you just need to memorize them.

My DD had this in school and I hated it. She could multiply at the age of 4 because she sat there as I did flash cards with my older 2 kids. She had a test one time in 3rd grade and failed. I went to the school to see the teacher because my calculations had all the answers correct. An example was 2 clouds with 3 sheep. She wrote 3 X 2 =6. It was wrong. It was 2 X 3 = 6. Same answer but wrong? The X no longer means times in Everyday Math. She was so confused by it all that she had trouble with math until high school. I think old-fashioned rote drills and speed drills work and then give the kid a calculator because that is all they will ever need.

 

[Cindy B]

My DD had this in school and I hated it. She could multiply at the age of 4 because she sat there as I did flash cards with my older 2 kids. She had a test one time in 3rd grade and failed. I went to the school to see the teacher because my calculations had all the answers correct. An example was 2 clouds with 3 sheep. She wrote 3 X 2 =6. It was wrong. It was 2 X 3 = 6. Same answer but wrong? The X no longer means times in Everyday Math. She was so confused by it all that she had trouble with math until high school. I think old-fashioned rote drills and speed drills work and then give the kid a calculator because that is all they will ever need.

I can help you with the clouds question.

Basically the question asked for 2 clouds with three sheep. By reading it like that it is 2 groups (clouds) with 3 sheep near or on the cloud. I taught my students and my own kids that this mean 2 x 3 = 6.

Yes, the answer is still six, but the question did not ask for 3 clouds with 2 sheep, but 2 clouds with 3 sheep.

I know it sounds silly, but that is a standardized question format. It is wrong if isn't 2 x 3.

 

[Cindy B]

I am so glad I don't have kids. No, I don't get the idea of "groups" and that would have never helped me in school. Two, two times. Three, two times. THAT I get. What is this grouping non-sense they teach these days?

Cooperative learning is the big thing nowadays. Grouping is an easy way to differentiate instructions due to the varying levels in the classroom (high med. low).

Grouping also gets the kids talking --sometimes too much though.

It is very rare to see a classroom with rows and kids isolated anymore.