Ok, let me preface this with, I am a former 4th grade teacher, I should NOT be so clueless, however, I cannot get my 4th grader to care about his multiplication facts. He understands the concept. He knows the "why" behind it but takes forever to do the higher level math because he has to stop and look up every multiplication fact. I was the very unpopular teacher that highly encouraged students memorize them to assist in future math problems. My students did very well. My own child, however, is resistant to my teaching skills. Do any of you have any creative ideas out there? I have tried what I have up my sleeve and am looking for fresh ideas. If you have something that worked and made it seem less like work, that would be excellent! Thanks in advance! (Might be helpful to know that ds is kinda a know-it-all. He is not very teachable in general so that is why we have such issues... I am attempting having him teach them to his little brother and me as my final trick...)
Music? I know there are some great songs for teaching the facts. I know you may have tried timed tests, but if you would graph the results with a specific goal and a reward for achieving it...?
You might check out City Creek Press. They do Times Tables the Fun Way. The times facts are done in story form and help cement the fact in the child's mind. They have a free demo of it so you can see if it would appeal to your son or not. There's also always Timez Attack--- free levels or you can pay for alternate 'universes' to increase the variety of game play. My daughter is a visual learner and really got a huge chunk of the times tables using City Creek. The only ones she can't get are the 2's, 5's, and 9's---- why? Because City Creek used tricks to learn those instead of stories. They're the only ones she can't seem to get nailed down. And, yes, it makes me feeling like banging my head against the wall!
The student I had who had the most difficulty learning the x tables, I let her use a chart for about 2.5 years, but she eventually got it. That was for daily work - for tests, no charts. She learned them through sheer use. Someplace on the internet, long ago, I found a "learn it fast" method. You make a chart, and label 1-10 (or 0-12, whatever) across the top, and the same down the side. Wherever the column and row meet, there's a box. Post it on the refrigerator, and every time he walks by, he fills in some answers. Turn in a completed sheet for a small prize. Do this several times. Then make his sheet with the numbers randomly distributed across the top, and differently distributed down the side. Post again on the refrigerator, and again a small prize for a correctly completed sheet. Keep replacing the sheets until he knows them. This video is very like the grid method I had found long ago, only it's animated and the old one wasn't: http://www.mathplayground.com/howto_learnmultfacts.html And here are some others: http://math.about.com/od/multiplication/a/Multiplication-Tricks.htm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALHMVJIAHhM http://www.mathmammoth.com/lessons/multiplication_tables.php http://www.wikihow.com/Learn-Multiplication-Facts http://www.mathsisfun.com/tables.html http://www.multiplication.com/teach/teach-the-times-tables http://www.multiplication.com/ http://www.coolmath4kids.com/times-tables/times-tables-parents.html http://voices.yahoo.com/teaching-students-learn-multiplication-facts-7970228.html http://voices.yahoo.com/learn-multiplication-tables-quick-easy-5007050.html?cat=25 Each one of these has some different "trick" to learning, some are video, some have games...
My oldest wouldn't learn them for anything I tried! I think that he didn't think it was really needed. So we would ask him to do random math while we were doing life. Like ask Ok we have these boards and need them spaced evenly in this area figure it out for us. Or how much is it going to cost if we buy 5 lbs of peaches at .75/ lb etc. Then it showed him how much we used math, and why he needed to do it faster. It embarrassed him that his little sister could do them faster then he could. So he started to try and learn them. We use the Xtramath which is free, and gives them a goal to learn and get to a hundred.
Have you checked out reflexmath.com? It's not free, but is game-based and highly addictive (translation: fun!) -- I have to set a timer to get DD to stop using it. I view this as a good thing. : ) I've heard good things about the offerings on Khan Academy, although I haven't scoped it out myself. Good luck to you!
I'm a meanie when it comes to math, but I wouldn't allow him to look up multiplication facts - he should be figuring them out himself every time. (You don't remember what 8x9 is? How about 4x9 and double it? You don't know 3x12? How about 12+12+12?) This should eventually get him to see the relationships between factors and products, and not just memorize them as individual facts. Practicing skip counting (not just by 2, 5 and 10, but by every number from 2-15) has helped here as well.
My son is in 7th Grade and STILL has problems, too. Was talking with a friend who has a 9th Grader (boy also) who has the same issues. I think there are certain brains that are hardwired against memorizing multiplication facts! LOL I do still let my son use a chart....I figure it will click...and he has gotten better, even though he still uses it. Also, he does daily timed drills on Math U See. I do NOT have this issue with my girls....AT ALL.
I'm a meanie too! I made my kids write their times tables out repeatedly until they were memorized. We also quizzed the kids alot. I figured if it was good enough for me, then it was good enough for my kids too. I believe that mastery of math facts is essential to learning higher math skills.
My oldest has the same problem, and I try not to push too hard, because I had the same problem when I was in school, and I always felt really "math-stupid" because I was so slow at figuring things out. But no matter what I did, I just could not memorize them. So, we concentrate more on different methods for figuring out the more difficult problems, instead of just memorization (which just frustrates him). Like Kari mentioned, starting with an easier fact he does know, and building from there. Can't remember 8x6? Well 8x5 is easier, so just add one more 8. etc.
Thanks so much! I will check into the game sites. We have IXL but he gets frustrated because it adds problems if he misses any. I love the "meanies"! I think that is my issue. I am determined to expect him to do this. I may just have to cave in a bit and allow him to use the blasted chart to avoid his math shutdown. (This goes against my every fiber) I think the story site mentioned and the games may work too. Thanks so much! I googled it and was a bit overwhelmed myself. lol Oh, and when I say frustrated, I mean, he is nine and screams and yells and gets angry at the world, frustrated. Needless to say, we are also working on emotional self control at home. He has it down in a school. sigh....
CLE does this daily in elementary. Also by 25s and 50s. They also do "random" ones, like "count by 4s to 100 starting with 32" or even "count by 7s to 50 starting with 29" (or some other non-multiple of 7).
Times Tales did it for us. It's weird, it's fun, and it works. We did the program when ds was 8. He's 12 now and still hasn't forgotten his times tables. We didn't bother with the DVDs, ds preferred just the booklets.
THey can remember facts about sports figures, words to songs, etc etc etc. Just make them memorize them by rote. Use flashcards as needed. Give speed tests using pages that have lots of little math problems on them. Put 144 dimes on the student's dresser. Tell them they have to stay there until after the test and they get to keep a dime for every one they get right. At the end of the month give a test on all facts 1x1 through 12x12 and take away a dime for every problem missed. Repeat as needed.
Songs are good for some kids. I just think there are some things in life that you just have to do even if it hard. Memorizing 144 times table facts is one of them. Kids memorize many more steps in the video games they play.
My daughter loved the wrap cards. We bought a set at Hobby Lobby. It's a card with a string...you start at the top, and wrap the string from the slot next to the problem on the left, to the slot with the answer on the right...go all the way down the card and turn it over...and the wrap pattern of your string should match the one printed on the back. She hated flash cards, but loved the wrap cards. Go figure! Also, integrating speed and accuracy into a reward based game....can be highly motivational. 60 problems in 60 seconds and you win a prize/privilege if you're 95% accurate.
