Learning Times Tables...Success!

I have a list of topics to bring up this month, but today I am just excited about something.

For a lot of kids, dyslexic or not, learning times tables really is the pits.  I loathed doing them with my own kids and between some ideas I learned in my training and our math curriculum which I loved, loved, loved, Math U See, we managed.

I have a new student who is convinced for several reasons ( tomorrow's post) that he can't learn them at all.  We have had some real success in a short time using these three ideas.  Try them with your students or your kids and let me know if anything was helpful.

The first thing we did was fill in a blank times table grid and he was able to see that in fact, he knew more than he thought he did and he was willing to give me a chance.  DeMato wins half the battle!!!

The fact is, most kids rapidly learn 0,1,5,10,2 and in this case, he knew the 3's.  This is what his chart looked like when we were done.    This wasn't for fluency, he would bomb a timed test in a minute.  But if you know 2x3, you know 3x2.  Lots of kids don't understand this concept and the visual of the graph helps.

Flash cards are not helpful for many kids.  Think about it.  When they are learning to memorize, you show them the fact, not the answer.  So their brains build a picture of  7x3=
Blank.  When they close their eyes, they see 7x3=                     .  When they see a problem on paper, they see 7x3               , and the brain has nothing to add to that, especially under pressure or if there is a processing issue.  Your goal is to have them see 7x3=21.  So while they are LEARNING, flash the fact with the answer.  When they become confident, then flash blank cards.

Most kids catch on fast if you start with the answers on the cards.  My student needed more.  So I did what anyone would, I YouTubed. (Yes, even though I am a professional educator with special advanced training in Simultaneous Instruction for Language Arts, I desperately scan YouTube for ideas upon occasion. Don't judge me.) LOL

I found Mr. Numbers Right Brained Math.  It seemed complicated, but it involved drawing and writing the correct 7 answers, which meant my student could use the big whiteboard and move around while doing the drawing and if nothing else, would give him a positive experience which he desperately needed.

As he was working thru it with me, I began to see the genius in it.  Math is pattern, here was a pattern.  Once he got the pattern, he could fill in the correct numbers (math facts) and he started to from a vision of the answers in his brain ( not from his fingers), all on a neat grid where he could pull from when needed. Once he could fill the chart in his head, I started writing down the facts and he filled in the answers.  He noticed that it contained an odd-even pattern ( which helped with the 21, 28 , 42, 49).

Honestly, we worked on it for twice for about an 1 hour.  Last night, he did a "pretend" timed test and got them all right.  He even made a mistake ( 7x3=28) and when he got to 7x4, he went back and corrected it.  SELF-CORRECTING!  A TASTE OF SUCCESS!  A happy night for everyone.

The 2's and 8's share the same patterns, so they will be next.  Since he knows the 2's anyway and the concept of " Magic Math", I am hopeful he will succeed quickly.





















 Times table grid