In response to requests by several parents for ways
to help your child memorize the multiplication facts, although there is no
"magic bullet" that will work for each child, I offer the following
suggestions:
-
Start with one table at a time - most of the
chilren are pretty good with the 2, 5, and 10s - therefore; I would start with
the 3x table.
-
Start with the multiples of 3 (3,6,9,12,15,18 .....
36) - drill these multiples with your child until he/she knows them forward
and backward.
-
Once the multiples for the 3x table are mastered -
work with flashcards for the individual facts - begin to make two piles with
the cards - one pile for facts child knows and the other pile for facts still
to be memorized.
-
Once the 3x table is mastered add the 4x table -
repeat the above steps for each of the tables until all of the facts are
memorized
If you do a "google" search for (memorizing the
times tables) you will get a lot of good information. There are many excellent
math websites - you just need to look for them. One excellent educational
website is called (IKnowThat.com) when you get to that website click on Math
and look for an activity called "Math Blox" it is a game similar to "Tetras"
and can be used to learn any facts. The children like this activity (so do I -
it is addicting) I will put a link on my "Links" page to this site.
Multiplication
War - using an ordinary deck
of playing cards with the face cards removed. Deal all the cards equally -
each player keeps his/her cards in a pile face down. The two players each turn
over one card at the same time. Whichever player calls out the correct product
of the two factors first wins both cards. Whoever has the most cards at the
end of the game wins. Easy, quick, and fun!