Teaching multiplication tables

[RustyPrincess]

kids like bicycles, they "get it"...they like stories...make it visual
so, you have 4 bicycles, and one of the bicycles has a puncture...how many good wheels are there....

all of that **** is multiplicaiton, but it makes it fun.

you have 3 drawers in your cupboard, with 5 underpants in each drawer...how many underpants do you have? (turn this one into a joke, tell him 16, because h is wearing one pair already) and so on and so on...fun puzzles.

no kidding, i taught my kid via this method when he was 4, to the point that we wouldnt do bedtime stories at night, we would just lie there and give each other ridiculous number puzzles, laughing our heads off.

johnny needs to poo badly, so he poo's three times a day, and everytime he uses 2 toilet rolls because his poo is so BIIIIIIGGGGGG !!!(laugh..giggle, whatever)...how many rolls does he use in a week?

mary buys 3 ice-creams but the icecream man rips her off...each ice-cream was 10p, she bought 3, and paid with a 50p coin ...but he only gave her 10p change. if mary can only klap him twice a day, how many days must she klap him to get her 10p worth back if every klap is 1p.

all of these things teach them to think, assign variables, use arrays etc. they just dont realise it because it is so much fun.

I like the sound of this one, because at least it has real life applications .

My mom used to drill me on the way to school, because we had times table tests everyday, where we just had to repeatedly write out the tables.

 

[RetroBok]

kids like bicycles, they "get it"...they like stories...make it visual
so, you have 4 bicycles, and one of the bicycles has a puncture...how many good wheels are there....

all of that **** is multiplicaiton, but it makes it fun.

you have 3 drawers in your cupboard, with 5 underpants in each drawer...how many underpants do you have? (turn this one into a joke, tell him 16, because h is wearing one pair already) and so on and so on...fun puzzles.

no kidding, i taught my kid via this method when he was 4, to the point that we wouldnt do bedtime stories at night, we would just lie there and give each other ridiculous number puzzles, laughing our heads off.

johnny needs to poo badly, so he poo's three times a day, and everytime he uses 2 toilet rolls because his poo is so BIIIIIIGGGGGG !!!(laugh..giggle, whatever)...how many rolls does he use in a week?

mary buys 3 ice-creams but the icecream man rips her off...each ice-cream was 10p, she bought 3, and paid with a 50p coin ...but he only gave her 10p change. if mary can only klap him twice a day, how many days must she klap him to get her 10p worth back if every klap is 1p.

all of these things teach them to think, assign variables, use arrays etc. they just dont realise it because it is so much fun.

Lol thanks werner this is similar to what I was thinking, I'm sure he'll love the pooh bit, which kid doesn't laugh at bum jokes etc

 

[Voicy]

(Sorry to totally not answer your question). Teach him Chess rather. Play online over MSN or similar.

I agree with Waaib over here...

Teaching me to play chess was one of the coolest things my dad could ever do. We would sit for hours and play and it doesn't feel like work, but rather like a bonding experience.

I mean hell's bells ... My bro & I would come back from a 2hr surf session, make coffee and sit down and play chess against each other.

Being far away from your son, I'm sure he would enjoy this very much.

 

[Pitbull]

1 x 9 = 09
2 x 9 = 18
3 x 9 = 27
4 x 9 = 36
5 x 9 = 45
6 x 9 = 54
7 x 9 = 63
8 x 9 = 72
9 x 9 = 81
10 x 9 = 90

Trick with the 9x table is writing the numbers from 0 - 9 top to bottom then starting at the bottom repeat the cycle 0 - 9.

There is a patern in each times table and this is the easiest one to explain.

 

[Sackboy]

I like the sound of this one, because at least it has real life applications .

My mom used to drill me on the way to school, because we had times table tests everyday, where we just had to repeatedly write out the tables.

The whole point of memorising the times table is that you don't have to think about the answer. That would take longer. The latest thinking is that this is better for children at this stage than explaining how to work it out. In fact some who learnt it a different way start writing out 9+9+9 and then do an addition to get the answer instead of just regurgitating an instant 27!

 

[Mila]

The human mind cannot compute nine groups of nine.

The only way to learn multiplication tables is parrot fashion. 9x9=81. That's it.

+10

Learn it like a rhyme, it sticks an when you can not sleep when you are 30 it goes like a freaking train in your head

But it works

 

[wishblade]

I think the point is that yes, learning it parrot fashion will make it readily available for quick answering. My ideanis that sure, learn it parrot style for quick answering later on in life, but you also need to understand why... Understanding why aids in further exploration and simpler methods of logical analysis. And face it, math is simply logic...

To answer the question of how to teach a kid math - you need to grow their ability to reason and think... Since multiplication is an extention of addition, you could try the following:

the child needs to be able to add first
get her/him to write out 2+2 = 4, 2+2+2=6, 2+2+2+2=8, etc, etc
you then ask her/him how many groups of 2 make up 6 (for example). The child can then look at the paper and find 6, then count the number of two's added together to make up the number. In this case, 3 would be the answer.

This way, when the child learns the tables parrot fashion, he/she knows "hey, 2x3=6 means that I have 2 groups of 3's, or 3 group's of 2's". It might also assist for when variable's come into play later on...

**Just my opinion, but I used something similar to help someone prepare for their matric math exams (was a couple year's ago though )

 

[PsyWulf]

**Just my opinion, but I used something similar to help someone prepare for their matric math exams (was a couple year's ago though )

1832?

 

[wishblade]

1832?

HEHEHE!!!!! LOL

No, that's why I made sure to use the words "something similar". Was making reference to the teaching of the logic and reason behind doing the sum...

 

[Voicy]

+10

Learn it like a rhyme, it sticks an when you can not sleep when you are 30 it goes like a freaking train in your head

But it works

hehe, reminds me of the kid who used to say his tables like this:

3 times 3 ... the sonofabitch is 9!

This had his teacher very confused and eventually called in the parents. Turns out he mistakenly said "the sonofabitch" instead of "the sumofwhich".

 

[Morgoth]

I want to teach Retro jnr his times tables, and was wondering if anyone here knew of an effective way of doing it. He's 7 and has the attention span of a ... well a 7 year old

I don't want him to learn parrot fashion like when I was at school I want him to work it out, so he understands why the answers are what they are. He's doing it at school but I want to "supplement" his maths skills a bit since I think maths is a very important skill to have and it's probably the only subject I'll be ultra pushy with.

The little kink in my plan is I don't see him everyday (he lives with my first Mrs) quite a distance a way.

I'm either going to need to do it via video (Skype) or via mail. For the mail I've thought of a few ideas, but I know there's a few teachers out there that would probably know a better way than I am thinking of.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

1) teach him chess or a musical instrument, there is nothing that stimulates math skill more then this.
2)

well there are a few tricks to it, teach him groups for example. 4 groups 4 apples in it = 4x4 = 16

a few tricks for division of timetable
1) any number divided by 1 = its own number
2)any even number is dividable by 2
3)if you add all the numbers up and you end up with either 6,3, or 9 then it is dividable by 3 eg.
195 = 1+9+5 = 15 , 1+5 = 6 so it is dividable by 3
4) if the last 2 numbers are dividable by 4 then the number is dividable.
5) if a number ends with a 5 or 0 then it can be divided by 5
6) any odd number that has the same properties as the test for 3's , adding the integers should give you either 3,6, or 9
7) no test here sorry, or there is one but its way to complicated to explain to a 7 year old, anyway you should multiply the 2 left digits by 3 and keep adding it to the second digit, if you end up with a multiple of 7 it will be divisible, it is easier to just do it the normal way though.
8) the last 3 numbers should be dividable by 8
9) 549 is divisible by 9 since the sum of the digits is 18 (5+4+9=18), and 18 is divisible by 9. basically the same test as 3. but you have to end up with 9
10) easy, a number ends with 0
11) any number on the 11 timetable up to 99 is a integer repeating itself. also if you add the odd digits and the even digits and subtract the big one from the small one and end up with a multiple of 11 then that number is dividable by 11 , if you end up with 0 then it is also divisible.
12) the 12 timetable was the first one I learn, I come out of a family where 'math is everything', so basically my dad taught me chess when I was quite young, somehow I caught onto the 12 timetable easily , no idea why though.
12) 7x8 = 56, make sure he knows that, it is the hardest timetable by far, don't try and reason with it, its the law of mathematics and it just works that way! , we use to have a rhyme, 5 6 will give 7x8...

my dad use to tell me working backwards from 10, why is 3x9 = 27 well you basicalyl have 10 items, but each group has 1 item missing thus, 3x10 - 1x3 = 30, this helped a lot when counting money, working out 3 items that costs R2.99 for example = R3 * 3 - 1 cent *3 = 9.00 - 0.03 = 8.97. I use to do that in my head when going shopping with them. but yeah Mathematics is a great skill, but its not everything in life.