Year 3 - Learning Times Tables

Magpye

Hello tandraig, another dyscalculaic, I see! I did very well in maths, up until times tables were introduced. It's like a number blindness - you just can't hold the numbers in your head. Number bonds - correlations between the numbers and the actual quantities they represent - often don't form. I will still use my fingers to count, given the choice.

I also regularly transpose numbers, confuse sevens and twos, and read 5 as an S. The problem with all this is that number sense is supposed to be innate, while for us, it's just not. It's very hard to be made to feel stupid, simply because we can't - can't, not won't, not 'not trying hard enough'; CAN'T - pick up conventional maths techniques. Dyscalculia requires a different way of learning.

OP, I hope your son picks up his times tables one way or another, but what you say about him forgetting his tables rings alarm bells, because dycalculaics often can learn a theory and do it perfectly, but completely forget it by the next day. Those darn number bonds again. I do hope he gets it.

mrcow

His number bonds, sequencing, dealing with large numbers etc are all fine. He's good with graphs and can add pretty much any two number you give him (within reason say up to 1000 or so). He's also very musical and is good at sight reading music which I always thought was linked to maths in some way (not that I know that much about it!)

I'm actually wondering how they have covered these in class. He says they've done worksheets etc but I think that's it. They're expectng him to know all of his tables. He can do 2s, 3s, most 4s and 5s, 10s and 11s but the rest he'll remember when we work on them and then forget them once there's been a break of a day or so.

I showed him the 9x finger trick today and he thought it was cool, but whether he remembers to put it into action will be another matter.

Thanks for all your advice.

tandraig

magpye!!! I could kiss ya!! not many people understand me!
I can do quite complicated numbers in my head - hence my career as barmaid and sales person - but ask me to write it down...........oh dear...........total confusion.
and I understand balance sheets - just not sure of the numbers unless i have internalised them. magpye will understand that!
I can hear numbers perfectly well and can calculate them - just dont ask me to do it when its written down!!! I do have a lesser degree of word dyslexia - but touch typing has made the world of difference!
mrcow - thanks for your reply - was worried that your poor lad was being categorised as stupid - as I was - everthing was an uphill battle after that - and i STILL hate my arithmetic teacher - with a vengence - he made my life hell!!! am still battling his daily assertion that I was stupid! would love to wave my maths certificates under his STUPID nose!

sandiep

Can you maybe forget the number element of it and instead connect to something in the real world that he has a hobby or interest in.

For some reason, I think I learnt a lot of maths by applying it to food portions. One of My little girls seems to think quickly when it comes to sums with money, she's only 5 but she's working out the times tables herself based on how much money she needs to buy so-many particular toys if they're £x each. (She's little toy obsessed!).

Everyone needs to know percentages so that they can work out sale prices!! That's what i'm telling my teenager, anyway!!

I always think that maths sinks in and sticks if you can relate what you're learning to a situation that you use it in. Maybe he's got a hobby/interest/job that you can work it in with.

mrcow

sandiep wrote: »

Can you maybe forget the number element of it and instead connect to something in the real world that he has a hobby or interest in.

Interesting. He is a Lego nut. Has every feasable piece of Lego ever devised.

I'm going to look at maybe devising a maths game with the pieces - he has bits with 5, 6, 7,8 9 etc "nodules" on. Anything involving Lego is always a winner.

He also has a robot which he's learning to program. I'm going to have a look to see if there are any programs where we can get the robot to devised some calculations and "talk" to my son (I'm not sure if it's that sophisticated, but I bet we can come up with something) - it may go in better if it's coming from his Lego NXT robot rather than me!

tandraig

I can see that working mrcow! I loved lego too and always knew which peices would work together! but, they are in twos and I found twos easy! the ones with odd numbers tended to get left out of my creations!

Magpye

tandraig wrote: »

magpye!!! I could kiss ya!! not many people understand me!
I can do quite complicated numbers in my head - hence my career as barmaid and sales person - but ask me to write it down...........oh dear...........total confusion.
and I understand balance sheets - just not sure of the numbers unless i have internalised them. magpye will understand that!
I can hear numbers perfectly well and can calculate them - just dont ask me to do it when its written down!!! I do have a lesser degree of word dyslexia - but touch typing has made the world of difference!
mrcow - thanks for your reply - was worried that your poor lad was being categorised as stupid - as I was - everthing was an uphill battle after that - and i STILL hate my arithmetic teacher - with a vengence - he made my life hell!!! am still battling his daily assertion that I was stupid! would love to wave my maths certificates under his STUPID nose!

Hehe, it's quite a relief when you realise that it's real, isn't it? I spent years attempting to assert my 'numeric dyslexia' and being shot down before finding tests and symptoms and whatever. I'm mid-range - I have problems with time awareness and reading analogue clocks, but not spatial awareness - I know some dyscalcs get lost a lot. I also had a slight degree of hyperlexia, which can accompany dyscalculia (as indeed can dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, etc.) Oh, I worked as a barmaid too, nothing quite like it for thinking on your feet! And I've done electricity brokering. I can do maths, just not quite in the same way as everyone else seems to!

(Sympathise about the awful teacher. I had one of those and I would still love to confront him now, the supercilious git!! :rotfl:)

Half_pint_4

My son is currently learning his times tables and my son uses this website.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/multiplication/timestables/game.shtml

We also have "footprints" going up the stairs. I have drawn round my sons foot, as your child likes lego you could print lego characters off, and wrote on each foot and placed them on each step. EG Step one has a foot with 1 x 5 = 5 on it. He then says them as he is going up the stairs. As he is constantly going up and down they tend to sink in after a couple of days.

You then change them round to make sure he is not doing them by "rote" and is taking notice.

After a few days turn it over and and write the sum without the answer see if he remembers it. No big deal if he does not we just turn them back over again to the side with the answer on.

mrcow

Half pint - that's a brilliant idea. However did you think of that? Some people are so creative. Will do that tomorrow.

The tables CD arrived today. The children love it, but it makes me want to boil my own head.

tandraig

er I dont understand half the language on here! am in mid fifties and wasnt diagnosed until 2002!
still - coped well until had to do OU psychology courses. tutor was great, used to send back my assignments with my mistakes highlited! worked on the damn things until they made sense and then got them back! was sometimes gobsmacked when i got high marks.
it was only when i went on computer courses - fell in love with computers in '97 so went on four week course in college
ended up two years later taking Btec higher diploma and that included maths! didnt realise that untill i enrolled. thank god i did - my math tutor watched me for ten minutes (after wondering why i got everything wrong!) and realised the problem. he restored my self esteem for numbers and taught me my coping mechanisms for numbers written down!
actually - I find numbers easier on the computer...they dont hide! or move about and i really really enjoyed his math lessons!
I went on to become a microsoft master in access (my favourite) excel and word
I proved to myself I wasnt stupid! and that - is what counts. although i still wish mr arithmetic teacher could know!