Year 3 - Learning Times Tables

angelicmary85

We used to have to listen to a tape called Professor Playtime.

The times tables went along to music as apparently it's the sound you remember more than the actual numbers themselves so maybe you could make up a wee song to go along with them?

My driving instructor got me to remember stopping distances by saying them along to a tune that she'd made up so I guess it must work!

Filey

Help needed.

I was reading this thread last night with interest and I could swear there was a paragraph/post that gave lots of sites with helpful info for home schoolers and parents. In fact I seem to remember it was posted by Martin. Anyway, I carried on reading the rest of your replies and then it was bedtime and I thought well I' ll look again tomorrow.

And now I can't find it anywhere! Maybe I was halucinating. But if I wasn't and there is such a place on MSE will someone please point in the right direction. I bet there is all kinds of buried treasure on MSE if I could only find it.

mrcow

Filey wrote: »

Help needed.

I was reading this thread last night with interest and I could swear there was a paragraph/post that gave lots of sites with helpful info for home schoolers and parents. In fact I seem to remember it was posted by Martin. Anyway, I carried on reading the rest of your replies and then it was bedtime and I thought well I' ll look again tomorrow.

And now I can't find it anywhere! Maybe I was halucinating. But if I wasn't and there is such a place on MSE will someone please point in the right direction. I bet there is all kinds of buried treasure on MSE if I could only find it.

I don't think anything has been deleted. I've got 4 tables links bookmarked and there are only four mentioned on the thread from when I was reading it last night.

There is however a massive list of resources on the site. I will have a look and post a link up (I don't remember there being a lot tables wise but certainly it was biiiiigggg!)

mrcow

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=561004

Have a look at what Confuzzled did from post 90 onwards - it must have taken ages.

karren

im so glad i looked up the tables on this forum!
My son is 10 and was doing ok we thought with the tables but my 6 year old is learning the tables so i was in the car throwing the tables around and found my son didnt actually know them hes ok when they are written so flys though the work sheets etc but saying them out loud literally makes him cry, i was mortified,
As im the same i was ok with maths in school but when it came to the tables i just blank off, and still do, ive muddled through life and find maths so hard, but yet im a nurse and my drug calculations are spot on and some are very complex, yet the tables defeat me all the time, i always thought it was becasue i missed so much school (thats a whole other story, i didnt have any parental support with homework or did any learing at home) so always ensure that i encourage the children
, Is it genetic, or just one of those things i wondered? my dad was fantastic at maths and was very academic, esp in maths, my son loves science and is fasinated by it, yet the tables are just not sinking in,

The school dont seem to be focusing on tables, they feel it will come when they are ready, but what if it doesnt???
They dont beleive in homework or spelling, and yet when i asked for worksheets etc they made out i was an overbearing mother who needs to give him a break, i just worry hes not doing well, hes going up to comprehensive next sept (his birthday is sept the first) so we have a year to get his confidence up there so im bookmarking all the sites on here, the cd is coming back out and im going to see what else we can do without putting him off, and see if they can finally sink in with me???

roger196

mrcow wrote: »

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.

Get him a book like "Unofficial Lego Mindstorms NXT Inventors Guide" about £30 from amazon...check suppliers as prices vary. There's quite a bit on gears which requires the understanding of ratios. Get him to explain to you why a model is designed the way it is. Don't just follow the instructions but he should be encouraged to explain each step of the build. How far apart do you need to set these beams so that they achieve a particular objective ( and what is that objective). Why is the axle for this gear placed in that hole? For each stage that he can explain in words that you can understand ( Martian), set a suitable reward ( money, chocs or stay up late etc.).

mrcow

roger196 wrote: »

Get him a book like "Unofficial Lego Mindstorms NXT Inventors Guide" about £30 from amazon...check suppliers as prices vary. There's quite a bit on gears which requires the understanding of ratios. Get him to explain to you why a model is designed the way it is. Don't just follow the instructions but he should be encouraged to explain each step of the build. How far apart do you need to set these beams so that they achieve a particular objective ( and what is that objective). Why is the axle for this gear placed in that hole? For each stage that he can explain in words that you can understand ( Martian), set a suitable reward ( money, chocs or stay up late etc.).

Thank - have just bought it (£13 from Amazon). He certainly won't need any incentives to be allowed to read or build with his NXT

Things have certainly improved. I think the CD has been very helpful.

Gingham_Ribbon

mrcow wrote: »

No problem. I do get what you're saying about it.I'm going to have a more in depth look into what's going on with his maths. I wasn't trying to be dismissive - I think it's hard to think about something like that when you've got a child who has always been so able at everything they put their hand to.

I've taken it on board and am going to do some reading.

You're probably bored of hearing me on this subject, but it is VERY common for gifted kids to struggle with rote learning, particularly tables and spelling. Obviously dyscalculia is something to look into too.

Thanks for the tip, halfpint. I can see us using that idea with all sorts of things.

mrcow

Gingham - you couldn't bore me in a hundred years! I get what you're saying, we do all learn in different ways. He's quite like me - if he can get his head round something, then it will just click. It's like that with most things - even the more unusual stuff like reading music etc.

I guess with tables, they can't just "click" - so it's a different way of learning than he prefers......and not one that either of us are used to.

Shameless mum that I am - I've just told him if he learns his 7's by heart then I've bought him an NXT book which should be here in a couple of days......so he's just designed a poster of them and stuck it on his bedroom wall and is now skipping around the house reciting them. I know that's terrible.......I've told him it's his "carrot".

Gingham_Ribbon

mrcow wrote: »

I know that's terrible.......I've told him it's his "carrot".

:rotfl:It's not terrible. It would be terrible if you told him if he didn't learn them he'd have something taken away from him! I'm all in favour of carrots!