11 Plus Exams Forum

My son is at the end of year four. His school hasn't taught times tables by rote. He is accurate, but slow at them, as he works them out in his head, increment by increment. We've decided to concentrate this summer on helping him know them by heart so he doesn't get slowed down in exams, working them out. Any ideas on how to make this fun, or games to get him going? Maths is my weakest subject and all I can think of is learning by rote. But thought some of the maths wizards on here might have better ideas.
Thanks

We set up a "times table challenge" in our house when DSs were in year 3 & 5 (I think). It was at a time when they were collecting cards of some sort. Each day they did a times table square they got 3 or 4 cards, I can't quite remember. There were bonuses too for doing them under a certain time, getting them all right etc. I think they also got a bonus for reciting a particular times table. I soon learnt to give them the cards at random rather than let them choose them otherwise they chose all the good ones first and then weren't fussed! Bribery in other words!

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My son is at the end of year 4 too, and has only just grasped all the times tables and I think really it was just lots of practice....in particular the random times tables either wise he would just add on .I think this has really helped him with division as he now seems to recognise the numbers which go together i.e 3,8 and 24.He really liked the arcademicskillbuilder website which Yoyo recommends ....anything to make it fun ! I found that some of the workbooks were helpful because as well as the usual multiplication sections they also have word problems such as splitting sweets into groups, that sort of thing which seem to speed up his grasp of times tables too.

Try a CD of times tables songs . Amazon have some - can be used while jumping on the bed etc ... songs drive you mad but they stick in the brain.

percy parker is a good cd
The iphone app is only 59p if you have one too & is great

We have the Percy Parker CD in the car and both DC love it, including preschooler who happily recites his timestables unwittingly!!

Emmajane: is the iphone app just the songs, or is there a gaming side to it? Or a cartoon side to it?

emmajane1 wrote:percy parker is a good cd
The iphone app is only 59p if you have one too & is great

sounds good - you can fix ear plugs in while the kids are asleep .... they will wake up chanting the times tables

About Percy Parker - Doing it while they sleep sounds worth a shot! I had it recommended a while ago, so put it on you tube and the kids groaned and said they played it at school all the time. So may not be that popular in the car too! But thanks for the tips. I'm sure a bit of everything will help them finally get the numbers fixed in their heads.

We used a book by AE Tuition called 'Multiplication Tables 15 Day Learning Programme'. It includes a set of flashcards which we played as a family - 1 haribo per card won improved all our tables immensely!

We tried a number of things, but I think it was this game that gave him instant recall in a very short space of time.