multiplication tables

Karen,
Have you tried Math the Fun Way? It has always been successful for my students and it makes learning the multiplications facts much easier as well. You can purchase the book, workbook, and flash cards and they are relatively inexpensive.

Laurie

Laurie, Do you know the author and where I might purchase these items? Thanks, Karen

Karen,

You can find the materials at the website listed at the bottom of my post. I have had much success using this method with my own students. They seem to remember the facts easier in a story form. Good luck!

Laurie

http://www.citycreek.com/

I bought a cassette tape for my daughter that put the times tables to a tune. It worked for the nine times table, that was one song that stuck in her head. That alone was worth the price of the tape. I found it at an educational toy store

As strange as this may seem what worked for my son was teaching him division at the same exact time. For example we would say 5 times 5 is 25, 25 divided by 5 is 5, this somehow helped him get the connection. He learned his 1-12 times tables in 1 month of doing it this way. When we would go for walks together or had a few minutes we would go through the tables in this manner.

http://www.resourceroom.net — click on “math.” There is a book just for teaching multiplication tables to LD kids that focuses on concepts not memorizing. Times Tables the Fun Way is still rote memory, just with stories and pictures. There is also practice for the facts with charts and quizzes online.

All of the previously mentioned ideas are good ones in my experience, but I happen to have Montessori training (although I do not practice it in a traditional setting), and when my child was having difficulty, I made sure to begin each sequence of memorization with a concrete hands on “presentation.” This means I first showed him, very slowly and carefully, the concept with manipulatives. Then I would ask him to do it. Here is how it worked: I got out pasta wheels (easy to get, abundant, and cheap—but you can use pennies or black beans, whatever—). Explain that you are going to show him multiplication, and that it is a speedy way of adding, because you are adding several groups of pasta wheels that each has the same amount of pasta wheels in it. So if you are teaching the “3s”, begin with a row of 1 “group” of 3 pasta wheels, then you or your child write out the problem, and place it next to the row, (use a folded paper edge to make rows straight and easier to count.) The next row will be 2 groups of pasta wheels, with 3 in each group. Make sure you separate the groups with enough space in between to be really clear.

I have found that the concrete aspect is really essential, even if we think the kids understand, or if they think they understand it already, I go through it thoroughly (trying to make it as fun as I can oc course!) This visually, audibly, and sensorilly instills the facts all at one time. Of course, other strategies come into play immediately after doing the concrete presentations. You will get a feel for how many times to do the concrete presentation from your own work with your child. Often, 1 time for each fact is sufficient.