Teaching textbooks, multiplication facts problems

Melissa, I use the AL Abucus from Right Start in the same way as the montesorri multiplication board.  My ds will move 3 beads over on 6 rows for 6×3, then count them (we read it as the number 3 is added 6 times).  I am having him do flashcards as well and he has figured out some tricks of his own for remembering the facts and has also realized he can change the numbers around to do make it easier to count. 6 times 3 is the same as 3 times 6.  I really believe having the manipulatives to work with has helped a lot and he has figured a lot of this stuff out himself.  He may just be good at math, I’m not really sure, but it is working well for us.  

I’m with Melissa on a lot of the games ideas above. My DS6.5 has has almost no formal math and yet through the card games, War, Go Fish, playing with abacus as well as checkers and (my personal favourite) backgammon…he is proving to be a real little math whiz.   Even though he did no pre-Alpha MUS, and certainly no Alpha, a few months ago I gave him a very topline overview of what I remembered of “making 9” and “making 10” in MUS…and he’s all over it.  Just today we were reading Life of Fred (for fun) and he was telling me, “Mama this is stuff I can already figure out because I already know that 4 is one less than 5 and 3 is one more than two…so 4+3 is the same 5+2 !!  (big grin on his face…)  Uh, yes, sweetie, of course it is.   (was not about to tell him that I SURE as heck did not “get” that at age 6 in grade one…)  Wooo hoo, maybe I finally have a mathy kid.  Or maybe playing math games and keeping charts visible to our kids (and explaining whenever they ask) is what it really takes.

But I also see what you are saying, Melissa, in your first point above on math strategies.  The one point I feel compelled to add though is that the strategies are only good once you memorize them, or if you are kind of person that finds the strategies meaningful.  In the example mentioned above (see how many numbers back you are from 10)…I had one kid who found that strategy was brilliant (to be honest I loved it, too), and yet I have another child who found it confusing and is just the kind of person that wants ONLY to know what he NEEDS to know (the THING he needs to memorize) and nothing more.  He thinks of it as having a hamburger with NO ketchup or mustard; a salad with no dressing.   Just give me the meat, Mama!  (LOL)  So, for him, a strategy is just something MORE to memorize.  He’d rather just memorize 10+2=12 and 9+3+12…and not give thought as to how similar they are, or how one can help him remember the other.   To each his own, I guess!

Great discussion everyone!

Angie

Totally agree about it being up to the teacher (parent) to do some kind of fact mastery to ensure accuracy and quickness. We have done all the little tricks and tips, and we use the flashmaster.

But the most helpful thing for multiplication memorization, for us? A wall chart. We review the the times tables – up and down -once a day and do a timed test on the last day of the week. If we need to work on it again the next week, we do.

This has helped not only my 3rd-5th graders with their multiplication facts and speed, but my 2nd grader and kindergartner are memorizing their multiplication facts too ;-).

It takes, possibly, 5 minutes a day.

Yes Angelina, I do see what your saying about strategies vs. memorization.  And, I definitely agree that each kid has a different way of learning.  Mine are all polar opposites….is that possible with five kids and only two poles….LOL!

Isn’t it great when they just get it!!  …I also wonder if by not using a formal math program and just letting him explore, so to speak, if he finds it more fun and has less math anxiety.  I do think math anxiety really holds kids back.  They’re such smart little buggers and they know when it’s taking “too long” or they get every other problem wrong.  Our 10 year old really struggles with this.  She’s a “Perfect Paula” and two wrong make her freak out.  I believe our kids really want to please us and it doesn’t feel good to struggle and to know you are struggling. 

Applying math to real life and making it meaningful is also super important, IMHO. 

I gotta tell ya, when I went to say good night to our kiddos, the 8 & 10 year old were in deep discussion wondering what a quadrillion $1 bills would look like.  Our son said, “Mom, do you think the stack would be as tall as our silo?”  Ha….I have no idea, but I’d love to find out :))