Maths Update

Mastering Times Tables: A Foundation for Mathematical Success

A question teachers are often asked is 'how can I best help my child at home?'

In the area of Maths, this question is especially common as often parents and carers will feel that the methods they were taught at school do not align with how their child may be learning a mathematical process and so there is concern they may confuse their child by trying to help.

One way that parents and carers can help their children from Year 3 onwards is helping them to ensure they know their times tables and can automatically recall given multiplication facts to 10x10 (once a child knows facts to 10x10, it is possible to solve larger problems by combining known facts).

Research in cognitive science underscores the critical role of automatic recall of multiplication facts in primary school education. Note that automatic recall is NOT skip counting through the steps (6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42) - it is 'just knowing' that 6x7 is 42.

Being able to automatically recall times tables (or multiplication facts) frees up cognitive resources, allowing students to focus on problem-solving strategies and higher-order thinking skills, rather than devoting brain power to figuring out what 4 times 6 is. 

So please, once your child reaches Year 3, help them to learn and recall their times tables, learn the patterns, test them, get them to repeat them to you and build their ability to retrieve any multiplication fact with the minimum of effort.

When learning these times tables the best order to tackle them is;

• learn the rules for 0 and 1 (these are straightforward)
• 2xtable
• 5x and 10x table
• 4x table (this is double 2s)
• 3x tables
• 6x, 9x, 7x, 8x tables.

More detail about learning times tables can be watched below;

Doing this will dramatically improve their ability to work effectively and accurately in the classroom when faced with a range of Maths problems.