Clara James Tutoring
BLOG POSTS
Teach your child their times tables - the fun way
Support your child with their times tables
Times tables are the backbone of just about everything we do in maths but for many, learning them is a considerable challenge.
At school, you were possibly taught them by parroting them off by rote, or by the teacher suddenly turning to you and asking you the answer to one as part of a class tables test. Maybe, your torture was less public, and the test would be written down then marked by the person sitting next you. No matter the method, for most people learning their times tables does not conjure up happy memories.
So, starting from the beginning how do we learn?
Although this was learned whilst studying about the dyslexic brain, I believe it is true of most people and can be applied accordingly.
If you, the teacher were to give your child a worksheet of questions focusing on the times tables, you would help them to create a memory. If you gave them a second similar worksheet, it would be stored away in the brain in the same place making the initial memory stronger. However, when they need to recall that information there is only one place that their brain can go to where they can access that information.
Instead, what is needed is to create multiple memories, so that when your brain is thrashing around inside your head trying to find that relevant piece of information it has numerous places it can go to find it.
Where do I start?
When it comes to the times tables, I wouldn’t try to teach them in numerical order. If you do, you will end up tackling many of the harder ones before you encounter the easier ones.
Instead, I would start with the 2’s (as that is just doubling numbers and can be done with adding), then 10’s as we can just move the decimal point along one place (ie. Pop a zero on the end). Then I would move on to the 5’s as it has such a clear pattern: ending in 5,0, 5, 0, 5, 0 etc.
From here, I would address the 11’s then the 9’s as the 9’s have so many tricks to help you to learn them.
By now, you have covered the 2’s, 10’s, 5’s, 11’s, 9’s. That’s nearly half of them.
Never try to rush them as half the goal is to build confidence and as you encounter some of the later ones, you can turn back to these ones with confidence to help you.
After the 9’s, the order becomes a bit hazier, but I would probably suggest the 6’s as you can simply multiply by 5 and 1, then add the answers together. Simple.
The 7’s and 12’s can use similar devises: for the 7’s multiply by 5 and 2, then for the 12’s multiply by 10 and 2 and again add the answers together.
The 3’s, 4’s, 8’s I would suggest are the hardest as there are fewer patterns and tricks to rely on. However, give your child as many visual aids, and as much support as they need so that you can help them to boost their confidence. The more confident they become the less reliant they will be upon using the aids. It’s a bit like when a baby starts to learn to walk. Initially, you are there holding both hands ready to catch them before they fall, then as they get more confident and they start to find their feet, you let go with one hand and then the other and suddenly they are running around, and you can’t imagine a time when they weren’t dashing here, there and everywhere with such confidence and ease.
Supporting our children academically is in many ways just the same. Be there and let go gradually as they no longer need your help and have the confidence to move on by themselves.
So, how can we help them to create multiple memories and store the times tables in multiple places within their brains?
Before I say, please can I justify my logic a bit more. When we are stressed, our brain is distracted, our focus is how can I get out of this, what if I don’t know the answer and I make myself look stupid. What if people judge me and think I’m stupid…?
To overcome this, we need to ensure that the person we are working with is relaxed. We also want to introduce a variety of methods which can be repeated. The variety to create the multiple memories, but the repetition to reinforce the information and make it stronger.
That is why I am a huge advocate for using games.
Hopefully by playing games the child will relax; they will be happy to participate. The more they participate the better they become. With knowledge comes confidence, with confidence comes a willingness to participate and it becomes a spiral of success, positivity, triumph!
The 3 games we probably play the most to support the times tables at Clara James Tutoring are Jenga, noughts and crosses, and pairs. There are many others, but I won’t bore you with them all now but you can learn more here with this free download: theclarajamesapproach.co.uk/times-tables-download
Jenga was first introduced when we had to help a lad with his handwriting. It was suggested that the pincer grip needed to remove the brick was like that needed to support holding the pen. However, playing Jenga for an hour seemed hard to justify.
So, words were written on each brick and as you removed it from the tower, you had to write that word in a sentence.
It was a hit, so modifications were made so that we could use the game to support more children in more ways.
So, we added numbers to the bricks. This time you pick a times table that you want to focus on and remove a brick from the tower. Whatever number was written on the brick had to be multiplied by your focus times table.
Again, a hit and since then this version of Jenga has become one of the most popular games that we play.
Noughts and crosses, or tic-tac-toe, has always been another popular game. Draw your noughts and crosses grid and write a number in each square. Again, choose your times table. This time your goal is to get a line of 3 before the other person does, but to claim your square you must multiply the number written there by your chosen times table.
The final game, pairs is another hit.
Cut a piece of paper into 24 pieces of similar size (I normally make this as a word document and back the bits of paper so that you can’t see through them, but it is up to you. It depends how often you think you will play the game). On half of the pieces of paper you will write a question relating to your chosen times table. On the other half you will write the answers.
Now place them all face down on the table. The first person picks up 2. If they are a corresponding question and answer, they keep them and have another go. If not, they are put back down in the position that they found them. The other person then has a go. The person with the most pairs at the end, wins.
(Be aware that if you are playing this on a glass table and the other person keeps dropping things under the table, there is potentially an ulterior motive!)
Through the whole progress recognise any improvement made. Offer praise when appropriate even if it is for something small. An accumulation of all those tiny wins will bring success in the end. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and learning the times tables won’t be an overnight win either. In fact, the more you try to rush it, the more detrimental it could be as you won’t be giving the concrete in the foundations time to settle.
Like I said previously, this is very much a teach your child their times tables over view, if you are interested and want to learn more, click on the link HERE
Or get in touch and I promise I will always do my best to answer any questions that you might have: [email protected]
Happy New Year - Jan 2024
Happy new year!
I hope you’ve had a brilliant break over Christmas.
I know some people have been on holiday, others have been enjoying family time at home. Either way, I hope it was fantastic.
Someone sent me a Christmas present just before the bog day, but I have no idea who it was from, so I can’t say thank you. I feel really guilty as it seems like bad manners, but it was just in a box from M&S with no message attached.
This year, I have committed to send out the notification when the monthly membership bundle goes live, but I am also going to send out an (initially) fortnightly newsletter with suggestions for revision / secondary school Math / English, then in the alternate week a newsletter with suggestions for the primary subjects.
If either of them isn’t relevant, please either let me know and I will ensure you just get the primary or secondary newsletter if you want it, or just click unsubscribe (but then you also won’t receive the email about when the bundle goes live).
My goal is to keep you more in the loop as to what is happening. For example, we occasionally put free courses on Udemy – we’ve just done one on angles – here’s the link if wanted. It was created to promote the topic book we have also created; we’ve also got revision planners for students that might be suitable for some GCSE parents.
At Christmas we also had some free times-tables colouring sheets which you may not have been aware of, so like I say, it may not be of interest to you, but if it is, at least you’ll be aware of it. I have 3 revision planners and 3 angles topic books to give away if you’re interested. Let me know and I’ll happily pop one in the post for you (or give it to you if I’m likely to see you…).
If you do have one, if you could give it feedback on Amazon (I’ll send you the link) that would be hugely appreciated.
Happy new year for now and warm wishes,
Dawn
Times Tables - Jan 24
Hi,
Last week I sent out an email saying I was going to try and commit to sending out an email at the beginning of each week on ideas to support primary school children, then later in the week about supporting secondary school children.
As a result, I was asked if I could also send out some ideas to support the 11+.
(Again, if this doesn’t concern you let me know and I’ll try to ensure that you don’t receive them).
I’ll send the 11+ emails on an alternate Wednesday as I normally have Alfie, my grandson on a Tuesday and the odds of getting much done with a lively 2-year-old for company…
There will be some cross over between primary school and secondary school subjects, but at any stage there is something you specifically want me to help with, please do shout.
So, back on subject, sorry…
Times tables have always been one of the key subjects that I work on with, specifically primary aged children, but also secondary school children, and often the parents say they’re awful at them as well…
I don’t suggest learning them in chronological order.
If you do, you’ll hit some of the much harder ones before you get to some of the easier ones.
Instead, what I suggest (and you’ve probably heard me say this before) is that you start with the 10’s, 11’s, 2’s and 5’s as they do in school.
Then deviate across to the 9’s as there are so many tricks to help you to learn them.
Then the 6’s or 7’s. Crazy I know! But they are quite simple if you split them so that 6x8 becomes: 5x8 + 1x8 = 50+8 Or 7x8 becomes 5x8 + 2x8 = 40 +16 = 56.
From there you can pretty much work in any order.
The 12’s is also straight forward as we can split it into 10x + 2x which would give us the same answer as 12x.
There are more suggestions on the times tables over in the Clara James Approach, or I have a sequence of emails which sends out once a month with suggestions on how to learn each of the times tables with some resources. If it would help, the link is here: Support your child with their times tables - The fun way! (sendfox.com)
I hope that’s helpful and not just waffle.
Like I say if there is anything specific you would like us to focus on, please do give me a shout.
Have a great week and warm wishes,
Dawn
Hand Writing Support
Hi,
I hope you had a good weekend.
Something I am often asked about is supporting hand-writing skills.
At a young age this may relate to the hand muscles in the hands not yet being fully developed and I have a few suggestions that may help.
As the child gets older, you may want to find the support of an occupational therapist to provide some suggestions.
1. Start big: I guess it’s a bit like parking a car. When you are first asked to park a car, you wouldn’t want to park in a narrow gap, you’d hopefully save that until you were more confident, more skilled. Handwriting practice is the same, using a big piece of paper is far better than trying to squeeze your imperfect shapes between two narrow lines. Even better, (if the weather is more forgiving) start by using water to paint on the side of the house, a patio or footpath). Use large movements and as these improve start to shrink it down to what is expected inside a school exercise book.
2. Jenga: I love this game and we’ve adapted it by writing numbers of the bricks so that we can practice number bonds or the times tables, we’ve also got grammatical terms on others so that we can also practice those. But the skill and care needed to remove the brick from the tower without it all tumbling is a great way to practice the fine motor skills which will in turn support handwriting.
3. Colouring is another suggestion: keeping the colouring inside the lines is another skill that requires practice and patience. Again, the strokes used in colouring can further aid the shapes created when writing letters.
4. Sewing again requires the use of the fine motor skills needed for neat handwriting. You may just do a normal running stitch on a square of fabric, or you may decide to make something or use a more elaborate stitch. Either way I hope this helps.
5. Playdough and clay are other great early interventions to building up the muscles in the hands. The stronger and more developed the muscles are the more precise we can be with our writing.
To be honest, anything that needs to be precise will help. Many crafts and building activities help.
For some people, messy handwriting is always an issue.
There are a couple of members of my family whose handwriting I always struggle to read, yet they are so intelligent. It doesn't seem to add up. But my daughter says, if she doesn’t write quickly, she can’t remember everything her brain is throwing at her. Her brain works at such a speed.
I used to tutor a girl a couple of years back. I hadn’t realized her mum was an invigilator for the A’ levels at the school my youngest went to.
Not long after Hay sat her history the mum asked me if my daughter was doing her exams now.
Yes.
Does she do History?
Yes. Is she called Angel?
Yes.
She said, I thought it must be your daughter.
I have never seen anyone writing so quickly. I expected sparks to come off that page!
There are many reasons why people have scruffy handwriting, sometimes it needs to be investigated and like I say, if you are worried about it, it might be worth while trying to get in touch with an occupational therapist.
Sometimes, practicing using the suggestions above will help. Sometimes, like with Hay, it’s just one of those things that make them, them.
I hope this has helped a bit.
Have a great week and warm wishes,
Dawn