March 2, 2012

Those pesky multiplication facts



Multiplication facts......I remember learning them, but didn't 
realize how painful it could be to teach them!

I have one son who is a bit of a dreamer....creative, curious, artistic and a
 tad bit, shall we say......distracted!
So, memorizing facts was excruciating for him!

Since there are so many different learning styles, I tried numerous methods of 
helping him memorize.....I even resorted to having him hop on one foot reciting 
"6 times 8 is forty-eight!".....didn't work!  
The next day, I showed him the flashcard and HE DIDN'T KNOW IT!!!

One day, my hubby "subbed" for me and saw just how excruciating it was working with him.
Now, my hubby is a lot like this son of mine and came up with a method that
actually clicked with his brain.....a COLOR-CODED chart!


He hung it right by our kitchen table so that every time our son sat at
the table....the table was staring right back at him....and he learned the facts!!

The added benefit.....my 6 year old daughterhas been staring at the chart and 
has started finding patterns and learning facts!

All it took was a piece of white paper and some colored markers!  





How do you teach math facts??





11 comments:

Jess said...

I'm battling this very issue with my son and have been for quite some time now. I'll give this a try if it works I will sing your praises.
Thanks for sharing!

Jessica @ Stay at Home-ista said...

I'm not there yet (the ledest is only 4.5) but I'm pinning this for inspiration in a few years!

RHome410 said...

This a great idea.. THanks for sharing. Any new approach is worth trying.

I printed out endless amounts of multiplication tables for the kids to fill out. It took time, but helped. Then we moved to sheets with a variety of simple multiplication facts. Now for fun, we have competitions with homemade flash cards, against the clock, or for 2 of them who are equally skilled, against each other. The winner gets to choose from a grab-bag of healthy, but not-usually-available-in-our-house treats I bought just for this purpose. They beg to do the math card game!

RHome410 said...

This a great idea.. THanks for sharing. Any new approach is worth trying.

I printed out endless amounts of multiplication tables for the kids to fill out. It took time, but helped. Then we moved to sheets with a variety of simple multiplication facts. Now for fun, we have competitions with homemade flash cards, against the clock, or for 2 of them who are equally skilled, against each other. The winner gets to choose from a grab-bag of healthy, but not-usually-available-in-our-house treats I bought just for this purpose. They beg to do the math card game!

Alison Agnew said...

ugh

my dreamer daughter has been
working on her multi-facts
for three years and still doesn't
know them all!

i've tried everything else
but this is a new idea

i hope it's works with us too
and thanks for posting!

alison

Sugarr2518 said...

Isn't it crazy how certain things that you would have never thought of help the learning process! It's great that your daughter is starting to look at these too:) It will definitely help her when she gets older!

Meghan Carver said...

I love this idea -- going to implement it right away. Thanks!

Meghan Carver said...

I love this idea -- going to implement it right away. Thanks!

Good Time Charlie said...

BRILLIANT!!!!! Doing this for my own kids and forwarding this to my kid's teachers. They both are in 5th grade and still struggle with multiplication tables. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Erin J. said...

I am going to the store to pick up some poster board right now. I also have been struggling with my "bit of a dreamer....creative, curious, artistic and a tad bit, shall we say......distracted" son to learn his facts.

Unknown said...

There may be something scientific behind this. Some people associate colors with numbers. My college roommate at MIT struggled with math as a child because she saw numbers as colors. 5 was blue and 3 was yellow, but 8 was brown... so they didn't "add up" in terms of color mixing. She eventually trained herself to remember what different colors equaled. They call it synesthesia now, but it didn't have a name then. I would guess everyone does it to some degree. Try asking your kid what color 5 is! I thought my kids would both look at me like I was crazy, but instead they all shouted Blue. Shocked the heck out of me. I'll need to make the 5 multiples blue in our chart.

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