Do you teach the multiplication tables in order of 1- 12? I would suggest teaching one easy one set of facts like 1's and linking it to one more difficult like 3's. Then easy, difficult, easy, difficult.
I think of it as "build my confidence and now let's work a bit."
Also think about what facts go together... like 2's and 4's, and 3's and 6"s.
Deborah Devine
Hi Deborah:
ReplyDeleteThis a HUGE weakness of my kiddos. They just aren't motivated to learn their facts. (Can you believe many of them still draw and count tally marks?!)
I don't mind if they use their fingers (better than nothing!) and one of my kiddos does the "Jingle Bell" trick for her threes, but most close their eyes and guess (incorrectly).
Too many people in my area feel that a conceptual approach to math teaching/learning makes the working knowledge of math facts obsolete. Facts are not taught/reinforced well enough at the younger grades, so I only have 10 out of 34 sixth graders who really know their facts...
Sigh.
Kim
Finding JOY in 6th Grade
Dear Kim,
ReplyDeleteWhen students don't know their facts by 6th Grade it is so difficult to get them to believe that they CAN LEARN them. It will make their mathematical learning so much harder in algebra or for 7th and 8th grade! I think one of the most difficult facts to remember is 6 X 7 = 42. For a whole 2 weeks of class I concentrated on that fact. It began when the students entered the room...outside of the door was a 3 foot high 6 X 7 =42 (vertically). When they entered the room they said, "Good morning Mrs. Devine. Did you know that 6 X 7 is 42?" Every crazy moment that I could reinforce that fact I did. Sheets of worksheets with the fact and then room for them to copy the fact 6 X 7 = 42 and strips of masking tape with the fact written on it by each student and then placed on their shirts. I even got the lunch ladies involved as the children would say their name and the fact to the lunch lady before they received their lunches. On the last day I gave a 50 point test with the whole page filled with 50... 6 X 7 = questions. As I handed back the test, students signed a poster that said, " I know that 6 X 7 is 42 FOREVER!!!!
Deborah Devine
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ReplyDeletehttp://theteacherschatterbox.blogspot.com/2011/12/blog-award.html