Times Tables - Top Tips to Support Struggling Learners

Does your student really need to learn all the times tables facts from scratch? How can you support students who are struggling to learn their times tables?

If you have a student who is struggling, or feels that they are struggling with learning their times tables, then one quick way to support them and boost their confidence is to identify which facts they actually need to learn by eliminating those that they already know.

During the Victorian period Students had to memorize facts from 0 x 165 Table 1-12 x 12 Schools in those days, however, the 0x to 10x tables mostly ignored the facts 11x and 12x, so it actually takes 44 facts to begin with.

In considering the 0x to 10x, including tables, we see that they contain 121 different elements, such as 6 x 2 = 12 However, it is often the case that many of these facts are already known. A good starting point, then, is to identifythe facts that you do know and those that your student is not sure of or does not know.

Multiplication can be carried out in any order so for each fact you learn you actually learn two facts; a kind of buy one fact get one free! By ensuring that students recognise this essential fact you can eliminate the need to learn 55 facts which will leave 66 facts for students to learn.

If your student knows that the rule for the 0x table is that the answer is always 0 then you have eliminated another 11 facts which leaves 55 to learn.

The rule for the 1x table is that the answer does not change; it is the number you started with, so for example, 6 x 1 = 6. This has eliminated another 10 facts leaving only another 45 to learn.

The 10x table is simple to learn and remember; move the digits one place to the left and add a zero (0) as a place holder e.g. 7 x 10 = 70. This might be best illustrated using a place value board or money to allow the student to see the place value of the digits. That is another 9 facts taken care of and only 36 left.

If you can skip count in twos and you know that even numbers are multiples of two then you have eliminated yet another 9 facts leaving 27 to learn.

What other facts does your student know? Think about the 5x table. All the answers end in 5 or 0 alternatively. Multiplying 5 by an odd number gives a product ending in 5, whereas multiplying 5 by an even number results in a product ending in zero (0). Again that is another 9 facts taken care of and leaves only 18 more to learn.

Now sit and list any other facts not already accounted for and then you will have an idea of exactly which facts are left to be learned.

Trickier facts such as 7 x 8 = 56 can be learned with the use of rhymes such as, '5 6 7 8, 56 is 7 times 8'.

Learning times tables does not have to be problematic or stressful. Simply check what your student knows already before you start. It will give him a real boost in confidence and a great place to start.

Stealing Sleepy Time - Kids Say Learning Support

How many of us have had difficulty in our high disregulated adopted children put to bed at night? Although we have most of the problems that we used to have before going to bed, I remember at that time asked us if we ever get a good night's sleep again. Of course there are many things we do to make our children feel secure when it's time to sleep, but Tim and I met by chance a technique of "kill two birds with one stone", which we still use from time to time.

We want more, we usepossible for our benefit - that only makes sense, right? Why not make your child the desire to stay awake as a way to get something more valuable teaching time of day? Activities range before going to bed. Here are some examples ...

Gabriel had a hard time storing their data in mathematics, but hated to do flashcards. There are some math games we played with him and he has at least one worksheet for each day, but was still struggling and we knew, cards were the best way to achieve thisThe facts in his brain solidified. Tim started to bring the tabs on the bed at night Gabriel stack and voila! Suddenly Math flash cards have been very desirable. He did what many, we wanted him because he did everything he knew, the more he got to stay awake. Worked like a charm!

Even with our eldest son who has no history of trauma, we are able to exercise for extra Latin, grammar, math and get to sleep the night before. With him, you can enjoy the quiet and the extratime alone with mom and dad, making learning materials that would be too difficult during the day, suddenly be fun when they are ready before going to bed. Who would have thought?

Here are four activities you can do with your child at bedtime:

1. Spelling practice - either quiz each other on spelling words
2. Read historical fiction to read at night before bed as a family, or read his book each child, which coincides with your current studies.
3. Sing songs, skip the practice of teachingCounting, multiplication facts or other exercises
4. Let your child read a story, so he comes in his reading practice for the day.

We have begun to use this approach in other ways, as we discovered. I often give lectures on the history and science over lunch - then we have to clear the table and do an experiment or craft, teaching fits with the. Lunch time is the time when the children sit at a table, because they want to eat, and their mouths arecomplete, so you can actually amount of class time for your hearing students. Let's all go - chew with your mouth closed! After lunch, you can reinforce the lesson with the experiment or business.

All that can usually be met with revulsion may be postponed dining table before going to bed or if you are creative enough. For example, our children do not like new experiences. Want to know what to expect, so when I got the "Classic Kids" series of audio stories so that theyI did not do during the normal school time I started one of these wonderful CD to play during the lunch break (if their mouths were full - Remember to get what you can and use it to your advantage!) And they were instantly hooked. When I tried to judge the stories and made it look like a lesson, they would have complained and the wall. As it is, now they call them CDs, and they also listen to their rooms and over again. How nice!

Select a topic your childfight and try to be creative with a bedtime activity, improve what they have learned. You see, jumping as he prepared to learn and if you feel it is always time for "extra" is to stay awake. Ah, the art of being a parent ...