Multiplication .. without Tables ??

How to teach multiplication for 7yr. old -- WITHOUT TABLES. My niece is just not able to by-heart the tables, if she remembers one she forgets the other and always tension during study time. She used to like Maths before and so this is making a huge impact on her confidence with the subject.
Any helpful response is very much appreciated.

Hi,

As a maths teacher all I can tell u is some day ur niece should learn multiplication Table. Kids can't escape.

She can also learn by repeated addition(as multiplication is repeated addition)
But multiplication table can be taught with fun.
Please refer these sites.

Count On
Math Forum: Ask Dr. Math FAQ: Learning Multiplication Facts

Hope these sites will be of use to ur neice.

prabha

Thanks A TON Prabha !! Yes, we are literally struggling 'cos she just doesn't able to retain it. Will forward the links to my sis. too.

Regards.

hi kurunji,

Dont force your niece to retain. it becomes monotonous. let her learn it on her own. have some flash cards. have some illustrative examples for the tables..in the form of repeted additions.

Start with 1, 2, 10 as these are easily retainable in the long run. then 3,5. I think schools also follow the same way.

Have you come across a multiplication chart...not in the table format. check that out if she finds it easy to find out the tables and write from that...so increasing the interest....

all the best....

Hi Thanks for the links, would like some links for practise worksheets for other subjects as well, they are better than verbal repitition.
Appreciate it

hi

Excellent suggestions......i wud like to add that as children learn by repetition, it wud help greatly if u make her write the tables regularly. In fact , on a daily basis.

Just set aside 10 to 15 min. exclusively for writing down tables. No need to make her learn and write.....let her just copy them down in a note book....to see and write is easy enough and she sh. not feel burdened with this 10 min. work.

Let her write only two or three tables first, starting with the easy ones and gradually moving on. For example, if u start with the tables of 2, 3 & 4 , just let her copy down these in her note book daily, for a week.
After a week, she sh. be writing the tables (or at least some parts ) herself without any need to copy ....then u can move on to the next three and so on, letting her take her own time .

Hope this helps.


sonalika.

hi,

The kids can have a board & act like teachers and tell the multiplication tables.
They will have a feeling that they r teachers & they are teaching.
They won't have the burden of learning .
put some tune to the tables & ask them to learn. teaching through music is an excellent way for the kids to grasp any thing even formulas.........

prabha

Hi,

I also faced the problem with my 61/2 year old. What is helping are these steps:

We are now only doing less than 5
I make her learn by skip counting which she loves doing.
We use a board and she writes on them - with a few days practice, I found that she had unconsciously got it by-heart.

I would not want to force her to by-heart - it is fruitless, i feel. I would rather that she does skip counting / repetitive addition and then do it, though it may be slow initially.

Cheers,

Sumathy

Dear Kurunji,
Visual methods help kids learn things better and faster.They long last in the memory. You dunt have to spend so much money on buying a board/marker and other stuff if you can't.It can be simply done like on a full paper chart write the tables bold and visible to them. Ask them to learn it playfully.You can conduct short quiz like with other kids or with any of the family members and encourage the kid everytime she or he tell it right.

Abacus is now a days too useful for the kids.Yu can also opt for sending the kid for the math class(Abacus) if interested.


This is just a suggestion.Hope it helps!

hi kurunji

I am having 10 year old boy and 5 1/2 year old boy studying 6th std and sr.k.g respectively. When i read your query i wanted to share my experience with my elder son who is in 6th.

Whenever, i asked him to byheart multiplication tables he simply refuses to do that and he says he cannot even imagine. Even though i force him and put lots of pressure on him he doesn't listen to me. May be he by-hearts first few tables which are ofcourse easy but later on he starts using his own method of learning them. But i warn him if he does in this pattern , it may take long time for him to calculate but still it never enters into his brain.

I just want to give the way he learns so that your niece may try this and see if this method is going to help or not.

My son follows this addition method . Suppose if i ask him what is 18 * 3 he adds it in this format .. 18*2 + 18. He says in his school his maths teacher gives these ideas so that it will become so easy. But in this method, the kid should add the numbers fastly. The kid may need some practice but definetely it will help and grow passion towards maths.

One more example. 18*15 can be done like this 18*10 + 18*5 ie 180 + 90 = 270 . Hope this helps you.

sesirekha.