My dad is seventy years old. School was much different when he was a kid. He walked to school in morning and home in the afternoon. He might even have told me that it was uphill both ways! He was not the most diligent student growing up and finds it ironic that he married a school teacher. Being a teacher seems to run in the family.
Anyways, my dad and I were having a chat one day about his schooling. He said that the most useful thing he learned in school was his times tables. He still uses them all the time. Take a minute to think about when you last used a multiplication fact.
I remember being a third-grader and my teacher would have us play the game around the world to practice our times tables. I also remember 2 minute tests. We had to write down each problem that we got wrong ten times on the back of the paper for the next day. I did not like doing this, but I knew all of my multiplication facts by the end of the year.
As a child, I did not fully understand the meaning multiplication. I knew that it was a math operation. It was not introduced as repeated addition 2+2+2 turns into 3 groups of 2 –>> 3×2=6. I hear a lot of parents complaining about “the new math.” However, my own children understand the processes of operations and why they work.
Can you explain the process of borrowing when subtracting? –Not the algorithm, but the reason why we borrow one from the next place value over. I was curious and asked my ten-year-old son. Without batting an eye, he said you take one from the hundreds and make it ten groups of ten. Then you move one group of ten to the next column over to add to that place value and then you can subtract.
I love the newer mathematics for elementary students and the deeper understanding of mathematical concepts they are learning. Fluency is still important after the basic understanding of the topic is learned. Just as students would need to practice words for a language class, they also need to practice their times tables for math class. Flash cards are a great tool for practicing fluency. Keep reading to find where you can download your free set!
I find that there are many high school students who do not know their multiplication tables. This is a crucial prerequisite skill for factoring polynomials as well as many other tasks. Some might argue that a student can just use a calculator to multiply. However, when the skill needed is to find the factors of a number, a calculator will only take a student so far. Without knowledge of times tables, trial and error may be an approach that a student might use. This is a fine approach, but very time consuming.
In an effort to help teachers, tutors, and parents assist students to learn their times tables, I have created these multiplication flash cards with a progress tracker. Please use this resource to help this generation of students become fluent with their times tables.
Visit my Mathberry Lane TPT Store to purchase this resource!