Maths homework help please

The GC whose problem started this thread must be a teenager by now!

NanaMacGeek

I used to tutor maths to older pupils who needed support. I found many had never mastered their times tables and were completely freaked out when they tried to learn them. They were often provided with charts to use, 0 - 10 along the top and the same down the sides with each box containing the number at the top of the column multiplied by the number at the corresponding row. One thing I found that seemed to help was to show them just how much they already knew. They knew their 2x table, and the 4x table, also most of the 3x. None of them had trouble with the 5x and 10x and the tricks with the 9x table are very effective. We crossed out the answers we knew on the chart which included both 3x9 and 9x3 for example. As these were older pupils, they also knew square numbers, which were also discarded. The 6x 7x and 8x tables caused most problems but they knew all the lower multiples of the numbers and they were all crossed out too. In the end, they were left with about 5 multiplications that they needed to learn. I then tackled those few individually, trying to work out the best way to help them to learn. Basically, once they were happy that 7x8 (8x7) = 56 they felt they had got it! I'm hopeless at arithmetic but am blown away by the beauty of mathematics. I struggled at school, assuming I was hopeless at maths. I'm not, I just didn't respond well to the way I was taught and it knocked my confidence for years. My last job required complex mathematics and it was great.

I struggled at school, assuming I was hopeless at maths. I'm not, I just didn't respond well to the way I was taught and it knocked my confidence for years

This is so true, and a lot of older children and adults go on through life thinking they are hopeless at maths (often hearing non-maths teachers , teaching assistants and parents saying the same thing!).

I tutored primary school maths at one point, and always encouraged rote learning of tables and number bonds. I can still, at the age of 68, produce an instant answer to a times table question; it is just SO useful. One boy I worked with had missed the rote learning because he had moved schools and had a major disadvantage even though he understood maths well. I tried every way to convince him and his mum to chant them and test them while driving along, making meals, doing other routine tasks, without success. I still feel I failed him!

GrannieBabi

Nine times table: Hold fingers up on both hands. 3 x9, put down finger number 3 answer is 2 (fingers to the left of the one that is down) and 7 on the right ...3x9 = 27. 8x9, hold down finger number 8 there are 7 to the left 2 to the right 8 x9 = 72 etc etc. Works for all the numbers in 9 times table up to 10x9.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEIeFV4oMp4

The most fun my pupils ever had doing their tables was when my TA made a set of tables cubes (which took a while) and I guarded them with my life!
www.tarquingroup.com/tables-cubes-make-these-two-sets-of-special-cubes-and-use-them-for-tables-practice.html
Groups of pupils would race against each other, or individual pupils would try and beat their own time. Genius invention.

annodomini

The GC whose problem started this thread must be a teenager by now!

Nobody’s listening 😂

I think Dienes must be the Montessori method?

We used Dienes materials throught my school and we weren't a Montessori school.

They were an excellent aid for teaching division and HTU.

There are table games on the web which my DGS liked doing. However, before devices I used to have revision with my 3 DDs by making and filling in a graph of 144 squares ( yes, I was mean, they had the 11 and 12 tables), something like battleships. It was a game where I would say eg 7x8 and when they replied 56 that square got a cross. It was very slow in the beginning but faster as time went on.
For the problem ones I would sellotape pieces of paper over the flat, 7X8 answer even to this day is be salle de bain.

is ‘salle de bain’

I have just looked Dienes up.
He went to a Montessori school and it's often mentioned in articles about him but I can't find a comparison.

The Dienes blocks for example are just like the Montessori blocks/rods I used as a child (except the Montessori ones are/were wooden). I can't find a direct comparison of the two "systems" but if anyone knows I'd be pleased to have a link!

It looks like he perhaps incorporated the Montessori tools into his thinking and re-named them.

Initially when we purchased the materials they were wooden, but over the years, we could only purchase plastic ones and they were cheaper.

At nearly 75 I can respond instantly( and correctly)! to any times table question, my GC are well impressed. Well I like to think they are.
I learned In primary school by the chanting method.

I used Dienes at school in the early 1960s. It wasn't Montessori.

I think understanding that multiplication is repeated addition is important.

I hope the lad has grasped learning tables by now.
he’s had 5 years from 2017 to practice

MerylStreep

I hope the lad has grasped learning tables by now.
*he’s had 5 years from 2017 to practice*

🤣🤣

I am another blown away by the beauty of mathematics

I was taught Maths at a Montessori school initially (up to age 10) and I think those methods helped me see the magic and patterning in maths - as in nature.
Thank you to my early teachers.

growstuff

I used Dienes at school in the early 1960s. It wasn't Montessori.

Yes. I think it may be based on Montessori which is why I asked if anyone knows.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

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