Studying Multiplication Facts Part 2: Learn the Multiplication Table in 21 Days

In the last blog I offered advice from my perspective on how to master the multiplication facts. In this blog I wanted to share an article I found online with different suggestions about "how to master multiplication in 21 days". This article is another suggested method to enhance your child's learning for any parents who are looking for additional ideas later on. I hope it helps!

Multiplication Tables in 21 days!  (By Deb on About.com)      Let's face it, when you don't know your times tables, it slows down your progress in math. Some things you just have to know and committing the times tables to memory is one of them. Today, we're in an information age, information is doubling faster than it ever used to. In case you haven't noticed, the math curriculum is much larger than it ever was. Students and parents need to work together to commit the times tables to memory. So let's get started:

Step 1 First of all, you will need to be able to skip count or count by a certain number. For instance 2,4,6,8,10 or 5, 10, 15, 20, 25. Now you will need to use your fingers when skip counting. Remember back in grade 1 when you used to use your fingers to count to 10? Now you'll need them to skip-count. For example, use your fingers to count by 10. First finger or thumb is 10, second is 20, third is 30. Therefore 1 x 10 = 10, 2 x 10 = 20 and so on and so forth. Why use your fingers? Because it's an effective strategy. Any strategy that improves speed with your tables is worth using!

Step 2  How many skip counting patterns do you know? Probably the 2's, 5's and 10's. Practice tapping these out on your fingers.

Step 3  Now you're ready for the 'doubles'. Once you learn the doubles, you have the 'counting up' strategy. For instance, if you know that 7 x 7 = 49, then you'll count up 7 more to quickly determine that 7 x 8 = 56. Once again, effective strategies are almost as good as memorizing your facts. Remember, you already know the 2's, 5's and 10's. Now you need to concentrate on 3x3, 4x4, 6x6, 7x7, 8x8 and 9x9. That's only committing 6 facts to memory! You're three-quarters of the way there. If you memorize those doubles, you'll have an effective strategy to quickly obtain most of the remaining facts!

Step 4  Not counting the doubles, you have the 3's, 4's, 6's, 7's and 8's. Once you know what 6x7 is, you'll also know what 7x6 is. For the remaining facts (and there aren't many) you will want to learn by skip-counting, in fact use a familiar tune while skip counting! Remember to tap your fingers (just as you did when counting) each time you skip count, this enables you to know which fact you're on. When skip counting by 4's and when you've tapped on the fourth finger, you'll know that it's the 4x4=16 fact. Think of Mary Had A Little Lamb in your mind. Now apply 4,8, 12, 16, (Mary had a....)and continue on! Once you've learned to skip-count by 4's as easily as you can by 2's, you're ready for the next fact family. Don't worry if you forget the odd one, you will be able to fall back on your doubling strategy and counting up.

Remember, being able to do math well means having great strategies. The above strategies will help you learn the times tables. However, you will need to commit daily time to these strategies to learn your tables in 21 days.

Try some of the following:

· Each day when you wake up, skip count the fact family you're working on.

· Each time you walk through a doorway, skip count again (silently)

·  Each time you use the washroom, skip count!

·  Each time the phone rings, skip count!

·  During every commercial when you're watching TV, skip count! When you go to bed each night, skip count for 5 minutes.

Practicing multiplication facts for 25-30 minutes a day can sound daunting, but if you break it down into 5 short study sessions a day for 5 minutes at a time you’ll hardly notice that you are taking extra time out of your day.

If you stick it out, you'll have your tables memorized in 21 days!

Studying Multiplication Facts Part 1: A Guide for Making Studying Effective

Dear Parents,

  As partners in education, we have a big task before us for the new trimester! In the 2nd trimester our mathematical studies will turn to focus on multiplication. Your child's success in math will now largely be determined by their ability to study, retain, and quickly recall multiplication facts. What can you do to help your child get prepared? Teach them how to study and make sure that they follow through. 

      Before we went on break, I gave the students a turkey to practice their multiplication facts with and told them that they needed to get "Turkey Time" every day. Some families will prefer to use the turkey, others may use flash cards, computer/iPad games, songs, rhymes or other studying techniques. Whatever you choose to use, be persistent in making studying a daily habit. After working with 3rd graders for more than 6 years, my #1 recommendation is to study multiplication facts for a minimum of 30 minutes a day. I know what you're thinking - "30 minutes a day! How are we going to fit that in to our schedule?" 30 minutes a day sounds like a lot of time, but if you spread the minutes out in small chunks throughout the day it will build your child's confidence, reduce your child's stress over committing the facts to memory, create good studying habits for your child, and help them be successful. Brain research shows that studying is more effective when it's done in short periods of time and when it's done frequently. The more times your child accesses a particular piece of information in their brain, the faster their brain will know where to find it when they need it the next time. When it comes to learning the times tables, it really is a matter of "practice makes permanent"! 

Here's are my recommendations for scheduling fact practice:

  1. Limit the number of facts your child studies each day: if they have a timed test on the 2's coming up in 3 days, start studying today! Choose 6 facts for them to study today (Ex: 1 x 2, 2 x 2, 3 x 2, 4 x 2, 5 x 2, 6 x 2) and save the next 6 facts for them to study tomorrow. On the third day (the day before the test) have them review all 12 facts or just the ones they still seem to be struggling with. 

2. Don't just quiz them auditorily:  Many times children need something to touch, see, do, and hear to remember something. Remember to try a new method of studying if one type of studying isn't working for them. If you need more ideas, please come see me!

3. Study in 5 minute concentrated chunks throughout the day:  

    A. Study for 5 minutes when they wake up / are eating breakfast / brushing their teeth, etc. Make multiplication practice part of their morning routine. 

 Even if they have to wake up 5 minutes earlier, it will be worth it in the long run!

    B. Study for 5 minutes on the way to school - have them use the turkey, a song, or flash cards. Remember your child can study facts on their own in the car so you can focus on the road :)

    C. Study for 5 minutes on the way home from school or when you get home before beginning homework time.

    D. Study for 5 minutes in the middle of homework: give them a writing break by having them say the facts to the Mexican Hat dance, or while touching their head, shoulders, knees and toes, or while doing jumping jacks. Get them up out of their seat to get the blood flowing, stimulate their brain, to make it more fun for them, and to give them exercise. 

     E. Study for 5 minutes before dinner: have them say the facts while they set the table or pour drinks for everyone in the family. The more ways that you can build fact practice into daily routines, the easier it will be to remember to do it!

     F. Review facts for 5 minutes before going to sleep: quietly going through flash cards or looking at the facts written on the bathroom mirror (in dry erase marker) while brushing your teeth are both great ways to wind down and cement the facts in during one last studying session for the day.

   Remember this studying routine is a suggestion to help your child be successful and feel confident about their math facts. Studying is a process. If you don't immediately see success, give it some time. If they don't work for your child after trying out these methods for a while, adapt them! If you need more suggestions, ideas, or help - just ask. We're hear to work as a team to make each child successful and to help them learn. 

   Don't forget, once they start getting good studying habits, they will need less reminders to study. Eventually the goal is for each child to take responsibility for their own studying habits. Chances are they aren't there yet and they don't have all of their facts down, but they will get there and we can all take pride in knowing we helped them be successful.

Your partner in education,

Miss Farmer

SS Ch 3 Lesson 4 Customs & Folklore

Vocabulary:
customs
religion
shaman
folklore
oral history
Indians had their own ceremonies and customsCeremonies: mostly religious, celebrated marriages or special times of the year
Yuroks celebrate catching the 1st salmon of the year they believed that nature was controlled by different spirits, men or women could be shamansIndians passed down beliefs and culture through storytellingchildren listened to elders tell them the folklore of their tribe
some stories taught lessons about how to act, the tribes beliefs, how the world and humans came to be, and explained why things are the way they are
Folklore includes many different types of games, stories, and art.Art: rock art - painting and carving rocks
carved furniture and tools from wood or bone, made dolls, clothing, baskets, instruments
Games: played by children and adults,
many games taught skills children would need when they grew up
might even play games to settle an argument
California Indians showed a respect for the land, Tribes had different ways of life, including different religious beliefs, ceremonies, stories, art, and games. Together, these ways of life were part of each tribe's customs and folklore.

Social Studies Ch 3 Lesson 3: Trade & government

 Here are the notes for Monday's Quiz:

The economy of California Indians included trading, gift-giving, & sharing.

If Indians needed a resource that wasn't available in their area, they bartered with other Indians to get what they needed

Northern Coast had shells, fish, salt
Inland tribes animal skins & pine nuts

Most Indians bartered with members of their own or neighboring tribes

Gift Giving Ceremonies: if a tribe had extra food the leader would invite a neighboring tribe to a feast

Indians valued: foods, baskets, weapons, canoes, rocks & minerals *(for making tools)
Obsidian was used to make arrowheads
Ca Indians used shells & beads as money

Government
- tribes had different types of governments
- Northern Coast picked the richest man to be chief
- Indian chiefs mostly gave advice rather than laws
- women & men could be chiefs
- some tribes were lead by a group of elders

Serrano & Mojave tribes had family groups called clans
each had its own chief
chiefs could be replaced if they didn't do a good job
Mojave had war chiefs who lead them into battle

SS Ch 3 Lesson 2 Notes

Social Studies Ch 3, Lesson 2

Using the Land

Early California Indians got their food, clothing, shelter, & tools from their environment.
Geography & climate affected what California Indians ate, wore, & what kinds of shelters they built.

Northern Coastal - Pomo
more than 70 villages
Lived in small, bowl-shaped shelters
- in rainy season (winter/spring) lived in villages
- built on the side of a hill to stay safe from floods
- after the rains they would burn their shelters & move
closer to a river, lake, or ocean
Tools: nets, spears, & traps for fishing, bow & arrow for hunting: birds, deer
Expert basket makers, baskets were used for gathering, storing,
& cooking food

North Central - Maidu
built villages on high ground to see strangers coming
Homes:
for cold weather - several families lived together, homes kept them warm in the winter, they were big round mound of earth with a hole in the top for a doorway, the floor was lower than the outside ground, log poles held up the roof
for warm weather - open-air shelters to let the breeze through, branches supported the rood of sticks, grass or dirt
Clothing: mocasins, animal skins & deer skins were used to keep them warm
Tools: flint knives & arrowheads
Food: hunted for bears, deer, elk, rabbits, birds
     fished for salmon, trout, & eels
    gathered plants, seeds, roots, insects, acorns, berries

Southern Coast - Gabrielino (where we live!)
built strong plank boats to carry people & goods to islands
Food: fished for swordfish, seals, & sharks
   hunted - rabbits, squirrels, deer & ducks
   acorn mush, pine nuts, seeds & fruits
Expert basket makers - baskets could carry water & cook liquids
Clothing: women made skirts of tule grass
Homes: made of tule mats & tree saplings

Desert - Mojave
Food: farmers near Colorado River - planted corn, beans & pumpkins
   gathered: wild plants, seeds & roots
   fished with traps & nets in the Colorado River
   trapped small animals (rabbits, skunks, beavers)
Clothes: for hot weather Men - cloth tied around the hips
   Women - knee length skirts of willow bark, shirts of beaver & rabbit skin in winter
Homes: no villages, built near good soil for farming, made from willow poles covered with grasses
Made: clay pots & wove baskets to cook & store food in

Summary:
Pomo - hunted & fished
Maidu - built lodges & gathered acorns
Gabrielino - built boats & cooked in baskets
Mojave - grew crops & made clay pots