First things first.  How many number facts are children supposed to know?  If you teach up to the 10 times tables (and you should be!) there’s 121 facts to learn off.  In this week’s session, we’re going to reduce the … Read on…

I usually write about technology in education but when I’m not doing that, I’m a teaching principal of a primary school.  One of the things that has baffled me is how to help children learn their multiplication tables.  I cringe … Read on…

Multiplication tables can be a real pain to teach and consolidate. While we know there are lots of ways to give children strategies to learn tables, there is nothing less motivating that a whole-class drill in tables.  … Read on…

There are some tables that are really tough to learn – particularly the 6, 7 and 8 times tables.  There are a couple of stories and strategies, I’ve picked up along my travels that I have found working with some … Read on…

It’s 693.  It’s really easy to multiply any two digit number with 11.  It’s a great trick to play with a 4th or 5th class as a mental warm up to a maths class.  If you’re old fashioned and still … Read on…

Thanks to Andrea Battye for this guide to the counting stick.  Andrea learned this method on a Mental Maths course run by Jill Mansergh in the UK and she typed and worded the document herself

Learning times tables using the … Read on…