Learning Our Multiplication Facts

I remember when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, my teacher gave me a piece of paper with all the multiplication facts on them. She then told me to memorize them. I remember sitting on the back porch with my dad, going over and over and over the facts. It took lots of time, practice, and determination for me to memorize the multiplication tables. Those three criteria still apply to our kids today. Fortunately, we've developed some more "fun" ways to memorize the facts. In class, we used flash cards to determine what facts we know and what facts we still need to practice. We've played Name That Number, Multiplication Top-It, Beat the Calculator, and Multiplication Baseball. All of these games help kids memorize their multiplication tables. But parents - I encourage you talk to your child and identify those facts that he or she does not know. Practice them in the car, make flash cards, play games - do what it takes. Remember- time, practice, and determination. Here are some pictures of the kids playing math games in our classroom...

Coco and Mia are playing Name That Number (one of my favorites).

Austin and Porter think over their facts as they play Multiplication Baseball.