I highlight those facts as well and it’s amazing how much this visual alone can decrease student anxiety and boost confidence around multiplication. Students are generally quick to see the patterns in tens, and can quickly skip count by fives until the facts are truly memorized. Next, we take a look at the tens and five times tables. So, I like to visually show students how many facts they already know by highlighting all of those facts. This is simply because students can quickly understand the identity property of one, and they typically know their addition doubles facts from first and second grade. Students usually already know their one and two times tables. One of the first things I like to do with my students is to break down the multiplication facts on the chart. If we feel overwhelmed about teaching that many facts, imagine how students feel! When you look at a multiplication chart, it can be overwhelming! I mean, there are SO MANY MULTIPLICATION FACTS to memorize. So what do we do instead? We look for alternatives that will strengthen their understanding and help improve student confidence, and perhaps even include a little bit of fun! (I swear it’s possible.) Breaking Down Multiplication Facts However, students will often conflate the two, which can be incredibly harmful to those who struggle AND those who fly through them.ĭoes fluency of multiplication facts build a strong foundation for future math concepts? Of course! I just believe that there are far better ways to help build multiplication fact fluency that does not increase anxiety and decrease confidence (or create a false sense of confidence). It simply means that you are able to easily memorize and regurgitate facts. The thing is that rapid recall of multiplication facts is not an indicator of math intelligence. However, the lasting impact on student confidence is quite another issue altogether. That feeling usually settled down shortly after the tests had been handed in and the tests were graded. The anxiety leading up to the tests was one thing. I was actually quite quick and always got a sticker at the top of my page, but that did very little to ease the incredible amount of anxiety that these tests created for me and my classmates. It’s not because I wasn’t good at multiplication. I remember taking these in elementary school and I have ZERO positive memories of them. Timed Multiplication Testsįirst, let’s talk about timed tests. I’ll share activities and strategies I use to build fact fluency, why I do not use timed tests to track student progress (and why I think they’re harmful to students), and how you can use those “drill tests” more effectively if you are required to give them in your classroom. Even more specifically, do I use timed tests? Today I want to break down my answers to these questions. One of the questions I get asked the most is how I build fluency of multiplication facts with my students.
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