Sunnyfields Primary School - Helping with maths

Helping with maths

Learning times tables

The table below outlines the National Curriculum times tables expectations for each year group:

Year 1	Count in multiples of 2, 5 and 10. Recall and use doubles of all numbers to 10 and corresponding halves.
Year 2	Recall and use multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 multiplication tables.
Year 3	Recall and use multiplication and division facts for the 3, 4 and 8 multiplication tables.
Year 4	Recall multiplication and division facts for multiplication tables up to 12 x 12.
Year 5	Revision of all times table and division facts up to 12 x 12.
Year 6	Revision of all times table and division facts up to 12 x 12.

Useful websites

Times Table vocabulary

Multiplication

Multiplied

Multiply

Times

Groups of

Lots of

Repeated addition

Product

Multiplied

Array

Year 4 times table test – Summer Term

The multiplication tables test is an online test for pupils in Year 4. Pupils are asked to answer 25 questions on times tables from 2x to 12x. They are given six seconds per question, with three seconds rest between each question, so the test should last less than five minutes.

How can you help your child learn their times tables?

Basic concepts

1. Multiplication is simply a fast way of joining groups of equal size through repeated addition. Let us look at a problem.

Sarah has 4 boxes of crayons. There are 3 crayons in each box. How many crayons does Sarah have altogether?

This problem can be solved through repeated addition: 3+3+3+3 = 12

A shortened version of this would be to use the multiplication sentence: 4 x 3 = 12

2. The second concept that must be understood is what each number in the multiplication problem represents. Let’s look at that same problem again:

Sarah has 4 boxes of crayons. There are 3 crayons in each box. How many crayons does Sarah have altogether?

4 x 3 = 12

In this case, the (4) represents the number of groups in the problem. (There were 4 boxes.)

The (3) represents how many objects/items were in each group. (There were 3 crayons in each box.)

3. The third concept that will help you with learning your multiplication facts is the Commutative Property of multiplication. This states that when two numbers are multiplied together, the product (or answer) is the same regardless of the order of the numbers.

So - 3 x 2 = 6

2 x 3 = 6

3 x 2 = 2 x 3

Hints and tips

Learning times tables is just repetition so go over the times tables again and again. Get them to chant it or sing it.
Every multiplication has a twin, which may be easier to remember:

If you forget 8×2, you might remember 2×8=16.

2 x	Add the number to itself/double the number. Example 2×9 = 9+9 = 18
4 x	Double and then double again. Example 4×9: double 9 is 18, double 18 is 36
5 x	The last digits end in 5 or 0. 5, 0, 5, 0, ... like this: 5, 10, 15, 20, ...
8 x	*Double, double, double!* Example: 8×6: double 6 is 12, double 12 is 24, double 24 is 48
9 x	Your hands can help! Example: to multiply 9 by 8, hold your 8th finger down and count "7" and "2", the answer is 72. Be a detective. What do you notice about adding the digits in the answers to the 9x table together (up to 10x)? 9 x 4 + 45, 9 x 7 = 63, 9 x 9 = 81
10 x	Put a zero after it. Example: 10×2= 20
11 x	Up to 11x9: just repeat the digit. Example: 11x4= 44
12 x	Use 10× plus 2×Example: 12×4 = 10 x 4 = 40 = 2 x 4 = 8 = 40 + 8