Yes!! We love to see a science teacher supporting math. You do an excellent job of describing why these facts matter in context and are not just a random thing we ask students to memorize!
You're really clear that the purpose of knowing multiplication facts is to free up space in working memory to help students learn other stuff. The goal isn't to turn students into little calculators, it's to help them learn stuff much more complex than multiplication.
You do a great job of combining acquisition and fluency into one activity. It's easy to print out multiplication fact worksheets. It's much harder to help students learn new facts they don't know already.
I also love focusing on simpler facts first. Keeping the goals manageable for students helps a ton with motivation.
I love this! Reminds me SO much of my experience teaching middle school U.S. history and realizing that my students' lack of knowledge of the 50 states hindered learning. You can link to an article I wrote about it in the first paragraph of this piece about multiplication facts: https://laurenbrownoned.substack.com/p/memorizing-multiplication-tables
I enjoyed reading this so much! You did a great job explaining why it is important for students to have a strong foundation of knowledge. One of my favorite reads.
You want to know why students have trouble with the higher maths? Because they don't know basic math like fractions and decimals and division. Elementary school teachers need to get back to teaching the algorithms again and parents need to start doing flash cards with their kids. This is a serious problem!! I taught my kids basic math because I realized that it wasn't being taught in school....they hated Mommy math in the summertime but they thank me now.
Your job as a parent is to make sure that your child is ready for the world by the time they get out of school. Teaching them to read, write and do basic math are the responsibility of teachers AND parents. Small children who are read to often (while the parent tracks the words) read sooner and know many more words than children who aren't read to. Do you advocate for NOT reading stories to your children? Basic Math is no different.
As soon as a child can count by 2s or 5s, they are old enough to learn multiplication tables. Flash cards are a very easy and fast way to enforce learning at home. Doubling/halving/tripling cookie recipes is a good way to help children learn fractions. Counting coins is a good way to teach decimals.
I’ve been a math advocate for over a decade. What I, and others much smarter than me have researched, and recognized, is that parent involvement actually makes the equity gap in schools WORSE. If your belief is that parents should educate kids, then shut down the system and give the funding to families. Your actions actually make the schools better at covering up their academic deficits. Parents like you only make illiteracy and innumeracy WORSE by interfering in a school’s job. This teacher is spot on in her approach, suggesting more needs to be done at the elementary level. She’s right. Instead of patting yourself on the back and lecturing parents to do more, maybe direct your energy in making the system more accountable, and better, rather than lecturing parents. Only poor performing nations suggest parents should educate kids at home, so stop it.
WOW! That’s a big plate of spaghetti logic served with a side of word salad. Glad you were never an “advocate” for one of my children while they were in public school. If not for my intervention, my kids would still be doing the “trellis” (or grapevine) method of multiplication and “chunking” to do division. But oh wait!…..just let them carry around calculators for everything instead of having them use the one that sits atop their shoulders.
Yes!! We love to see a science teacher supporting math. You do an excellent job of describing why these facts matter in context and are not just a random thing we ask students to memorize!
Math is the language of science! There should definitely be more collaboration between math and science teachers.
Thanks for taking the time to read it! :)
This is great! A few things I like about it:
You're really clear that the purpose of knowing multiplication facts is to free up space in working memory to help students learn other stuff. The goal isn't to turn students into little calculators, it's to help them learn stuff much more complex than multiplication.
You do a great job of combining acquisition and fluency into one activity. It's easy to print out multiplication fact worksheets. It's much harder to help students learn new facts they don't know already.
I also love focusing on simpler facts first. Keeping the goals manageable for students helps a ton with motivation.
Thanks for the detailed feedback Dylan. And it is much appreciated coming from a math teacher!
I love this! Reminds me SO much of my experience teaching middle school U.S. history and realizing that my students' lack of knowledge of the 50 states hindered learning. You can link to an article I wrote about it in the first paragraph of this piece about multiplication facts: https://laurenbrownoned.substack.com/p/memorizing-multiplication-tables
I enjoyed reading this so much! You did a great job explaining why it is important for students to have a strong foundation of knowledge. One of my favorite reads.
Love this. Thanks for all the work you do with your students. Kids love learning no matter what their age. Foundational knowledge is key. Great piece.
They really do! It's fun when they start competing against each other! haha
I would love to speak to you. Please email me. faithandjudy@theliteracyview.com
Done!
Loved your method!
Thank you!
You want to know why students have trouble with the higher maths? Because they don't know basic math like fractions and decimals and division. Elementary school teachers need to get back to teaching the algorithms again and parents need to start doing flash cards with their kids. This is a serious problem!! I taught my kids basic math because I realized that it wasn't being taught in school....they hated Mommy math in the summertime but they thank me now.
take parents out of the equation. That's what schools are for.
Your job as a parent is to make sure that your child is ready for the world by the time they get out of school. Teaching them to read, write and do basic math are the responsibility of teachers AND parents. Small children who are read to often (while the parent tracks the words) read sooner and know many more words than children who aren't read to. Do you advocate for NOT reading stories to your children? Basic Math is no different.
As soon as a child can count by 2s or 5s, they are old enough to learn multiplication tables. Flash cards are a very easy and fast way to enforce learning at home. Doubling/halving/tripling cookie recipes is a good way to help children learn fractions. Counting coins is a good way to teach decimals.
I’ve been a math advocate for over a decade. What I, and others much smarter than me have researched, and recognized, is that parent involvement actually makes the equity gap in schools WORSE. If your belief is that parents should educate kids, then shut down the system and give the funding to families. Your actions actually make the schools better at covering up their academic deficits. Parents like you only make illiteracy and innumeracy WORSE by interfering in a school’s job. This teacher is spot on in her approach, suggesting more needs to be done at the elementary level. She’s right. Instead of patting yourself on the back and lecturing parents to do more, maybe direct your energy in making the system more accountable, and better, rather than lecturing parents. Only poor performing nations suggest parents should educate kids at home, so stop it.
WOW! That’s a big plate of spaghetti logic served with a side of word salad. Glad you were never an “advocate” for one of my children while they were in public school. If not for my intervention, my kids would still be doing the “trellis” (or grapevine) method of multiplication and “chunking” to do division. But oh wait!…..just let them carry around calculators for everything instead of having them use the one that sits atop their shoulders.
Sigh…don’t have time for stupidity. Blocked.