Memorize what?

Hi, Betty.  I just wanted to drop by and thank you for commenting on my blog.  

Although I am not a math teacher, I do remember the trials of learning my multiplication tables and the horror of missing 7 X 11 in the Multiplication Bee.  (Apparently no one taught me the trick of the 11's...)

As an English teacher, I understand the struggle to get kids to learn the basics - punctuation, for example!  Anything that will help, right?

Keep up the good work!

I'm glad you are enjoying this link and the others. Thanks so much for your kind words!

I found a wonderful book that I used to help kids memorize facts! It's called Memorize in Minutes. If you Google that title, you'll find this very original and helpful method for memorizing facts from 2-9. I wish I'd thought of it!!

Thanks for the multiplication link. My 5-year-old is enjoying it!

I taught 4th and 5th grades for 21 years.  Now I am in a 3-4-5 class.  No one has made these kids memorize anything.  My students are counting on their fingers to add!  I was stunned.  I told them that as of next week, any time I caught them counting on their fingers, I was taking their paper away and they had to start over.  Some of them were counting for things like 9+1!!!  How hard is that???  I am disgusted.

I am going into elementary education and really enjoyed reading this. I remember learning  multiplication when I was younger. I had a hand held table that had the multiplication buttons with problems from 0x to 10x. When you mashed the buttons down you could then see the answer to the math problem. This helped me alot and it is also something that students can work on one on one.

I was always terrible in math. Don't know that I ever mastered the multiplication tables completely. Sometimes, in grades 3-6, I'd fail entire math quizzes! Wasn't 'til about junior year in high school that my Algebra teacher suggested that I might want to be tested. Turns out I'm dislexic with numbers. So, to this day, the calculator is my best friend!

It's amazing how easily young children can use computers!  

thanks for commenting on my blog!  I really needed to find that link to the awesome multiplication games.  I teach 5th grade and I hate it when my kids leave not knowing their times tables.  This is just what I was looking for to share with parents.

@Mystery Teacher- try TouchMath for your kids! I was required, but unable to memorize math facts when I was in school and HATED math. In college I put Math Methods off as long as possible, but in Jr year I had to take it. The prof gave us a quick overview of TouchMath and as we learned it, something clicked @ 21 years of age - I discovered math was my friend! I try to sell my kids on it because it is something that is as easy as finger-counting, but more accurate if done properly because you don't have to try to make your fingers move as fast as you can count.

The method seems silly at first, but once students see that they can use it as quickly as fingers w/o being obvious about it, they can relax. Eventually, the goal is to get their brains trained as they do it and it gets memorized. I've not worked for a school that owns the kits, but I just use my knowledge of the touchpoints to work w/the schools' math curriculum. Check it out at www.touchmath.com

It is good that children learn to do math by themselves than by memorizing things. Methods of teaching math and making the subject interesting can be found in www.K5Stars.com.