How quick do you think you'd be?

If you follow my Instagram Stories, you will know that I have started a new exciting project #KS1toGCSEPass in one academic year… which is reteaching a local mum maths again. She needs a GCSE in maths to retrain and approached me to help her. We are starting at KS1 and working our way up to her sitting her Maths GCSE next June and passing.

One of the first things I got her to do is start counting in 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s etc and writing down the patterns of number. For example, counting in 7s would be 7, 14, 21, 28,35, 42, 49, 56, 63, 70, 77, 84.

This week we started looking at multiplication and I gave her a blank Multiplication Square to populate. Using the number sequences she remembered / recalled she completed it in just under 8 minutes. This was without any “times tables” practice. This was simply recalling the sequences she was writing down. It’s a technique that is excellent for children who don’t like reciting their times tables or can’t remember them. Deriving them from sequences of numbers or adding on can generate the full multiplication square. You can also use things like the 12 times tables are double the 6 times tables or the 9 times tables are the 3 times tables plus the 6 times tables.

The reason for doing this with my student was to build up her confidence. Even without any practice she completed it in 8 mins. If we practice this every week then I suspect she will get it down to 3 mins easily. And then she has a comfort blanket… at the start of her exam, she can take the 3 mins to generate this and use it as reference throughout her exam.

The photo below she sent me a couple of days after our weekly session. It would appear that other family members want in on the action and decided to time themselves completing the blank multiplication square! It would appear that things are getting quite competitive in that household. But I’m also delighted with the support they are giving her and it gives her a target to aim for.

So how quick do you think you would be? If you want to join the fun then follow the link below and download a free copy of a blank multiplication square. Remember to let me know your time.