How fast is your 3rd grader with their multiplication facts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 6th grader is a capable math student, most advanced track, As on all tests, top MAP scores, does not need help with math hw. He is not fast, but he is accurate and has a full understanding of the concepts. Faster does not equal smarter in math. The goal is to be correct.

But it is just memorization, or should be. That is the point of "math facts."

[Anonymous]

My kid was really slow at "math facts". Still got a 5 on AB Calc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher wants them to be fast.

like greased lightning!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He's a really smart kid, but he's slow. And he's in fifth.

I really want him to be fast because I know how important it is, so we do a lot of practice and dinner and when I homeschooled I drilled math facts a lot. But I am beginning to think that some kids are just going to take longer than others at getting to the point where they can do them quickly, and they won't be able to meet teacher expectations no matter how hard they try.

We can't all be winners. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It takes time, I work with SN kids, usually start this skill early after basic counting and number skills are mastered around age 4-5, takes about a year (practicing3-5 times per week probably 15 times each day) to get addition fluency, 6- 9 months to get subtraction, 3-6 months for multiplication, 0-3 months for division. It gets easier the more they do it and as they get better with it there are games and apps that you can use for fun practice. It’s worth the extra effort and very possible to learn if you remain consistent. Read up on fluency training to assist you.

Oh boy we have been consistently working on just multiplication for years (since school got out in March 2020; I didn't do much before because he was at school) and he still takes a long time. We have done dice games, many different apps, multiplication charts, flash cards, basic math fact worksheets, quizzes in the car, etc. I have studied the cognitive science of learning, looked at plenty of different ways to teach, asked teachers, etc. We have practiced much more than 3-5 times per week/fifteen times per day.

We are still working on it, but I sort of doubt that the reason he is slow is because I haven't been consistently putting forth effort.

You might need to change your teaching methodology. If it’s not working, try something else. They might learn differently than you’re teaching.

Yeah did you see I have tried many different things over the course of two and a half years?

I know that you did it with special needs kids, yay for you. I have two kids, one who got fast with no help from me and one who still isn’t fast after all this time. Maybe there is some magic formula out there I haven’t found but I know for sure that not all kids are the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He's a really smart kid, but he's slow. And he's in fifth.

I really want him to be fast because I know how important it is, so we do a lot of practice and dinner and when I homeschooled I drilled math facts a lot. But I am beginning to think that some kids are just going to take longer than others at getting to the point where they can do them quickly, and they won't be able to meet teacher expectations no matter how hard they try.

We can't all be winners. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It takes time, I work with SN kids, usually start this skill early after basic counting and number skills are mastered around age 4-5, takes about a year (practicing3-5 times per week probably 15 times each day) to get addition fluency, 6- 9 months to get subtraction, 3-6 months for multiplication, 0-3 months for division. It gets easier the more they do it and as they get better with it there are games and apps that you can use for fun practice. It’s worth the extra effort and very possible to learn if you remain consistent. Read up on fluency training to assist you.

Oh boy we have been consistently working on just multiplication for years (since school got out in March 2020; I didn't do much before because he was at school) and he still takes a long time. We have done dice games, many different apps, multiplication charts, flash cards, basic math fact worksheets, quizzes in the car, etc. I have studied the cognitive science of learning, looked at plenty of different ways to teach, asked teachers, etc. We have practiced much more than 3-5 times per week/fifteen times per day.

We are still working on it, but I sort of doubt that the reason he is slow is because I haven't been consistently putting forth effort.

Educators who still believe in timed tests are not up to date on research that shows mastery of concepts and development of critical thinking skills is far more important than rapid factual recall.

This is why I’m not concerned—DS is highly proficient with numeracy. He has a deep understand of what he’s doing when he does math. But it’s not true that speed doesn’t matter. When you get to more complex math procedures like long division it’s extremely helpful to be quick with math facts so your working memory isn’t overloaded. On the other other hand, this can be managed by carefully recording your calculations. So yeah, ultimately I’m not too concerned.