My K DS in MCPS is learning the foundations of multiplication now. They are learning to subitize (know the number if items in a set without counting each one). So my some can look at something and say " that's 3 rows of 2 so that's 6" or "5 rows of 3 so that's 15."

PP you need to stop thinking about math as something your child will learn and later apply in something like a STEM field. Your kids should be humanities majors and hopefully education majors where they will never need to ever understand or be able to apply math in more advanced disciplines. Your kids are also expected to attend community college where they can take remedial math.

Once you let go that math is actually something that Americans should know then you can embrace the joy of 2.0. Repeat after me its deeper, its deeper.

Last year our kid's 4th grade teacher sent a panic email to all parents saying that everyone needed to work on multiplication facts since kids were struggling and not passing whatever assessment they were doing. While multiplication was introduced in 3rd grade, they sure as heck didn't drill it into them the way they used to when we were kids (probably too busy decomposing some ridiculous math problems and teaching kids the five steps of some crazy "strategy" instead of the straight forward stuff like basic math facts).

PS - this is in a "good" school with hardly any farms or ESOL.

PPS - a friend recently moved to another state, and she was called into her kid's school (4th grader) because the teacher couldn't figure out why the kid (whose mcps transcript indicated he was super smart) couldn't do basic math. In short, he was sort of doing math...but his decomposing and other 2.0 bizarro math notes on the worksheets were freaking out the teacher. After a semester at the new school, he's finally learned math "the right way" and is doing fine. Sadly, my mcps kids will never learn math "the right way." Sigh.

Montessori = K
MCPS = 3rd grade

We worked on it at home before 2.0 as well. 2nd and 3rd grade probably. We just used flash cards..

They begin to teach it in second grade, but it is a focus in third grade. Kids do practice in school under 2.0, but also must practice out of school for fluency (just like I remember doing as a kid). By 4th grade, the children need to have their facts memorized prior to school starting.

We prefered using the multiplication key to teach multiplication to our kids.

http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Wrap-Ups-WU-K103-Wrap-Multiplication/dp/B0007P95JA/

They do not memorize during school hours. It is important for them to know math facts cold, so you need to do this at home.

The Flashmaster worked well for our kids.

http://www.amazon.com/FlashMaster-Handheld-mastering-multiplication-flashcards/dp/B0002MHMFM

Yes clearly the whole county clearly does not do a good job because of your child's class experience. I would not expect a 4th grade teacher to be drilling facts anymore. If you don't have it yet, I am happy to hear a teacher recommending parents do it at home.

Ha! The 4th grade teacher told the parents to do flashcards at home. I couldn't believe it. She said she didn't have time to teach it! We moved here then. Don't know what they taught before that (but they did do the fact family thing in 4th grade since they repeat all topics year after year--it just wasn't enough drill to memorize anything) and my kid was one of the best in the class because he had learned it at home previously. Dadsworksheets.com helped. Clearly MCPS does not do a good job. Don't count on them. It's very disappointing.

As PP stated, they learn it in different ways, including memorizing the table. DC brought home flashcards from school (printed paper that was cut into squares) that we would practice with - this was in 3rd grade as PP stated. They would also have games in class where they had to quickly answer the multiplication question.

So, for those posters that state that MCPS 2.0 doesn't teach memorizing multiplication facts, that's not true. If your school/teacher doesn't teach it, then that's a local decision, not an MCPS mandate.

Anonymous wrote:3rd grade, but at my child's mcps under curr 2.0, it was taught not strictly as memorizing - the numbers were grouped into "fact families" (i.e., 3, 4 and 12 - or 3, 5 and 15) - and the kids were supposed to memorize the fact family as in 3x4=12, 4x3=12, 12\4=3, 12/3=4.

Actually it was the same before Curriculum 2.0.

3rd grade, but at my child's mcps under curr 2.0, it was taught not strictly as memorizing - the numbers were grouped into "fact families" (i.e., 3, 4 and 12 - or 3, 5 and 15) - and the kids were supposed to memorize the fact family as in 3x4=12, 4x3=12, 12\4=3, 12/3=4.

3rd grade in the fall. Yes, they memorize.

Thought my older child began it prior to 3rd grade, but maybe I am mistaken. In what grade--and when during the school year if you recall--did your child begin? Do they still memorize times tables or is that not in 2.0?