CheerioKid Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 My 4th grade DD is stubborn like me. She was doing Life of Fred for a good bit of math, but when she stopped dead in her tracks on division we started reviewing what she had learned so far, and realized that she still did not know her multiplication tables/fact families. At this point, I don't know where to start. XtraMath.com was ok, but when she is mad, she is lazy with her fingers and touches the wrong answer "accidentally" which just throws the whole thing off. As far behind as she is in math, I don't feel like we can just drop it. Help!? Should we be concerned about some sort of learning disability, or is she just being stubborn? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlemommy Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Yes, we had to do the same thing. Just drill and sing and practice, practice, practice skip counting, fact families, X's tables, ect. What I did was alternate, one day of MEP/Miquon, one day of games/activities/drill. In just a few days, she learned skip counting songs and it's helped tremendously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 IMO, it is easy to hit the wrong keys in XtraMath -- or maybe that is just me, lol. You can adjust the XtraMath program to 6 seconds, rather than 3, from your teacher site. I let my dd have my password so she can choose fast or slow program herself. A "drill" program that should appeal to a 4th grader is TimezAttack -- it is designed like a cool video game, not like the usual wimpy math games. The first 'world' is free, so you can try it out easily. It is internet based, so can be used from any computer (but not tablets). It is really a FUN way to practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 When you say "fact families" do you mean addition and subtraction facts? Or is it just purely multiplication tables that she does not know? If it's just multiplication, I've heard of families supplying a multiplication chart. I've also heard Times Tales is great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmamaz Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 My younger one realized, during LOF, that he needed more practice with facts. He used TimezAttacks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PachiSusan Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Most likely, just from your first sentence, I would guess it's stubbornness and not wanting to spend the time to learn it. I have that 4th grader as well. What's worked for her more than anything else is peer pressure: her 3rd grade cousin knows them more than she does and she gets embarrassed. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Life of Fred says to practice using flash cards too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letsplaymath Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Actually, 4th grade is an excellent time to work on memorizing multiplication facts. As far as I can remember, I have never pushed memory work younger than that (except to learn the doubles and the pairs that make 10 in addition). Up until 4th grade, I have my children figure the fact out, over and over again, using mental math, or fingers, or marks on paper, or whatever it takes. Then in 4th grade, we start working on memory for any facts they haven't learned on their own, and we try to finish up the memory work by the end of 5th grade. BUT I also don't work strictly by memory!!! My method of teaching multiplication facts is really a foray into prealgebra, focusing on logic, square numbers, and the distributive property. I've put the whole system up on my blog, for free: Times Table Series Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 BUT I also don't work strictly by memory!!! My method of teaching multiplication facts is really a foray into prealgebra, focusing on logic, square numbers, and the distributive property. I've put the whole system up on my blog, for free: Times Table Series Nice blog!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Life of Fred says to practice using flash cards too. Yep. Flash cards may not win the most exciting supplement award, but the are effective at getting the job done. In LoF elementary series, Fred spends a fair amount of time having the students make Honey Cards (his version of flash cards). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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