The top 16 products to practise
Useful last minute prep for the Multiplication Tables Check!
In a previous blog I identified the 15 most likely multiplication questions to appear in the Year 4 MTC. Below I share a chart which identifies the 16 most likely products to appear as answers in the MTC, and offer some advice on last minute preparation.
The top 16 products
Time spent between now and the MTC on getting to know the multiplicative building blocks of each of the top 16 products will be time well spent in the short and long term. If you have the FunKey Times Tables cards, ask children to find cards for each of the products on this chart. If you don't have cards yet, you can buy a single pack for £12.50, or buy an intervention set of five packs for £50.
Put the 16 cards in the cardholder which comes with the cards and let your students spend time familiarising themselves with them. Notice the colours, the shapes. Say the multiplication facts which you can build from the factors and the product but critically, help children see the connections between different factor pairs for the same product.
Question: What is the connection between
6 x 8 = 48 and 12 x 4 = 48?
Answer: when one factor doubles and the other halves, the product stays the same. If I don’t know 4 x 12, but I remember that rule I can easily work out 8 x 6.
Get counters out and manipulate the groups, halving and doubling the group size, so children can see the connections themselves.
Using the Cardholder
Children can test themselves using the cardholder. Watch the video below to see how. Can they say all the different ways to make the product? Can they make the connections?
Making Connections
Trying to do more and more chanting of soundbite with children who have struggled to remember facts this way will be a dreary and disheartening experience for all and not very successful. For those struggling to remember facts, another approach is needed that does not rely on auditory memory.
Try something visually strong, such as the FunKey Times Tables cards and draw out the connections between the factor pairs of key products. That way, there’s a good chance children will grab some extra marks on the Multiplication Tables Check, but more importantly their learning will be more secure for the long term.