Times Tables Torture

Years 2 - 8

Summary

Of course children need to 'know' their times tables, but doing so need not be meaningless memorisation. In this activity the focus is on increasing your personal best record and contributing to improvement of the class record by speedy responses to visual and visual/auditory cues.

Times Tables Torture works in conjunction with the extensive ideas in Exploring Times Tables, Rows & Straws (Multiplication Arrays), Uncover Counting and with the array model of multiplication represented in the software of the Maths300 Lesson 97, Tackling Times Tables. It also provides strong preparation for Maths300 Lesson 162, Multiplication in a Table Format. Suitable for threading.

Picture Puzzles offers a menu of six Times Tables Torture slide shows to integrate with this whole class activity. Children choose their own time limit to complete 20 Times Tables Torture questions. Using array images they correct their work and find two ways of knowing each table.

Materials

  • A software program that shows slides (photos) full screen - this type of software is built into most computers - and a data projector. This is a great activity for an Interactive Whiteboard (IWB).
  • A selection of 20 slides and the title slide from this 2Mb zipped file.
    Right click (click & hold in Mac) to download the file. Unzip to a folder - call it Times Tables Torture - and you will see 100 GIF images representing each 'times table' from 1x1 to 10x10 plus a Title image.
  • This Record Sheet, or one of your own design.
  • You might also like to use Alicia Ernst's flash card contribution. See below.

Preparation

  1. Select the title and 20 images which represent the times tables you want to use. The sample slides illustrate the type of image available in the zipped file above. Including the title slide there are 101 images to choose from.
  2. Order the slides as you wish. There will be a default ordering in your software and if you aren't happy with that you can rename the chosen files to create your own order. For example you can precede each file name with a letter a, b, c... in the order you wish, then show them in Name order.
  3. Set up your data projector and screen, or IWB.
  4. Continue with the Procedure below.
  

Content

  • data: collecting, recording, displaying
  • data: describing & comparing with statistics
  • data: interpretation
  • decimal calculations
  • decimal interpretation
  • division
  • group (or skip) counting
  • mathematical conversation
  • multiples, factors & primes
  • multiplication - array model
  • multiplication
  • operations - whole number
  • square numbers
  • times tables
  • visual and kinaesthetic representation of number

SAMPLE SLIDES

Photos contributed by Sarah Collis, St Monica's Primary School, Evatt

Procedure

Running The Torture
  • Display the Title slide.
  • Hand out the Record Sheets and ask students to write their name.
  • Explain that you are going to show pictures of yellow plugs in equal rows.
  • Students have to write down immediately the total of yellow plugs on the slide.
  • Suggest that if they don't know the answer immediately, they should draw a slash in the box [ / ] and wait for the next one.
  • A sample script is shown on the right.
  • Show the 20 slides - some software will allow you to set the change of slide to a particular number of seconds. If not, tap your foot to a regular beat or keep time with a watch and change manually.
  • To remind students to look at the screen, say Next, or the particular times table (eg: 4 times 3), or ding a triangle each time the slide changes.

Sample Script

I am going to show you some pictures. Each picture will have equal rows of yellow plugs. They will be like the ones we have been making with our plugs. You will have only ...seconds to work out how many yellow plugs are in the picture and write your answer.

Just write the answer. If you don't know the answer straight away draw a slash across the box and wait for the next one. I don't want you to be thinking about the last one when a new picture is showing on the screen. I will ding this triangle (or say next or...) each time the picture changes. That's when you should look up.

There are only 20 pictures. When they are finished you will find out how many you see correctly. After that you will be able to explain how you figured them out.

Ready? ... Go.

Hello,
I have been using Times Tables Torture with my class. However, there are some students who have such a visual manner of learning that I have created sets of flash cards, in black and white, that they would be able to take home and use. Share them as you wish.

These flash cards are only to support the 'puddling' with times tables and are used after playing with the Poly Plugs. They maintain more meaning this way. The headings given to each file come from Dianne Siemon who uses that language to refer to strategies for learning and calculating times tables.

Alicia Ernst, St Bede's, Braidwood

Correcting The Torture
  • Following the slide show, display the Title again and ask the students to get ready to correct their work.
  • Show the slides through once more, this time saying the question and the answer as students correct, eg: 4 times 3 ... 4 rows of 3 ... 12.
  • Display the Title again as students total their score and enter their personal best.
  • Collect the Record Sheets.
  • Show the slides through again without automatic transition between slides and for several of them share student strategies.
    • How can you work out the number of yellow plugs in this one?
    • Can we check that another way?
Once the class has become used to the structure of this activity it will only take five minutes or so each day. Using it regularly in this way will quickly show personal gains and class improvement.

Poly Plug Time Tables Flash Cards

Alicia's letter on the left explains the background to these files. All files are PDF. Each one is about 300Kb and has four 'cards' per page, hence about 6 pages per file.
Thanks for sharing your work Alicia.

Class Average

Try to develop the feeling of a community working towards improving the class average. Each day work out the class average and display it on a graph. There are several ways to do this, but it is important that the one you choose doesn't place any child under threat of embarrassment.

As long as the class data is disconnected from the identities of particular students, the daily results can become a mini-lesson about average:

If all the correct answers today were shared equally among all of us, how many correct answers would we each have?
and/or a mini-lesson about recording the data in a spreadsheet and using its tools to calculate average and display the data in various ways.

Consider too the opportunity for children to keep records of their own scores either in written form or using a spreadsheet.

Next Step

As the students become more confident with the times tables and their connection with multiplication arrays invite them to try their own torture using the Number & Computation B Picture Puzzles menu. Partners need their own timing device. They choose which times tables they want to torture themselves with and the time between slides which suits them. They correct their own work and have to find two ways of knowing each answer.
(Note: Picture Puzzles is built around one screen, two learners, concrete materials and a challenge and requires a separate membership.)


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