This week, we will apply our knowledge of groups to learning times tables facts.

We hope that having learnt about equal groups will help the children to understand the maths behind the times tables facts (eg. "3 x 2 = 6" is 3 groups of 2 which is 6 altogether) rather than just learning them as stand-alone number facts.  Please remember, as hopefully you found out in last Wednesday's investigation, that these facts can be written either way round, 3 x 2 gives the same answer as 2 x 3.

Some children will be able to recall the times tables facts from memory, others will need to count up on their fingers and others will need to draw the groupings out to be sure of their answers.  All of these approaches are absolutely fine!  The ideal is that eventually all children will be able to recall the facts from memory but this is a long-term goal, the best thing to do is to keep practising! 

Please note: In school, the children would spend approximately 20 minutes on independent activities, following the teacher delivery.  Hopefully this gives a guide of how long to spend.  As has been mentioned before, we do not expect all children to complete all of the tasks.  Problem solving is provided for those who want or need an extra challenge, it is not compulsory for all children!

Times tables are something which can be practised during the independent activity, but then also revisited at any opportune moments to keep practising recall of the facts.