We are BACK TO SCHOOL again today withanother Printable!  :)  This one is great not only for classroom teachers, but also for homeschool mamas… as well as for any cool mom or dad that wants to help their kiddo with those pesky math facts.

As an upper elementary teacher, I’m not the one who teaches the initial skill of multiplication, but I am the one that struggles to teach the harder math problems to kids… some of which just don’t know their multiplication facts.

Once you hit 4th grade and up, you have to rely on those basic facts to do those higher order problems, and there is nothing worse {okay, I’m sure there is SOMETHING worse} than mastering the higher order skill, but getting tripped up by the simple multiplication fact .

Multiplication facts should be as familiar as your abc’s.  You shouldn’t have to think twice about an answer… because you know them THAT WELL.

And yes, I’m talking about upper elementary cherubs here.

I do think that they should definitely be taught the multiplication CONCEPT first, but it seems foolish to throw out the benefits of memorizing the times tables simply because teaching the concept of WHY 6×9 = 54 is more important.

I looked around the world wide web for a multiplication chart freebie and decided to just go ahead and make one of my own that would be exactly WHAT I wanted… and HOW I wanted it.

It is two sided with the 1-6 Families on the front and 7-12 families on the back.

Here’s the plan that I hope to be able to accomplish…

Each student gets their own copy and starts working on memorizing the first fact family or table.  When they can say it to their parents in 30 seconds or less, the parents initial under that table.

At a designated time during the day, each student with a table initialed will bring it to me and recite it again in 30 seconds or less.  Then I initial, and he/she moves onto the next table… all the way up to the Twelve Family.

This will be an ongoing process, and everyone will work at their own pace until we all hopefully work through them before the end of the year. To give some extra motivation, students will receive an iGram for each table they complete!

I’ve tried this method halfheartedly before and failed at the execution level, since there just never seems to be enough hours in the day.  My local teaching expert, aka Mom, the originator of this fab method,  said she only gave each student ONE chance per day, so it doesn’t take over your whole math period.

I’m sure my students will love these tips for memorizing…

For those hard 9’s…

{via Come Together Kids}

And this new trick I had never heard of for 6×6 to 10×10…

But honestly, tricks are not the best solution when it comes to doing the harder math.  You don’t want your student to be attempting 4 digit long division for the first time when they are dependent on tricks.

You want them to know them, know them, KNOW THEM!  :)

You can download your own copy here...

I am on a mad planning frenzy for the upcoming year, so stay tuned for more Back to School Freebies coming up!  I had some fun paper lanterns on my classroom wishlist for AWHILE, so I was SO happy when I spotted these 12 inch lanterns in the Target Summer Clearance a few days ago for only $2.45!

I {ahem, er, Chris} plan to hang these in a corner or two!  Can’t wait to see how it brightens up the room!

*Sometimes I link up here…   

Weekend Bloggy Link up, Five Days Five Ways, & Positively Splendid. You should check ‘em out!!