How do I get my child to avoid silly mistakes?

If you haven’t yet had a child go through the process of doing Transfer Test practice papers, but are about to, get ready for the most frustrating mistakes!

We’re not talking about wrong answers to difficult questions. We’re talking about questions to which your child clearly knows the answer but commits the cardinal sin of not copying a word correctly, not copying the number correctly from their working-out, ticking one box when the question said to tick two, or giving their answer in centimetres when asked to give it in metres.

Look in the mirror before you react!

Recently, in one of my classes, a student made an error I don’t often see. When performing a calculation using a traditional written method, they wrote the ‘tens’ in the answer line and carried the ‘units’. It was a one-off but I had to point it out. In demonstrating what this child should have done, I proceeded to make the same mistake (I must have been subconsciously mirroring the kid – or at least that’s my excuse).

So, as far as I’m concerned, silly mistakes will be with us for life. We usually laugh at them. Do the same with your kids (I don’t literally mean laugh at your child by the way…).

How do we limit silly mistakes?

Hopefully you’re on board with the idea of not criticising your child for their silly mistakes. Don’t let them overhear you complain about their silly mistakes either.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t address them. They need to be limited. Don’t fall for the delusion that ‘it’ll be alright on the night’ if you haven’t treated the issue seriously in advance.

Copying words/numbers incorrectly

Finding the correct word in a passage but misspelling it runs the risk of getting marked wrong. If your child has done the hard work of locating a word within a passage or poem and now just needs to write it down in the answer space, you don’t want them to lose focus and think that their work is done. Missing a single letter might mean missing a mark; getting more than one letter wrong is almost a guarantee.

Rather than state the obvious and remind your child to check twice (they already know this) tell them to count the letters before copying the word – even if it’s a word they think they know how to spell. This checking mechanism may suit those who are mathematically minded.

My second piece of advice will sound harsh but I do seriously recommend it. It regards consequences. If you spot that your child has lost a mark in a practice paper through careless copying of a word, underline ten more words from anywhere within the test paper. Choose the longest and most difficult words you can find. Get your child to copy each of them onto a separate piece of paper. Don’t set a time limit (you don’t want them to rush). If they make a single mistake in their copying – even just by one letter – repeat the process with ten new words. They’ll soon develop the instinct to be more careful!

Like I say, this might sound harsh and punitive (you can tell I’m a teacher and not a parent) but it’ll work for most kids if you stick to those rules strictly. Just make sure to be extra nice to them for the rest of the day…

The same strategy should be employed if your child has calculated the correct answer to a Maths question but has copied the number incorrectly into the answer space. This time, give them ten long numbers to copy (perhaps even phone numbers if you’re feeling extra-mean).  

Fixing the other silly mistakes

Ticking two boxes instead of one, or writing a Maths answer in the wrong unit of measurement can be remedied using one strategy. It may sound an unusual strategy so allow me to illustrate its purpose using a real-life regular ‘problem’ that I’ve had to overcome.

If I need to remember to bring something to my office (a tin of coffee, milk, teaching resources) I will set a reminder on my phone, which is something I’m sure many of you do. However, what transpired was that the reminder often appeared on my phone a good 10 to 15 minutes before I left the house – during which time I forgot again.

Mt first remedy was to set the items out, close to the front door, at the exact time that the reminder came up on my phone. Being who I am (easily distracted by my own thoughts and unaware of my surroundings) I would still miss the items, walk past them and go to work without them.

What I had to do was literally set the items in a position at the front door so that opening the front door would knock them over. In other words, they had to ‘get in the way’ so that I had no choice but to pay attention to them.

There is a parallel between this and the common mistakes in which kids tick the wrong number of boxes or write answers in the wrong unit of measurement.

What your child is likely to face, even in the new form of Transfer Tests, is questions in which key words are written in bold:

·      ‘…Look at the statements below. Tick two boxes to show which ones are true…’

·      ‘…How long was the race? Give your answer in kilometres…’

You might think that bold words are enough for a child. They are usually not. They are like the phone reminder. They work at the time but then we do something in the interim that causes us to forget. In your child’s case, they must perform a calculation or reread a passage. During that time, the words in bold are easily forgotten. Your child must create an extra reminder.

I have heard it suggested that kids should underline the bold words. This works with only a handful of kids; it’s really just like having two reminders appear on your phone but not at the precise moment that you need the reminder. Bold, underlined words are just as easy to forget about as bold words!

My advice is this: before your child even starts thinking about working out the answer, go to the place where they must write their answer. If they have to tick two boxes, tick any two boxes. If they have to give their answer in kilograms, write kg on the answer line (even if there is a ‘kg’ pre-written for them at the end of the answer line!).

In other words, train your child to write something that ‘gets in the way’ – something that they will have to rub out in a few minutes’ time.

Why does this work? Well, let’s say your child has a word problem in which each measurement is given in grams. Even though they have been asked to give their final answer in kilograms, they will not initially be using kilograms in their calculations. After some serious effort in making sense of the word problem, there is a good chance your child has forgotten the format in which to write the answer. They could end up with a good understanding of the word problem, a correct way to solve it, and a correct measurement… but in grams. Let’s be honest, it would be very easy for any of us to then simply write the ‘grams number’ and forget to convert this into kilograms.

If you think your child should remember to convert their answer because the unit of measurement is clearly written at the end of the answer line, think again! They are not looking at the end of the answer line. Just as I missed my coffee tin because it was beside the door but not in my way, your child could easily pay no attention to those all-important letters.

Let’s say the ‘grams number’ is 4,250g. Just as your child is about to write this on the answer space they come across the large letters ‘kg’ that they have sprawled across the answer line. They have to rub this out but it has served the purpose of ‘getting in the way’ and reminding them to convert their answer. As a result, they change 4,250 into 4.25 and gain the mark that they deserve.

By the same token, if your child has been asked to tick two options but has quickly forgotten this and is about to tick only one correct option, they will come across two ticks that they have already placed in the answer area. They will have to rub out one or both of these ticks but this distraction has served the purpose of reminding your child to go and look for a second answer.

Avoiding other silly Maths mistakes

Other silly Maths mistakes occur for a variety of reasons. Some kids depend completely on written methods and assume that they shouldn’t depend on their mental maths skills (misinterpreting their teacher’s instructions to always show working-out). Other children do the opposite and think that they can do everything in their head.

They should do both! This should not take too long. Children should be taught the skills of estimation. They ought to be well-practised in converting a tricky calculation into an easier one. For example, they could convert 29x8 into 30x10. They then know that their answer will be close to, but less than, 300. It’s only at this stage that they should perform the written calculation. A careless written error might lead them to write an answer that is in the thousands, or an answer that is less than 100, but their mental estimation alerts them to a problem.

I tutor a Key Stage 2 student who is excellent at Maths. All she had to do at the end of a long word problem was add 50 to 15. She wrote it out and got 55 as an answer! I then asked her the answer to 50+15 and she said ‘65’. Do not underestimate your child’s ability to make silly mistakes, even when they think they are doing the responsible thing of writing everything out. Get them to use their head. Heads are good!  

Why does my child do well in spelling tests but not remember the spellings after that?

I’m sure you’re not surprised that this is a common problem for kids. They get a list of words for the week, copy them out using a strategy such as the ‘Look, Cover, Write, Check’ method, and often must write sentences using these words. Conscientious children generally perform very well in their weekly (or daily) tests, scoring full marks or almost full marks. They think of themselves as good spellers. Even you consider them to be good spellers.

But they’re not.

Spelling tests are short-term memory tests

What they are good at is working hard to memorise something. The challenge only required short-term memory, after which they don’t feel obligated to write, or even look at, the word anymore. The next week they have a whole new list of words to remember, meaning that the previous week’s hard work has been banished to oblivion.

Well, that’s not true actually. The hard work has still borne fruit. Your child has further perfected their skills at short-term memorisation and performing under pressure during a test. This is not to be scoffed at. They deserve to be praised – just not for the reasons you think.

The test didn’t really prove much about their spelling ability.

We know this because, months later, when they are tasked with a piece of creative writing and need to recall some of these spellings, they fail to do so. Their memory betrays them. As far as that word is concerned, it’s as if they never learned it in the first place.

We, as adults, suffer the same problem

We can’t exactly blame them. Can we remember the name of every work colleague we have ever worked with? Or every fact we learned for our degree exams/A-Levels/GCSEs?

I taught in primary schools for nine years. After 4-5 years in the job, I could easily recall the name of every student I ever taught. I thought it was a sign of an uncaring professional to forget the name of any student placed in my care. The first time I couldn’t recall a pupil’s name therefore felt very disconcerting. It was a few years after I had taught her but it still felt like I was betraying her. Needless to say, a few more names have been added to that list since. Why? I haven’t been required to remember the names. Likewise, your child and the words they can no longer spell correctly.

Addressing the issue at home

So, how do we get them to the stage where they can recall these words months later? How do we avoid those remarks in end-of-term reports that say your child “performs well in weekly spelling tests but does not apply what he/she has learned to his/her creative writing”? The only answer is repeated exposure to these words and repeated practice of writing those words. Sorry. Naturally, the best solution is to convince your child to read regularly (which would require another blog post).

The second-best solution is to take weekly photos of the words your child is required to learn, then start compiling a list. Mix the order. Don’t place spellings from the same week together in the list. Find least 30 words – and never choose a word that you know for sure that your child can spell.  

The next step requires a little bit of thought and work on your part. What do you think the common errors are that children (or even adults) make when spelling this word? For example, let’s say one of the words is ‘definitely’. A common misspelling of this word is ‘definately’. Write 4-5 variations of the word, including the correct spelling. It’s probably best to do all this on computer!

Have a look at an example of one the pages I use with kids at Catapult.

Once you have done this for 30 words, make three or four variations of this page, in which you mix up the order of the spelling options (you don’t want your child to remember the correct spelling by simply remembering ‘it was the second one’).  Next, give your child five minutes to circle the correct spelling of each word. Be strict with the time limit. Keep repeating this activity at least once per week until they score full marks.

Repeat ad nauseam

Your work is not done…

In the meantime, you have been compiling a list of 30 more words from their school spellings and creating another similar challenge. Go through the whole process again.

Your work is still not done…

At this point, it’s a good idea to go back to the first challenge. You’ll be surprised at how many your child has forgotten! It won’t be as many as the first time around but it is still unlikely they’ll get full marks.

Then repeat the second test, write a third test, and so on, and so on.

You’ll obviously have to employ the single key skill required in parenting: negotiation (also known as bribery).

Fixing the mistakes

Whenever your child makes inevitable mistakes, it is your collective duty to come up with a way to make the spelling memorable. The most well-known example in schools is the spelling of ‘because’ (big elephants can always understand small elephants). Of course, it’s practically impossible to think of an acronym for every word – I’ve only ever managed one with my students: ‘column’ (crush one lemon up my nose) so this is where ‘stupid stories’ come in handy. The dafter the story, the more likely it is to be memorable. Your child may come up with a story that makes no sense to you (or sounds a little too childish). Who cares! If it works, it works.

The ’i before e’ rule

Most of us are probably aware now that the ‘rule’ we were taught at school concerning the letters i and e makes little sense: i before e except after c. We come across so many exceptions to the rule (weird, foreign, abseil) that they outnumber the ones that do keep the ‘rule’.

But it is actually a perfectly good rule with very few exceptions. The problem is that it’s incomplete. It should really be this: i before e except after c… but only when the sound is ‘ee’. Consider the words in which the rule works (e.g. believe, chief, ceiling, receive). In each of these words, the letters i and e combine to make the ‘long e’ sound. Words like weird, foreign and abseil do not have the ‘long e’ sound (likewise words like neighbour and height).

The common words that are exceptions to the rule are really just seize, caffeine and protein. You might argue that words such as legacies, species and policies also break the rule but kids are wise enough to instinctively spot what happens with plural endings (or in a word like ‘glacier’ the i and e are not combined, the e belongs to the -er ending so it is just the letter i that makes the ‘long e’ sound).

Other common spelling patterns

As you go through each mistake that your child makes, try to spot common spelling patterns in English. Although our language is very inconsistent it still does have quite a lot of patterns that can become memorable.

For example, the suffix -ful comes from the word ‘full’ which could help us recognise that (in British English at least) double L becomes single L when words are combined (full+fill=fulfil; skill+full=skilful).

The letter c, when followed by an e, i or y, sounds like the letter s. When followed by other letters, it sounds like a k. This helps us with the spelling of ‘successful’. Because the second c is followed by an e, it has to sound like an s. The first c, however, maintains its k sound. In other words, the double c starts to sound like the letter x (k+s). However, in a word like ‘account’ the double c will sound like the letter k because of the letter o that comes after the second c.

You may need to read that previous paragraph more than once but it’ll be worth it!

That said, there are many unusual spellings in English. Why does ‘people’ have the letter e and o together? Why can -ous be added to ‘danger’ to make ‘dangerous’ but ‘disasterous’ is not a correct spelling?

We also have many spelling problems because of a vowel sound known as schwa. This is fairly well-known in teaching circles as the effect of not stressing a syllable within a word. In my name, Trevor, my final two letters are in the unstressed part of my name, causing it to sound like -er (hence my name gets regularly spelled as ‘Trever’ by students). You will notice this effect in commonly misspelled words like ‘suddenly’, ‘begin’, ‘decide’, ‘separate’.

Our only way to combat this is to draw attention to it and explain the cause of it. Talking about the difficulty of English spellings is important. But talk positively about it, even if its features seem somewhat overwhelming. The best time to learn languages is during childhood, which means your child is in a better position than you to take these things on board.  

Does my Child Need a Tutor?

This is an impossible question to answer. After all, I don’t know you or your child. But I’ll stick to some general lessons that I’ve learned since starting my one-man tuition business. Perhaps some observations will help you with your decision.

Not all kids benefit from tuition

This might sound a strange and self-defeating admission from someone whose livelihood depends upon demand for private tuition. But to pretend otherwise would be dishonest and self-serving.

There are a handful of kids out there who would really resent the extra weekly demand of more schoolwork. Even though they may have the social grace to get on with it and try to pretend that they are listening to the tutor, it’s evident to the tutor when a child is neither listening nor motivated. It becomes a painful experience for child and tutor… and eventually the parent.

One simple test that may help you work out if this applies to your child is to suggest you are going to arrange for them to have a tutor. Watch their reaction! A roll of the eyes, an exasperated sigh, an manipulative effort to make you feel guilty, or a mild protest do not mean your child wouldn’t benefit from tuition. That’s called being normal!

But a protest that grows stronger and stronger each time you mention tuition – even tears – are signs that your child is not likely to engage in the lessons. You will therefore not only be out of pocket. Your child will gain nothing academically or confidence-wise from the venture.

Kids who find new social situations challenging

In the case of kids who find it difficult to engage with new people and in unfamiliar surroundings, I have found, by and large, that private tuition is a very good idea. Not only are you addressing your child’s academic needs, you are addressing the challenges that they face in order to function within wider society.

Regular contact with one single professional ought to help the child realise that they can build social connections with new people. The world becomes a slightly less fearful place for them. In a classroom setting, many kids are too aware of how others perceive them and become afraid to engage in lessons. Not only this, their teacher has somewhere around 30 other kids to attend to. It’s impossible for them to continually ensure that each child feels comfortable.

What I love about private tuition is that, if my student does not get something and is beginning to become frustrated – even upset – at their lack of progress, I can stop and deal with this problem head-on. I can assure them that their failure to grasp something is probably my fault, and not theirs. After all, it is my responsibility to know what they understand; it is my responsibility to seek the most effective way to communicate with the child; it is my responsibility to adapt. I must meet them halfway: after all, they have already had to make a compromise by attending private tuition each week! I have found that such direct honesty with children builds their trust in the good intentions of others, and confidence in themselves.

So, if you come across a tutor with available spaces, either try to speak to them by phone or send them a detailed email, outlining as much as you are willing to share of the challenges that your child faces. Do not commit to the tutor yet! You should wait to hear back from them then discern how much interest they have in your child.

A good tutor will be honest enough to say that things should be taken slowly. Their initial priorities should be to earn your child’s trust, to not set a heavy workload, to even intersperse classes with ‘downtime’ (doing something that your child likes or simply having a chat about their interests). The tutor will then gradually set more soft boundaries and slowly raise expectations of the work that should be produced within the session.

Kids who already sit in the ‘top group’

Obviously not all kids who perform well in class need a tutor. A large proportion of the kids sent to Catapult are such kids. Without tuition they still have every chance of doing well in Transfer Tests, getting excellent in-school assessment scores and having glowing end-of-year reports. So, are their parents wasting time and money? Absolutely not! And I mean that for every single one of the high-performing kids that I’ve worked with. How so?

A child who performs well in Maths and Literacy tends to have fewer hesitations in learning even more about Maths and Literacy (even if they won’t admit it openly). A child who performs well in Maths and Literacy enjoys getting a ‘sneak preview’ of the topics that haven’t yet been covered in school.

Not only this, a child who performs well in Maths and Literacy does not by any stretch of the imagination equate to a confident child. Many feel that they are just one ‘test’ away from failure. Many judge their school success against the child who is at the very top of the class (particularly if this child also happens to be their best friend). In other words, they recognise their imperfections more than their achievements.

A good tutor will, on the one hand, address these imperfections while, at the same time, make it clear to the child just how well they are performing. They will provide the meaningful praise that the child yearns for and – more importantly – provide the evidence that such praise is deserved and not empty.

So, when I say that such kids don’t need a tutor, I mean so purely on the academic level. On the emotional level however, having a private tutor to help sustain and further their progress will strengthen their self-confidence and make school a much more pleasurable experience.

Kids who do not sit in the ‘top group’ 

These are the kids you would suspect need private tuition the most. Little needs explained as to why extra work would help them. A good tutor will identify the Maths and Literacy basics that these kids have not understood. They will take as long as is necessary to help the kids understand these basics; a good tutor knows that, once a child grasps the fundamentals, progress beyond that point becomes very fast.  My only advice to parents would be to have patience in the initial months: the tutor has recognised the key issues that need to be addressed and knows that it is unwise to change focus until such issues are successfully dealt with first.

However, if your child is not performing as well as you’d like at school and also falls into the category of child mentioned at the start of this post (the one who would resent you forever for sending them to tuition!) then private tuition would probably not give you the outcome you desire. It may first be necessary to commence negotiations with them. Treat their reluctance (and hostility!) with respect, and work out something meaningful and reasonable that they should get from you in return. Only then should you contact a tutor.

Be realistic  

When it comes to Transfer Tests, I have come across many parents who are seeking private tuition for only the final couple of months before the tests: someone who could sort out the remaining problems and help boost their child’s final score.

I started my business in the summer of 2018 so was obviously more than happy to accommodate such parents (likewise in 2019 when I still had a few weekly spaces unfilled). What I discovered though was that children who were not performing well in September would typically still not be performing well enough in November.

In other words, be realistic with your expectations. There are dozens of Maths and Literacy themes covered in the tests. Many of these themes would take several lessons in themselves before a child is able to move on. Eight to ten weeks of classes are therefore not going to convert your child into a high-level performer (unless you want to pay for five classes per week!). It is much wiser to seek tuition sooner. I take on new students at the beginning of each calendar year. January is a much better time to start addressing the concepts that appear in Transfer Tests. It also removes the sense of urgency that can cause panic.

For parents of kids who perform well in practice tests but are also seeking tuition in the final months before the Transfer Tests, there is also a need for realism – but for a different reason. Tutors are typically looking for a guarantee of steady income so it will be tough to find a tutor who has availability at such a late stage in the process.

Who do you recommend?

Naturally I would have liked to sing my own praises! However, given that I am booked out for the next two years, I’m afraid that Catapult is unlikely to be able to help you.

In the coming months I hope to put together a list of tutors who come highly recommended. Retired teachers are often a good place to start but this will require some online searching, given that they aren’t desperate to build a long-term, full-time business, and thus will not be spending hundreds to rise up the Google search rankings! Check out Gumtree and the Next Door app for tutors like these. There are also likely to be a good number of qualified teachers who do not have full-time or permanent posts and are therefore depending on tuition to supplement their incomes.

However, when it comes to reputable and successful full-time tuition businesses, you need to get in there early.

Very early.

Plan years in advance.

Not months.

Fast Trick for Teaching Your Child the Tables

A few years ago, I came across a method for writing out the answers to the 7-times tables – without counting in sevens. It used a grid identical to the one we use in the game Tic Tac Toe (also known as ‘noughts and crosses’ or ‘exee-ozees’).

After seeing success with this strategy in my tuition classes, it got me wondering if other times-tables could be written using the Tic Tac Toe method. I quickly discovered that the 3-times tables could be done easily this way, after which it became clear that the answers to the 4s, 6s, 8s and 9s could also be successfully written by a child – each one in under 20 seconds.

The Tic Tac Toe Tables

Before getting your child to try this method, give it a go yourself. This should give you the confidence to demonstrate it at speed (in other words, impress your child with the trick) then do it slowly (so as to reveal the simple secret behind the trick). In many cases, this will create an urge in your child to mimic the trick and a desire to impress friends and relatives. The video below first shows them done at speed, then breaks it down in more detail.

 The 3-times Tables

Draw the four lines of the Tic Tac Toe grid, then start at the bottom-left square. From bottom to top, write the numbers from 1 to 9.

Across the centre row, add a 1 before each digit. Across the bottom row add a 2. Voila! The first nine answers to the 3-times tables.

 Now, reading from top-left to right, recognise the number of each square. The square with a 3 is square number one and is therefore the answer to 3 times 1. The square with a 6 is square number 2 and is therefore the answer to 3 times 2. And so on. The bottom-right square (the one with 27 in it) is the ninth square, which means it’s the answer to 3 times 9.

But what about x10, x11 and x12?

It’s assumed that, by this stage, most kids will be familiar with the answers to the 10-times tables and will also have recognised a simple pattern in the 11-times tables (at least, up to the number 99) so this isn’t really a problem. The vast majority of kids will already know that 3x10 is 30 and 3x11 is 33. However, the 12-times tables aren’t so simple and many schools expect their students to memorise the first twelve answers to each table.

The good news is that the Tic Tac Toe does reveal the answer to 3x12. Simply combine the first two answers (3 and 6) as if they are tens and units: 36. This will also work with the 4-times tables and, with a bit of tweaking, will also work with the 6s right through to the 9s.

The 4-times Tables

Draw the Tic Tac Toe grid again and, this time, start at the top-right square. You are going to move in the opposite direction to the 3-times tables: downwards.

There is one other important factor to consider: 4 is an even number. We can’t write the numbers from 1 to 9 because this would create an odd digit for the units in many of our answers. The simple solution is to only write even digits: 2, 4, 6, 8 and then… 0. The centre square should not be a 10 – we are only writing single digits. So, the pattern is this: 2, 4, 6, 8, 0, 2, 4, 6, 8.

You should be able to see now that the first two answers to the 4-times tables (4 and 8) are in the correct squares. Now we must add tens-digits to the other squares. This is easily done by using the following rule: when the units get smaller, increase the tens by one. For example, the third square says ‘2’, which is smaller than the square before it. You must add a tens digit, so write a 1 to convert the 2 into a 12. The next square says 6, which is not larger than the 2 so stick with just writing a 1: the number becomes 16. The next square is a zero, which is smaller than the 6 in the square before it: increase the tens digit by writing a 2: the zero becomes 20. And so on…

The 6-times Tables

The 6s use a combination of what we learned from the 3s and 4s. 6 is double 3 and just happens to move in the same direction as the Tic Tac Toe method for the 3s (from the bottom-left upwards). But 6 is an even number, so we must use the 2,4,6,8,0 digit pattern from the 4s.

You will know that you’ve done it properly if the 6 is in the top-left square. Now all you have to do is add the tens digits. Remember, if the units digit decreases then make the tens digit one greater than before.

But how does this help kids memorise answers?

 Writing the tables using the Tic Tac Toe method will only work if you insist on asking the kids questions from the tables once they have written it out.

 The way I use this method in my tuition classes is as follow:

·      Demonstrate one of the Tic Tac Toe tables

·      Get the student to write it slowly (at first, literally telling them what to write)

·      Make sure the student repeatedly writes it (you’ll need lots of paper) until they do so almost by instinct

·      Time the student – once they do it in under 20 seconds get ready for the next stage

·      Ask rapid, random questions from the relevant times table and insist that they look at their grid for answers (e.g. 6x7 then 6x2 then 6x9 then 6x6…).

 After a while, they will have visualised where the answer is on the grid, which is priceless for long-term memorisation, particularly if you repeat this challenge on a regular basis (say, once per week or per fortnight).

 The 7-times Tables

The 7-times tables start in the same place and move in the same direction as the 4-times tables: moving downwards from top-right to bottom-left. As 7 is an odd number we will count in ones.

There is a memorable pattern for adding the tens digits: nothing, 1, 2 on the top row; repeat the 2 then 3, 4 on the middle row; repeat the 4, then 5, 6 on the bottom row.

All of a sudden, the trickiest of the times-tables becomes one of the easiest to write out!

The 8-times Tables

The 8s and 9s both start on the bottom-right square and go backwards (right to left).

8 is an even number so use the even digits again: 2,4,6,8,0…

The tens digits are pretty easy to add. From the second square onwards, you will be counting in ones – except that you will write the digit 4 twice (this is simple to remember because two 4s make 8).

The 9-times Tables

The easiest of them all! From the bottom-right square, and moving right to left, count in ones.

Then, when adding the tens digits, count in ones again from the second square. You should also show your child that each answer has digits that add up to make 9.

Yes, but what about those x12 answers?

Fair enough, the 6s, 7s, 8s, and 9s grids don’t reveal the x12 answers in the way that the 3s and 4s grids did. But the first two answers on each grid will still help. For example, on the 6s grid, the first two answers were 6 and 12. Combine the 6 and the 1 to make a 7, then put this before the 2 to make 72. On the 7s grid, the first two answers were 7 and 14. Combine the 7 and the 1 to make an 8, then put this before the 4 to make 84. It won’t take long for kids to work out this pattern.

Isn’t this cheating?

If being able to automatically answer a times-table without counting in 3s, 4s, 6s, etc. is cheating then hopefully we’re all cheats! The point of learning the tables is instant recall, not constant calculations. The point is not to keep counting in sevens if someone asks us the answer to 7x4. We want kids to give the correct answer instinctively. If the Tic Tac Toe tables help us get there faster, then good!

How does my kid use this strategy at school? 

There are many possible answers to this question. If your child is asked to answer a times-table question mentally, and at speed, then they won’t likely have the chance to grab pencil and paper and draw a Tic Tac Toe grid! But, if they’ve practised it enough with you at home, they may have already visualised the answer. In other words, this strategy is a stepping stone towards instant recall of answers.

But even while your child is learning each table, the Tic Tac Toe strategy could be extremely useful. Perhaps they get weekly tests at school on the tables. Sometimes the teacher calls the questions out. Maybe they’ll get a chance, as the teacher asks the first question, to quickly scribble the Tic Tac Toe for the relevant times-table. Of course, this depends upon the teacher’s discretion but one thing they can certainly do is scribble out the relevant Tic Tac Toes when presented with longer multiplications (or divisions) when solving word problems during lesson-time.

Tic Tac Toe & Hit the Button

I have found the Tic Tac Toe method to be very useful alongside the online kids’ Maths website, Hit the Button. Among the many one-minute challenges on this site, there are high-speed times-tables challenges for each of the tables.

At Catapult, I challenge the kids to reach a target of 20 correct answers in under one minute. This can prove too challenging and daunting at first, so my initial challenge to these students is to write out the relevant Tic Tac Toe grid and hold it in front of them as they answer each ‘Hit the Button’ question. I do this until they score somewhere around 20-25 within a minute.

By this stage, they should have hopefully become familiar with the answers and are then ready to try to score 20 without looking at the grid. Repetition is key. Even if the student is successful, they will likely need to revisit this challenge a week or two later, then a month or two later.

Rewards are key too – they need to know what’s in it for them!

Using Tic Tac Toe Tables for other Maths challenges

As suggested already, the Tic Tac Toe tables can help kids solve a wider range of problems than just getting a good score in times-tables tests. Long written multiplication depends upon knowledge of the tables. So does creating equivalent fractions. The same counts for solving word problems, and so on.

Indeed, it works perfectly well with division. If your child needs to give an answer to 51÷8 they can draw out the Tic Tac Toe table for the 8s, after which they’ll discover that they can only go as far as square number six (the one with 48 written in it). So, they know that the answer is 6… but they must also give a remainder. All they’ll have to do is count from 48 to 51 to discover that the remainder is 3.

Target Practice

Book number 1 in my Target Practice series provides other suggestions for memorising the tables, so the Tic Tac Toe strategy is just one of many. The key is to answer them quickly and instinctively, hence the time limits, target scores and repeat activities within the workbook.