I think finding little sayings that help them remember what they are as well like mopar the singing. As a kid I remember doing flashcards with our teacher a few days a week.
I second xtramath.org; I love that it is targeted practice and tracks their progress! I have a CD of multiplication raps that we do, but you can also find plenty of videos on youtube (if you can access it at school). We do a lot of games to practice as well. They love Multiplication War (flip up two cards--either whoever says answer first wins, or each player can flip up a pair and higher product wins). I also do "games" with dice or spinners, just to mix it up a little bit. We do "Fact Work-outs" where they do different movements for a given fact as they skip count--so for 3x7 they might do jumping jacks while counting 7, 14, 21. We are currently making a flip book with strategies for remembering the facts--little things like 2s are doubles, 4s are doubles doubled, 5s are clock facts, etc. This website also has some neat games: http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/
i just did this activity the other night when I tutored a 2nd grader. I used strips of adding machine paper (the old fashioned long strips about 2 inches wide) and marked them with little dots as for a number line. Then, with the student, we marked off multiples of 2 and marked those points 2, 4, 6 .... I had the student pick a small happy face sticker to place above each of those points. Next, I drew arcs above each group of two units. Then, I asked the child what 2 times 2 was and showed him how to trace over two groups of 2 with his finger. We practiced up to 10 times 2. We also made multiples lines for 3s and 5s.
I have heard other teachers who have Smartboards talking about lessons they do. I would go to their website for lessons if you are lucky enough to have the board.
As a junior high and high school Math teacher I don't believe grade 3 teachers should teach anything else until the students have the multiplication table down. If they don't know their multiplication table, the rest of Math and anything in Science that requires Math will be lost to them.
Will you please come to my parent night and talk to the parents of my third graders Every year a few parents fight me about how hard I push multiplication. Yes, I am tough about multiplication, but I know how imperative it is to the rest of their math experiences for the rest of their lives. Hello, how can THEY not know that being adults themselves!?!?!? Don't get me wrong, I use all of the fun tricks, games, songs, websites, and I use a ton of rewards. Parents, let 3rd grade be the year that they work their butts off to know their tables inside and out because I have news for you....your child will have a HORRIBLE time with multi step math after 3rd grade if they can't multiply! STOP fighting teachers on this issue. Ok, I'm off of my soap box!
Oops! Here are some websites. I got carried away in my previous post www.multiplication.com http://www.kentcenter.com/curric/0802_MW.htm http://www.funbrain.com/math/index.html
