Scafell have all been working super hard in their maths lessons recently so we wanted to let you know about one of the things we’ve started doing to really boost our mental maths skills.
In maths, there are 72 basic number facts which more complicated calculations are built on. If you can instantly recall these simple number facts, calculation becomes much easier as brain-power is freed up to think more clearly about the problem as a whole. We will be learning five new facts each week – after fifteen weeks we will have learned them all!
We’ll be testing our recall of the facts every week and seeing how much we can improve our score. See below for some helpful hints and tips to really get these facts embedded in your brain!
Little and Often
Practice makes perfect! These facts are quick, but to really get them to stick, regular practice is key. You can do this anywhere and everywhere – in the car, before bed, after tea, at the park… Wherever you are, take 2 minutes to learn these facts!
Mnemonics
If you’ve got a tricky fact to learn, one of the best ways is to think of something wild or outlandish to help you remember. The crazier the better. Rhymes, jokes or silly stories are memorable, fun and stick in your brain. This is a great way to learn 8×8….
I ate and I ate until I was sick on the floor – eight times eight is sixty-four!
Related Facts
Sometimes a new fact is very closely related to one you already know. If you know 9+9=18, that means you also know that 9×2=18 because they are both two lots of 9. You can also use this to work out 8+9=17 as it’s just one less, or 9+10=19 as it’s just one more.
Fact Families
Number facts come in families – when you’re learning one, learn the family to effectively learn four facts at a time! For example, if you know 4×6=24, you also know…
4×6=24
6×4=24
24÷6=4
24÷4=6
Best of luck with your facts practice this week. We look forward to seeing you smashing your high scores in weeks to come!
