Times Table Rockstar
At Colonel Frank Seely Academy, we strive to support all students to reach their full academic potential. With times tables, speed and accuracy are important; the more facts your child remembers, the easier it is for them to do more complex calculations right up to GCSE and beyond.
‘Times Table Rock Stars’ is a fun and challenging programme designed to help students master the times tables. To be a successful Times Table Rock Star, students need to be able to answer any multiplication up to 12×12 in less than three seconds! The goal is for all participating rockers to be Times Table Rock Stars by the end of this year.
World famous rock musicians are the best at what they do because they have spent hours practising guitar chords, writing music or playing on the drums. It is just the same with times tables – all Times Table Rock Stars need to practice regularly to become perfect. As such, it is essential for your child to complete short bursts of daily practice every night.
Every Monday, students will recall different times tables in school with additional practise required at home. Students will keep their Times Table Rock Star sheets in their planners and this will indicate the times tables they are working on.
During each practice, please support your child to follow the plan in the order below:
- Read the times table out loud (three minutes) – With your child, read out the times table (see overleaf) that they are focusing on that week. For added difficulty, your child should be trying to recall the times table without reading them from the page. However, accuracy is more important than speed at this stage.
- Write down the times table (five minutes) – use the look, cover, write, check method.
- Play online or on the app (up to ten minutes) – After logging in, they should practise until they are successfully answering the questions quickly and accurately.