4th grade still depends on multiplication facts
Long division and fractions both assume the times tables are already automatic. Class has moved on to those topics. The facts often have not caught up.
The gap is easier to hide now
A fourth grader who still counts up to 7 × 8 can hide it for a long stretch, until a timed test or a long-division problem with six multiplications in a row. Then the missing facts are obvious.
School is not going to pause the fractions unit to redrill the 8s. Something at home has to keep the older facts alive while new material takes the hour.
Keep the practice looking like work
A ten-year-old will sit through times tables if the session is short and the screen looks like a tool. Big numbers, a box to type in.
It also helps to show the mechanism. This fact is back because you missed it last week. That one is gone for three weeks because you got it clean.
What TimesOwl does
Set the deck to 12 × 12. TimesOwl shows the shaky rows. Stars show up when recall is clean and reasonably fast.
- 7 × 8
- 20 seconds
- 40 seconds
- 1 minute
- 3 minutes
- 1 day
- 3 days
A correct 7 × 8 might wait days. A miss shows up again in the next session or two.
Try five minutes before the worksheet.
They type a few answers. Open it on one device. A session is about five minutes.