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Chesswood Junior School

Chesswood Junior School

Mental Multiplication

Chesswood Cards

How to use Chesswood Cards

  • A set of cards will be created for a single times table.
  • Each card will include a calculation (1 x 2).
  • The answer will be on the reverse (2).
  • The set will be learned in order with three seconds to answer each calculation, checking the answer before proceeding if correct or starting again if incorrect.
  • Once the order of questions has been mastered, the children will be able to answer the times table in any order by shuffling the cards.
  • After this, the answers will be utilised in order to learn the associated division facts, when mastery is achieved the pack can once again be shuffled.
  • Next, the calculations and answers can be mixed up to demonstrate true mastery of that times table.
  • A new set of cards will then be provided to learn the next times table.
  • Order (2, 5, 10, 3, 4, 8, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12)

TT Rock Stars

 Click on the image to take you to the website.

How to use TT Rock Stars:

Garage

Times-tables: restricted to those set by the teacher or as part of the automatic training mode in Gig (see below). Roughly 1 in 5 questions are division.

Reasons to play in the Garage: we recommend the Garage is the default game to play as it's designed to help pupils get faster. After a few games, the TT Rock Star software engine starts to work out which number facts each pupil struggles with and then begins presenting those questions more frequently.

Arena   

Times-tables: restricted to those set in the Schedule by the teacher. Roughly 1 in 5 questions are division.

Reasons to play in the Arena: The Arena, like the Garage, is only for practising the times tables that the teacher has set. The difference is that it's a multiplayer game for pupils to perform with other bandmates! Pupils join a game at the same time and compete to see who can answer the most questions.

This is not the most effective game mode for pupils to reach mastery (that would be the Garage) 

A new Arena game starts every 15 seconds; there is no difference in Wembley, Millennium, etc. it just makes it easier for friends or for the teacher to tell others which game they want others to play in, e.g. "Everyone join Wembley!"

Studio  

Times-tables: unrestricted, i.e. questions from 1 × 1 up to 12 × 12 are possible. Roughly 1 in 5 questions are division.

Reasons to play in the Studio: we would get pupils to play in the Studio to have a measure of their overall speed on all the times tables. Much like being in a recording studio, this is where we want TT Rock Stars to record their best performances.

The TT Rock Star engine works out your mean score over the last 10 games in the Studio and it's your speed in the Studio that determines your rock status. The more questions on average that you answer correctly in a minute, the higher your status.

Festival 

Times-tables: unrestricted. Roughly 1 in 5 questions are division.

Reasons to play in the Festival: This is the multi-player version of the Studio - students face questions up to 12×12 while competing against players from around the world.

Gig

A Gig game issues 100 multiplication questions starting with 10 questions on the 10s, followed by 10 questions on each of the 2s, 5s, 3s, 4s, 8s, 6s, 7s and 9s and then 5 questions on the 11s and the 12s. There is a 5 minute time limit and pupils will not necessarily get round to answering all 100 questions during that time, which is fine.

After their first Gig, pupils will be placed at the best starting point on our training course. In other words, it's not just a baseline measure, it's also a diagnostic tool for our algorithm. In addition, pupils are directed to play a Gig game after learning every table as a way to track performance over time and adjust their learning pathway as necessary.

Soundcheck

Practice mode for the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) - 25 multiplication questions up to 12 x 12 are provided with 6 seconds to answer each one.

IXL

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IXL support:

Year 3 – Understand multiplication AA.1 to AA.8, Multiplication skill builders BB.1 to BB.13, Multiplication CC.1 to CC.14, Understand division DD.1 to DD.5, Division skill builders EE.1 to EE.12, Division FF.1 to FF.9 

Year 4 – Understand multiplication E.1 to E.8, Multiplication skill builders F.1 to F.13, Multiplication fluency G.1 to G.16, Multiplication H.1, H.2, H.4, H.5, H.6, H.7H.12, H.13, Understand division I.1 to I.5, Division skill builders J.1 to J.12, Division fluency K.1 to K.12, Division L.1, L.3, L.4, L.5, L.8.

Year 5 – Multiplication D.1,D.2, D.3, D.7, D.21, D.22, D.23, D.24, D.25, Division E.1, E.2, E.3, E.6, E.9, E.12, E.13, E.14, E.17

Year 6 – Multiplication C.3, C.4, C.5, C.6, C.7, C.17, C.18, Division D.1, D.2

Other Useful Web Links

Click on the image to link to our useful multiplication games and songs.