Teaching Math Facts to Struggling Students

Why Every Student Needs to Memorize their Math Facts

Math is subject that keeps building on previous knowledge. The brain can only process new information well when old information is transferred into long term memory. As a tutor who has worked with many students from kindergarten through high school, I can say without hesitation that students who did not know their math facts are guaranteed to struggle with math. And I can say after working with many many students that those who finally memorized their math facts were able to make miraculous strides in their math abilities.

​Do your child a huge favor. Give them the gift of math literacy! Just as it's imperative for children to achieve reading fluency in order to move on in all subjects that require reading, it's imperative for children to achieve math fluency in addition and subtraction math facts and multiplication math facts.

How Do I Help my Child Memorize Math Facts

Usually a child who struggles with math also struggled to memorize their math facts. It's important to figure out how this particular child needs to see the information and then practice it so that it gets stored in long term memory. Enter the learning styles of visual, audio, tactile, kinethetic. Enter the way that child usually processes information as either left-brain dominant or right-brain dominant.

​It is also important to figure out if there is some other physical handicap affecting the child's output or input skills. For example, a child with a writing handicap may get their brain totally frozen up when having to output the answers in writing. Or a child with a perfectionist streak may get frozen giving answers if not completely sure of them. A child with an eye stigmatism may not see the numbers clearly. A child with severe audio processing disorder may not hear your question clearly to be able to give an appropriate answer. A child with sleep difficulty may suffer from focus issues. There are many factors at play for children who may be struggling with math fact memorization. If you suspect a severe handicap, please have your child evaluated. Below we will proceed as if you have at least identified your child's handicap if present.

Left Brained versus Right Brained Dominant

Being left-brained or right-brained dominant has a profound effect on how one most efficiently receives new information. Left-brainers need every last step laid out in order to understand. Right-brainers need to see the big-picture first in order to know what to do with the information. When presenting new information, it's helpful to cover both of those approaches. Start with the big picture, then give clear, easy to follow steps, making sure all steps can be visualized as part of a whole. Let's see how these differences apply to learning math facts. 

Left-brained Dominant Learners
may benefit from...

• extra time to prove that the math facts actually work.​
• calculation tricks to remember them.
• math facts learned as individual stories.
• learning them as +3's or +4's, etc.

Right-brained Dominant Learners
may benefit from...

• learning math fact triangles, where 4 facts can be visualized at once.
• turning each math fact into a memorable picture.
• learning them in groups of all the pairs that add up to a particular number, i.e. 4+4, 5+3, 2+6, 7+1 =8.

Different Learning Styles

A student's preferred learning style is how they best remember new information. Some students remember things they hear well. Others need to see information in order to remember it. Some need to write it down to really absorb it. Others need to move with it. It's important to incorporate a student's preferred learning style into their practice sessions. Practicing or repeating the math facts is what will ultimately put them in long term memory. But, you can get them into long term memory quicker if you use a student's preferred learning style. Let's see how that learning style affects practicing math facts.

Audio Learners

• math facts songs, poems, or raps
• saying each individual math fact in a distinct sing-song way 

Visual Learners

• math fact pictures or doodles
• coloring math facts
• diagramming math facts
• visualizing facts on 10-frame or in dice patterns

Tactile Learners

• writing and diagramming math facts
• building facts with magnets or other manipulatives

Kinesthetic Learners

• Writing the math fact with broad strokes in the air with arms
• Hop scotch or bounce a ball while saying facts

Tips for Planning Practice Sessions

• Regardless of learning style, I recommend not practicing more than 1 to 8 facts at a time, unless they happen to be part of a song.
  
• Do not move forward with more facts till previous facts are mastered and put into memory.
  
• I recommend keeping practice sessions short - 5 minutes - unless a student really enjoys the practice and wants to do more.
  
• Practice daily so that students can keep building on the learning that happened while they slept.

Recommended Resources

Below are some sample resources for learning math facts (definitely not an exhaustive list, but they should give you an idea of what to look for). I will notate on them whether they lean towards left or right-brain dominant learners (LB or RB respectively) and which learning style they can accommodate (A, V, T, K).

• Sue Dickson's Songs that Teach Musical Math Facts (LB, A)
• Learning Wrap-Ups (LB, T)
• Learning Resources Write and Wipe Fact Family Triangle Boards (RB, T)
• Addition Facts that Stick and Subtraction Facts that Stick (RB, V)
• Two Plus Two is Not Five (LB, T)