Today, I introduced the 7 times table to one of my students. I started with a 3 by 3 grid before filling the numbers 1 to 3 (from the right hand side, top to bottom), followed by 4 to 6 in the second column, and finally 7 to 9 in the first column as shown below:
_7|_4|_1
_8|_5|_2
9| 6| 3
Next I added the numbers 0, 1, 2 ahead of the digits present, across the first row. I followed this with 2, 3, 4 across the second row, and finally 4, 5, 6 across the last row:
07|14|21
28|35|42
49|56|63
That gave us the 7 times table. My student kept refering to this table when we played a game to practise the 7 times table. At the end of it, I wondered if any of this was retained. To my pleasant surprise, my student could recall the answer when quizzed a short time later.
The minds of children is really beyond our comprehension, another affirmation to me that the strategies I am applying do indeed make a difference.