Times Tables and RockStars Relaunch!

As you may have heard us say many times before, knowing key facts such as times tables are at the heart of being a successful Mathematician. 

We’ve seen a lot more children log onto Rockstars over the last couple of weeks and it is great to see! After such a long time off school, some children have forgotten or have slowed down when recalling their times tables facts. RockStars is a brilliant program for helping children to learn and practise their times tables independently. By now, your child’s class teacher should have given them their log in details in case they have forgotten them, however they are exactly the same as last year.

To help promote RockStars, we will be announcing ‘RockStar Headlines’ in our weekly Celebration Worship on Friday which will celebrate achievements such as fastest speeds, those who have spent the most time playing on RockStars, how our school is comparing to other local schools and which year groups win the battles!

These were the RockStar headlines from last week:

 

Rockstars Headlines

Most time playing RockStars:

Year 3: Arthur D, Bethany C, Chloe M

Year 4: Liam J, James S, Iremide A

Year 5: Craig M, Charlie D, Samuel W

Year 6: Ollie R, Joby B, Bela F

A special well done to Liam in 4G who spent the most time practising his times tables on Rockstars in the entire school!

 

Year group who played the most:

Year 4!

 

Our ranking compared to other schools:

We have the 7^th fastest average speed out of 30 local schools – well done St Mark’s! Can we get to 6th place next week I wonder…?

 

Battle of the Bands:

Year 4 beat Year 3 as Year 4 spent more time playing

Year 6 beat Year 5 as Year 6 spend more time playing

 

Next week, we’ll be announcing some different ‘RockStar headlines’ so encourage the children to log on and keep playing! We recommend spending around half an hour per week but some children may benefit from longer or some other activities to support them. If you are having any problems with logging on, please let your child’s class teacher know.

 

Learning and Testing Times Tables

In class, we have been busy designing some activities to help the children learn their times tables. We are also testing them on a regular basis and have been checking their recall right from the 2 times tables. At Parents’ Evening, you can talk to your child’s class teacher about how your child is getting on with their times tables compared to expectations. The National Curriculum expectations are:

Children should know their multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 times tables by the end of Year 2.

Children should know their multiplication and division facts for the 3, 4 and 8 times tables by the end of Year 3.

Children should know their multiplication and division facts for the 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 times tables by the end of Year 4.

In our school system, we have split these tables into sets and the children will receive a certificate when they pass their Ruby and Emerald award. Once they complete their Diamond set, a certificate will be awarded to them in Celebration Worship as this is such an accomplishment! 

Once children know all their times tables, we have lots of further speed challenges that they can have a go at in school.