Times Table Rock Stars & Numbots
When it comes to times tables, speed AND accuracy are important – the more facts a child remembers, the easier it is for them to complete harder calculations. Times Table Rock Stars is a fun and challenging programme designed to help children master the times tables. To be a Times Table Rock Star they need to answer any multiplication fact up to 12×12 in less than 3 seconds!
World famous rock musicians are the best at what they do because they’ve spent hours practising guitar chords, writing music or playing on the drums. It’s just the same with times tables – all Times Table Rock Stars need to practise and practise and practise.
Research shows that daily practise is the best strategy for children to learn these important facts. Short bursts of daily practise are much more effective than spending hours once a week.
Parental support is critical in this area. For children to be fully motivated and for them to get the best out of the practice, they need an adult’s help. Without a Parent’s praise and reminders, without sitting down together or checking their work, practising times tables will not feel important.
Each class or group within a class will be set a schedule of times tables to work on by their teacher. The quicker a child can answer a times tables question, the higher their Rock Status.
Play TTRockstars online using the login card in your child brought home. They should play for a short while until they are successfully answering the questions quickly. TTRockstars online can be accessed via http://ttrockstars.com/ or using the app which is free to download.
We are delighted to inform you about a new exciting game we are using to support maths skills in Early Years and Key Stage 1. The creators of Times Tables Rock Stars have produced a platform for boosting addition and subtraction skills, called NumBots.
Big Difference
NumBots is an online game and playing little and often will significantly improve your child’s recall and understanding of number bonds and addition and subtraction facts. These are critical foundations in maths so we are excited by the impact NumBots will have.
Logging In
Children will be given a log in and will be shown how the game works and how to login. Their logins have been stuck on the inside cover of their reading record. Please make a note of their username and password if they should lose their reading record. If you would like your child to have a go at home you just need to download the FREE Numbots app from your app store. Alternatively if you’re playing on a PC or laptop visit https://play.numbots.com/
Little and often
In order to get the best out of NumBots children should regularly play for short bursts so we recommend 5 minutes each day.
Game Types
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Story Mode – the emphasis is on learning the ideas and concepts behind addition and subtraction so it features more diagrams, shapes and question styles.
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Challenge Mode – the emphasis is more on speed of recall of key facts, like number bonds to 10, doubling small numbers or adding & taking away in your head.
Please let your child’s teacher know if you have any questions or comments.