Well done Edwin!!! I adore my maths club. I'm currently working on Knickerbocker, knickerbocker number nine! What this looks like in practice is...

Adding 9 with numbers less than 20, from 20-100, from 100-900 and some 2400-2500 � just trying to get the kids to use 10 minus 1 strategy to get the answer quicker than counting forwards. Once the kids see the pattern and get used to using the strategy, I move to adding 19, 29 and 39. I use dice and just random number flashcards to provide a visual cue. Fast and furious is my aim...

I then get the kids to practice on target hunt on www.ictgames.com/100huntadd9.html to try and get their answer times under 5 seconds. You can't do this for too long, as many of the kids pick up the visual pattern very quickly so I just let them do this for 2-3 minutes.

We then move to multiplication. I first get the students to find the pattern of the nine timestable on a number grid and then skip count by 9 a couple of times backwards and forwards. If the kids are particularly kinesthetic, we physically jump up and down a number line while doing this. And then I put the 'nailpolish' stickers (old fashioned price tags) on their fingernails and we work out the visual cue. (-- you know the one where you use your fingers to do the 9 timestable?)

Once we roll the dice a few times to get confidence up that the system actually works, they then go back to the computer to do 9 timestable practice on www.multiplication.com

There's not normally time to do subtraction by 9s, but I always make sure that I'm doing multiplication and division at the same time so that they see the linkages.

I do this with two year 3-4 kids (which down-under means kids around 8 and 9 years). The faster the better. The more hands-on stuff I can come up with, the better. And the more drills I can work in without the kids knowing they're being drilled, the better!

Anyway, hope this might give you some inspiration for your next session... jojo