Great that she had that success experience! 60 in 5 mins is 5 seconds per sum, which for sums within 10 is time enough to envision the sum in your mind's eye and either subitise or mentally count to the answer. My guess - and it is only a guess - is that in this new situation, she used that sensible strategy, whereas in situations where she's been told she's supposed to "know" these facts, she obediently tries to recall the answer without any working out and ends up either giving up or guessing. What happens if you tell her you're interested in knowing how she worked out each answer, and get her to describe what went on in her head? (Since it obviously worked, you'd want to encourage pretty much whatever she said!)
Personally, I really hate the culture of "learning" "maths facts", at least for very young children like this. I think ideally knowing them is something that should be a side effect of having used them so very often in context, not a goal in itself. OK, some children like doing it, and then sure, why not; and on the other hand, if you get to a point where a child has conceptual understanding way beyond the operations involved in the maths facts, and still can't work them out fast, so that this is slowing the child down in a way that annoys them, then there may be some point in doing some memorisation work then. But otherwise, it seems to me likely to do far more harm than good.
If she enjoyed this experience, I'd suggest encouraging her to do this same exercise every day for a bit (not going on to harder sums, or consciously trying to get faster, unless or until she herself pushes for that), just as practice. I'd emphasise that if you get to be able to work out the answer very fast instead of memorising it, that's just fine. Some people find one or the other easier, and either works.
Last edited by ColinsMum; 08/21/12 07:10 AM. Reason: clarity/expansion
