Learning Multiplication Tables

When I see students struggling with math because they don't know their multiplication and division tables, I recall having to memorize them at the one-room school house.  This wasn't a choice or something we could look up on a calculator or computer.  We were expected to MEMORIZE.  I see youngsters getting the tables correct on the computer programs nowadays, but they don't know the tables when doing their math. 

We had flash cards we used in school and at home.  We used them with one another.

Then Mrs. Burr drew a circle on the blackboard with a smaller circle in the middle.  Lines radiated out from the small circle to the outside of the large.  She divided the circle into pie shaped pieces with a number in each (1-12).  The multiplying number was placed in the small circle.  With a pointer, Mrs. Burr, or one of us students, pointed to the multiplier and then to one of the other numbers.

We had to keep at it until we knew all the facts.  This also became a game we played at recess when it was too stormy to go outside.  So I still think of learning the math tables/facts as a game.