Here is a quick secret about the 9 times table. Look at the answers: 9, 18, 27, 36, 45. Add the two digits of any one of them together. What do you get every single time? Try 45: add its two digits, 4 and 5. Try 27: add 2 and 7. Have a look and be ready to tell me the pattern you spot.

The hundred square shades one times table at a time: threes, then sixes, then nines. Watch where each set of multiples lands and see what pattern shows up. Say the numbers aloud as they light up.

Today we work through these facts together on the board. Each time, say how you knew it:

• 3 × 6
• 6 × 6: use the doubling trick. Work out 3 × 6, then double it.
• 9 × 4: check with the digit trick. The two digits of the answer add up to 9.
• 7 × 8
• 6 × 7, when it comes up: the fact people forget most, so we build it here from a 3 times fact you already know. Work out 3 × 7, then double it.