Alycia Zimmerman has done a wonderful job sharing some helpful tips on her Scholastic Classroom Solutions blog. From reading her posts, it is pretty evident that she must be a remarkable teacher.
Alicia breaks learning the times tables into three stages.
Stage 1: Understanding Equal Groups - Students need to understand what multiplication really means FIRST. She doesn't rush into the concept, but spends months having her students explore the concept.
Stage 2: "Figure-It-Out" Tricks - The second stage contains tricks for helping the students remember the facts. I'm all for anything that makes the times tables easier for kids to remember.
She uses "The Best of Times" by Greg Tang with her class. I'm going to have to go back and look at his book closer. I purchased it years ago and just glanced at it... dismissing it as just another waste of $$. (I think I have purchased just about every multiplication book ever printed. 99% are just compilations of simple worksheets.)
Stage 3: Approaching Automaticity - The final step is making the facts automatic. Again, Alycia has some great tricks for helping kids REMEMBER the facts.
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