Bring Multiplication Alive with Times Alive

City Creek Press, Inc. makes learning multiplication facts fun with Online Times Alive. We received a six month subscription to review.

Online Times Alive is based on the book Times Tables the Fun Way by Judy Liautaud. Incorporating the use of music and video, students learn their multiplication facts from 0-9. The silly cartoons and catchy tunes create a fun atmosphere for learning times tables that your child won’t forget.

Online Times Alive Program Overview

It is important to note that when setting up your student account, they will need to have access to the same computer every time. Progress is not stored in the cloud, but on the computer’s hard drive.

Lesson Set Up

There are a total of eighteen lessons that incorporate different mechanisms to solidify your child’s learning. The different components a lesson may include are:

• Movie
• Song
• Paint
• Quiz
• Test

Every component is not included with every lesson.

When the student arrives at the welcome screen they have two options. They can select the log-in or the try-it button. The try-it mode lets them peruse the lesson without it recording their progress.

The Movie

The movie is a short clip that uses story to teach a specific multiplication fact. For example the movie for the equation 6 x 3 = 18 is about the number six who goes out with her bow, which is shaped like the number three. She shoots an arrow, shaped as the number one, that lands in front of the Big Foot shaped like the number eight.

The Songs

The songs reinforce the movie. For the movie above, there was then a song that told the story again. Below is a video clip from their site that shows the song for 6 x 6.

Painting

Not all of the lessons have the paint portion. For painting it shows you a picture with the multiplication fact you are learning. You then use the mouse to click on the paint buckets and then click on the part of the picture you want to color.

The picture below shows 6 x 4 = 24.

Quizzes

Quizzes show a picture from the movie and song. The student then fills in the equation with the correct answer.

Tests

The tests are a timed test. The student enters in the answers as quickly as they can. Each test is taken more than once giving the student a chance to improve their score.

Progress Monitoring

The student’s progress is monitored and you can access a progress report at any time to see what they have done. We did have an issue with the recording of progress. Both of my kids had their progress completely lost. We were just doing this for fun and my kids are good at remembering where they were, but if you are relying on it, this would be a problem.

What We Thought of Times Alive

Both my sixth grader and fourth grader worked through the entire program. When I asked them what they thought of it they said things like,

“The songs were okay, but they were too long.” “Some of the stories didn’t make sense.” “It was okay.”

When I asked them if they found it easier to recall their multiplication facts, they both agreed that they could recall them quicker. I also asked if they thought of the song or story when going through their facts and they said no. However, they could both describe them to me when I asked. They may not have been the biggest fans of the music or videos, but I think they worked better than they think for helping them to quickly recall their facts.

I would recommend using Online Times Alive to help your child learn their times tables or improve their recall.

Other members of the Crew also reviewed the Times Alive App, so make sure you check out the other reviews.

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