DreamBox Math Classroom FAQs

Answers to your questions about the DreamBox Learning Math Classroom Bundle

Why should I sign up for a teacher account on DreamBox Learning?

Signing up for a free teacher account on DreamBox Learning allows you to view sample DreamBox Learning K-2 Math lesson games that cover a variety of important math topics and use a number of our virtual manipulatives. You can also play DreamBox as a teacher to evaluate our program for your classroom.

How do I sign in to my teacher account on DreamBox?

With a teacher account on DreamBox Learning you can apply for a free 30-day DreamBox classroom trial to use in your classroom, after-school program, or a small group of students for 30 days. You can read the program details here. Once you have a DreamBox Math Classroom you will also use your teacher account to log in to manage your classroom, start students playing DreamBox Learning K-2 Math, and view student progress in the DreamBox curriculum. How do I sign in to my teacher account on DreamBox?

If you are a teacher on a DreamBox Math Classroom you will use your teacher account to view and manage your classroom. Sign in to your teacher account at www.dreambox.com/teacher_login with your school-issued email address and your personal teacher account password.

If you forget your password click on the “forgot your password” link and we will send you an email to reset your password.

What are the technical requirements for using the DreamBox Math Classroom?

To qualify for the DreamBox Math Classroom, your school computers must be capable of running it correctly to ensure that your students have a good experience. Each computer must have:

• Audio capability, a pair of headphones, and a mouse
• Adobe Flash Player 10 installed
• Internet access, and the ability to access http://play.dreambox.com through a firewall
• Your network must have a minimum bandwidth/network speed:
  • For up to 5 students playing concurrently, you must have DSL speed
  • For 6-35 students playing concurrently, especially for the first time, students will have an optimal experience with a dedicated T1 line

What teachers qualify for a DreamBox Learning K-2 Math free classroom trial?

DreamBox is offering any qualified pre-K to 2nd grade teacher or other educational professional employed by an accredited school a free 30-day classroom trial to use in the classroom for up to 35 students during the 2009/2010 school year.

Here are the program details:

• You must be a teacher or other education professional.
• You need to be employed by an accredited public or private/independent school.
• You must have a school email address.
• Your school computers must meet the technical requirements to be ready for DreamBox.
• The free classroom trial is for school use only.
• Hours of use are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time, Monday-Friday.
• You can encourage a home-school connection by inviting parents to sign up for an optional home subscription.
• DreamBox Learning reserves the right to deny or cancel a free classroom trial application for any reason.

Can all of the pre-kindergarten to 2nd grade classrooms at my school and in my district sign up for a free DreamBox Math Classroom trial?

Yes! DreamBox is offering any qualified pre-K to 2nd grade teacher or other educational professional employed by an accredited school a 30-day free classroom trial to use in the classroom for up to 35 students through the 2009/2010 school year.

How can I tell other teachers about the free 30-day DreamBox Math Classroom trial program?

Click on the Tell a Teacher link on the right hand side of the Teachers page on the DreamBox Learning website. The Tell a Teacher link will bring up a form that you can fill out to let other teachers know about the DreamBox Learning free 30-day trial of the DreamBox Math Classroom. DreamBox will send an email to the teachers informing them about the program and inviting them to apply for a free trial for their classroom. The information you give us will remain private — we won’t contact the teacher after forwarding your message. And we never release, share, or sell your personal information.

What is the difference between my teacher account and my classroom license?

Your teacher account is your personal credentials to log in to DreamBox Learning K-2 Math. To sign in to your teacher account, go to www.dreambox.com/teachers and sign in with your school-issued email address and personal password.

With your teacher account on DreamBox you can play sample DreamBox lessons, play DreamBox as a teacher and apply for one or more free classroom trials.

Once a DreamBox Math Classroom Bundle has been purchased, your teacher account is your way to log on to manage your classroom and view your teacher dashboard. When you log on to your teacher account at www.dreambox.com/teachers and go to your teacher dashboard you can add or delete students in your classroom, view student progress, give additional teachers access to your classroom, and more!

As a DreamBox teacher you may have more than one classroom license for different groups of students. Your single teacher account allows you to manage and access multiple classrooms . In addition, there may be more than one teacher account associated with a classroom license, for example when there is an assistant teacher.

Why do I need two different passwords for my teacher account and my classroom internet address?

We need different passwords for teacher accounts and classroom licenses so that student progress data and student privacy is protected. If your password for your teacher account and your classroom license were the same it would be possible for students to log in to your teacher dashboard and view student progress data for the entire class.

A unique teacher account password allows you to securely log in to your DreamBox account to manage all of your classrooms and view student progress in one place. Please keep your teacher account password secure to protect the privacy of your students! If necessary, it is OK to share the class password with your students to enable them to log in to the classroom internet address.

What happens to student progress and data after the free trial ends?

After your 30 day free trial ends you will continue to be able to view your student’s academic progress on your Teacher Dashboard but will not be able to have students play DreamBox in class until you buy a DreamBox Math Classroom Bundle. Once you buy a subscription you will be able to easily convert your free trial to a paid subscription without losing any student academic progress.

What is the price to buy a DreamBox Math Classroom Bundle?

DreamBox Learning offers pricing for classrooms, schools and districts, with discounts based on the number of students. Click here to learn more about DreamBox Math Classroom Bundle Pricing.

How can I buy a DreamBox Math Classroom Bundle?

DreamBox Math Classroom Bundles may be purchased by credit card or purchase order.

To pay by credit card please call DreamBox customer service at 425.646.8080 or toll free at 1-877-451-7845 (weekdays, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m, Pacific Time).

To pay by purchase order please fax your purchase order to 425.484.6476, and include full contact information for the person in Accounts Payable to whom we should send the invoice.

Click here to request a quote from DreamBox Learning

Are there grants or funding sources to help my school purchase DreamBox?

Yes. In order to help teachers and school administrators secure funding to purchase DreamBox Learning K-2 Math for their students, we have compiled a list of funding sources that may be helpful. Click here to learn more about funding sources that may be used to purchase DreamBox Learning K-2 Math.

Using and managing your DreamBox Math Classroom

How can I demonstrate DreamBox lessons for my class?

With your teacher account on DreamBox Learning you are able to play sample DreamBox lessons that you can display on an interactive white board in class. These sample lessons are available on the DreamBox website at http://www.dreambox.com/play_samples, and are also available on your Teacher Dashboard once you have a classroom trial or license.

When you play sample lessons you can ask students to participate in solving various DreamBox lessons and puzzles as a class at the kindergarten, 1st grade or 2nd grade level. You can also play the DreamBox virtual manipulative tutorials as a class. While it is not necessary to do this as a classroom (DreamBox Learning K-2 Math introduces each new virtual manipulative individually in the program) many classrooms find it fun to play some lessons and tutorials together as a class as students learn how to use the DreamBox virtual manipulatives such as the ten frame, mathrack, snap blocks, function machine and open number line.

How do I log into my classroom so that students can start playing?

Each DreamBox Math Classroom will have a unique classroom internet address and a password. The classroom password is chosen by the teacher who originally applies for the free classroom trial, or who activates the classroom license after it’s purchased.

When you log in to your teacher account at www.dreambox.com/teachers you will be able to view your classroom internet address and password on the Manage Students tab of your Teacher Dashboard.

On the Manage Students tab of your Teacher Dashboard there will be a link to Start Students Playing. This tab will also have instructions on how to create a one-click link to the classroom internet address and how to save the link as a favorite on a classroom or school lab computer.

Can I bring up my DreamBox Math Classroom on more than one computer at a time?

Yes! Your DreamBox Math Classroom can be active on many computers at one time so that up to 35 students can all log in to their individual accounts on DreamBox Learning K-2 Math and be playing and learning at the same time.

In order to have multiple students playing DreamBox at the same time simply pull up your DreamBox classroom internet address and log in with the classroom password on as many computers as you have students that want to play DreamBox. When you pull up your DreamBox classroom internet address and log in with your classroom password you will see a screen with each student’s name listed. Each student should click on their own name where they will be able to pick their own personal password for DreamBox and choose an avatar to get started!

Can I save the classroom internet address and password to my computers so that students do not need to type in the password to DreamBox each time to log in?

Yes. For each classroom you have, you will be given a unique internet address and you will have chosen a classroom password.

In order to log into your account you will simply need to enter the internet address as follows: http://play.dreambox.com/classroom/UniqueInternetAddress/ClassPassword.

The unique internet address and classroom password will be different for each classroom license.

On the Manage Students tab of your Teacher Dashboard there will be a link to Start Students Playing on your classroom account. This tab will also have instructions on how to create a one-click link to the classroom internet address and how to save the link as a favorite on a classroom or school lab computer.

I see a message to download Adobe Flash 10. What should I do?

DreamBox Learning K-2 Math does require Adobe Flash 10 to run. Adobe Flash is free to download and only takes a few minutes, however on most school computers administrative rights are required to download the program. You may need to put in a request with your technology team to get Adobe Flash 10 on your school computers to play DreamBox. You can download Adobe Flash Player 10 here: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/. Once you download it, you must click on it to install it.

What should I do if DreamBox is loading slowly the very first time we play in class?

DreamBox is a web-based program. It is designed for many students to play at the same time, but the number of students depends on the Internet bandwidth/network that is available to your computers. For example, if you have a DSL line, up to 5 students can play at the same time. If it is a T1 line, 6-35 students can play at the same time, especially if you pre-load DreamBox Learning K-2 Math the first time your students play.

If you have many students (6-35) trying to access DreamBox for the first time on multiple computers and are finding the program is slow to load, it can help to pre-load the program on your computers. To do this you need to pull up your classroom account on each computer one at a time, click on a student’s name and wait until our narrator, Stella, comes out of the house on the screen. This will pre-load the program on each individual computer and the DreamBox program will run much more quickly after that.

If you do not have time to pre-load DreamBox on to each computer simply allow a few minutes between groups of students logging on to DreamBox for the first time. Initially have five students log on to the program to start, and then after a few minutes allow five more to log on, and so on.

If you continue to have a very slow loading time for DreamBox please use the Feedback button in the program to let us know about the issue. To do this, first click on a student name. When our narrator, Stella, comes out of My House and begins to speak, please click the Feedback button on the bottom of the screen. Then type in a message to tell us that you are using the program on a school computer and are testing bandwidth and speed. Please be sure the checkbox to send a screen shot with your feedback is checked. This will allow our technology team to assess how quickly your program is loading on your computers and respond to you regarding the issue.

Can I have more than one classroom on my teacher account?

Yes. Many teachers and educational professionals have more than one classroom trial and/or license because they work with various groups of students throughout the day. You can apply for each free 30-day classroom trial individually. When a DreamBox Math Classroom Bundle is purchased, the purchaser will provide teacher access to the classroom license(s) as appropriate. In either case, you will be able to manage all of your classrooms from your Teacher Dashboard

Each classroom will have a unique internet address and password to access the account.

Can more than one person be assigned as a teacher to one classroom?

Yes. Often there is more than one teacher assigned to a classroom. A teacher may have a math consultant or math coach, an assistant teacher, or co-teacher listed as teachers on a classroom. All teachers on a classroom license will have the same privileges and will be able to add and manage students within the classroom, view student progress, add parent emails to invite parents to try DreamBox at home, and access the classroom internet address and password.

How do I add a teacher to my classroom account?

To add a teacher to an existing classroom, log in to your teacher account on DreamBox and go to your Teacher Dashboard. Click on the Subscriptions tab to manage your classroom. You will see a link to add a teacher to your classroom.

Teachers must have a DreamBox teacher account to be granted access to your classroom. If the teacher you add doesn’t have a teacher account, he/she will be invited to create one. Once you add other teachers they will be able to view student progress and manage the classroom.

What progress reports are available to teachers and parents?

Teachers can review detailed student progress reports any time they want on their Teacher Dashboard under the Student Progress tab. To access your Teacher Dashboard simply sign in to your teacher account at www.dreambox.com/teachers with your school-issued email address and your personal teacher account password.

On your Student Progress tab you will see the name of each of your students listed along with the time spent on DreamBox and the number of lessons completed. When you click on each student’s name you will be able to view detailed student progress information for each student including which math concepts the student has “skipped in placement” (i.e. already knew and therefore successfully passed in our placement lessons), which lessons they have successfully completed, and which lessons they are currently working on.

When parents are invited to try DreamBox Learning at home they will also have access to progress reports via their Parent Dashboard. In addition, parents receive an email whenever their child has successfully completed a group of lessons that demonstrates understanding of a significant concept in mathematics. We will explain what their child has learned, and provide some tips for further honing that knowledge, including quick games that can be played together in the car or while cooking dinner. We will also send an email to parents when their child has completed an adventure story and earned a Certificate to print out.

What does it mean when a student skips lessons?

Our adaptive engine utilizes what we call “placement lessons” (these are marked with a star on the map). DreamBox Learning placement lessons are designed to assess the student’s existing knowledge and place him or her at an appropriate place in our program. For example, students who already know a particular concept will pass a placement lesson and then immediately skip all of the lesson games for that concept (typically four to 10 lesson games). DreamBox will skip students past lessons based on demonstrated proficiency in placement lessons.

Why does the student progress graph show my students working in multiple grades at one time?

Research on how children learn math has shown that it’s not a simple, linear process. Rather, learning grows like a web through a range of experiences. Based on common national standards, most kindergarten curricula cover numbers to ten, and most 1st grade curricula cover numbers to one hundred. But that doesn’t take into account the fact that, developmentally, a student that can count to ten is often ready for working with larger numbers.

At DreamBox, we have developed an adaptive curriculum that’s based on this advanced learning research. The DreamBox curriculum, and our sophisticated placement system, allows students to work in lessons that build on prior knowledge, and that includes lessons that may be aligned with standards that are one grade level ahead. Our unique lesson sequencing technology, developed together with our academic experts, allows us to maximize your students’ learning potential by providing the most appropriate lesson choices from different areas of the curriculum. Because of this, it isn’t unusual for a student to be working in two grade level curriculums at one time.

Why should parents be invited to try DreamBox at home?

As part of using DreamBox in the classroom, families will be invited to try DreamBox so your students can also spend time playing and learning at home. Parents are offered a 14-day free trial.

If parents choose to try DreamBox at home, their child will benefit from playing and learning both at school and at home. All of their child’s progress and game play will be tracked on one account. Parents will have a Parent Dashboard where they will be able to view only their own child’s progress on DreamBox. Parents will also receive email updates from DreamBox on their child’s academic progress. If a family signs up for DreamBox, teachers will still be able to view the student’s progress, but no other family account information will be accessible to the teacher.

How are parents invited to try DreamBox at home?

Once you enter in parent email addresses and a personal note, DreamBox can send parents an invitation to try DreamBox at home. Parents will be invited to try DreamBox at home for a free 14-day trial. DreamBox will not use parent email addresses for any other purpose and will not contact parents other than to invite them to link to their child’s DreamBox classroom account to try the program at home.

If parents try DreamBox at home can they see my whole classroom account?

No. When parents are invited to try DreamBox at home they are able to link only to their individual child’s account on DreamBox and will not be able to access your classroom information. At home students playing DreamBox will not be able to play on other student’s accounts and will not be able to access the Teacher Dashboard. Parents trying or subscribing to DreamBox Learning K-2 Math at home will be able to link to their own child’s account and will be able to view their child’s progress on their Parent Dashboard.

What are the hours that my classroom license is available for kids to play DreamBox?

DreamBox classroom are available for use from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time, Monday-Friday.

How can I request that my classroom license be available at different hours?

If you need to request that your DreamBox classroom be available outside of the default hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time Monday-Friday please send an email to schools@dreambox.com requesting the change and the reason. Some teachers have requested that the program be available to show parents during parent and teacher conferences, math night at their schools, or for a special evening course or PTA meetings. Please let us know when you need the program available with 3 business days notice and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

How do I move or copy a student to a different classroom?

If you have access to more than one classroom, you may move a student from one classroom to another, or copy a student into another classroom by simply logging in to your Teacher Dashboard and selecting the Move Students link on the left hand side of the My Students tab. You will be able to select which students you want to move or copy between classrooms in your account. If you would like to move a student to an existing DreamBox classroom to which you don’t currently have access, you will need to ask the receiving classroom’s teacher to grant access to you for that classroom. To do this the teacher needs to go to the Teacher Dashboard and click on the Subscriptions tab. On the Subscriptions tab of the Teacher Dashboard they will need to click on the Add a Teacher link and enter your information.

After you have been granted access to the class where you want to move a student you can log on to your Teacher Dashboard and click on the Move Students link on the left hand side of the My Students tab. You will then be able to select which students you want to move or copy between classrooms-.

If you would like to move students to a new classroom that hasn’t yet been set up, that classroom’s teacher will need to create a teacher account, and then either apply for a new DreamBox classroom trial or purchase a DreamBox Math Classroom Bundle. Once the classroom is created you may request to be added as a teacher to that trial or license so that you can move your students into the new classroom. In order to create a teacher account and apply for a DreamBox classroom trial or purchase a Bundle license, the new teacher must visit www.dreambox.com/teachers.

My students have forgotten their DreamBox passwords. How do I reset them?

On the My Students tab of your Teacher Dashboard you have the ability to reset individual student passwords or all student passwords. To reset an individual student’s password click on the student name in your classroom list. This will take you to that student’s information page. If you click on the Reset password link under the student’s name their password will be reset. Then the next time they click on their name to start playing they will be asked to choose a personal password in the same way they were asked the first time they played DreamBox Learning K-2 Math. All of their progress in DreamBox will be saved and no changes will be made to their account.

At the bottom of your classroom list on the My Students tab of your Teacher Dashboard is a link to Reset all students passwords. If you click on this link, the next time each student clicks on their name to start playing they will be asked to choose a personal password in the same way they were asked the first time they played DreamBox Learning K-2 Math. All of their progress in DreamBox will be saved and no changes will be made to their account

DreamBox Learning Program Questions

What is DreamBox Learning K-2 Math?

DreamBox Learning K-2 Math, the next generation of web-based learning, provides individualized learning for kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade math in an engaging game-like experience. DreamBox Learning K-2 Math automatically adapts to each student, which optimizes his or her learning experience. We do this by customizing the content, difficulty, hints, pace, and sequence of lessons to match a student’s knowledge and learning style — just as a great tutor would do! There are well over a million different paths a child could take through our curriculum.

DreamBox Learning’s curriculum is based on the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Curriculum Focal Points, on which states base their standards. Students personalize their experience by choosing a game character and a theme, such as pirates, dinosaurs, pets or pixies, which will frame their lessons with fun adventures and goals.

Rather than simply providing practice for a concept students already know, DreamBox helps a student learn the K-2 math curriculum step by step, in a uniquely customized and engaging way. DreamBox Learning K-2 Math helps every child reach his or her potential!

What will my students learn? Which math standards are addressed?

DreamBox Learning K-2 Math has more than 100 lessons each for kindergarten and 1st grade, and 160 lessons for 2nd grade. The product’s underlying curriculum develops computational fluency, conceptual understanding, and problem-solving ability, which allow students to enrich and deepen their mathematical thinking. Content is aligned with the Focal Points — such as Number and Operations Focal Points, and Algebra Focal Points — for each grade set by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).

DreamBox Learning develops and enhances a student’s foundational math understanding through a carefully crafted sequence of activities which allow your child both choice and variety in game play. We use our core tools including dot patterns (Numbergrams™), a ten frame, a mathrack (aka rekenrek), number lines, snap blocks, function machine, and our “Human Calculator™”. Lessons and tools build a student’s understanding of 5 and 10, two important numbers in a base-ten system.

One of the first lessons played is a placement lesson, and there are numerous additional placement lessons through the product. Placement lessons assess a student’s existing knowledge and place him or her at an appropriate place in our curriculum.

Throughout the DreamBox Learning adventure, a student is given the flexibility to move between grades as appropriate. We do not show grade labels for the lesson games, and we do not require, for example, that all kindergarten lesson games are completed before 1st grade lesson games can begin. This allows a student to explore the math that is most interesting and developmentally appropriate for him or her.

Kindergarten:

• Compare more, less, and equal sets of objects up to 10
• Count up to 10 in units of 1,2,3,5, and 10
• Demonstrate ability to recognize sets of up to 10 at a quick glance (“subitizing”)
• Build number lines and hundreds chart up to 100
• Early addition and subtraction up to 10
• Recognize doubles
• Distance and orientation

1st grade:

• Build, count, and recognize amounts up to 100
• Compare and order numbers up to 100 using symbols <,>, and =
• Count backwards and forwards
• Addition and subtraction using strategies of “using doubles” (for example, 7+8 = 7+7+1) and “making tens” (for example, 9+7 = 10+6)
• Develop automatic recall of basic math facts
• Identify number patterns that make 15,20,50, and 100
• Understand the open numberline, multiples of 10 (10-100), positive and negative, and distances between numbers
• Two-dimensional area and three-dimensional volume

2nd grade:

• Solve problems with equal expressions
• Addition and subtraction strategies for two- and three-digit numbers
• Skip counting in jumps of 3-10
• Compare and order numbers from 100 to 1000
• Advanced addition and subtraction strategies

How does DreamBox Learning continuous assessment and placement work?

One of the first lesson games played is a placement lesson, and there are numerous additional placement lessons through the product. Students usually won’t notice that a lesson is a placement lesson rather than a standard lesson, though they are marked with a star on the lesson icon.

Placement lessons assess a student’s existing knowledge and place him/her at an appropriate place in our curriculum. Students who already know a particular concept, for example, will pass a placement lesson and then immediately skip over all the lesson games for that concept.

In addition, DreamBox assesses every response, and makes immediate small adjustments in the difficulty or scope of a particular problem, the type of hints given, and the lesson sequence that follows. All of these individual adaptations help ensure effective learning for every student.

What grade levels will DreamBox Learning K-2 Math be appropriate for?

The curriculum covered in DreamBox Learning K-2 Math will be appropriate for most kindergartners through 2nd grade students. It is also appropriate for many pre-K students and many 3rd graders.

Is DreamBox Learning for kids who are struggling, at grade level, or advanced in math?

Because of our unique placement lessons and continual assessments, DreamBox is great for math learners of all abilities! Struggling students will get the basic foundational concepts they need, along with appropriate practice for mastery. Students who love math and need additional challenges can move ahead in DreamBox as fast as they want. Read more about using DreamBox Learning for intervention and enrichment.

How can my students switch themes within the DreamBox Adventure Park?

We know that students like to switch and experiment with different themes and stories, and that’s great! Whenever students have found 1 of the 6 objects needed to complete a story, they have the option to either find another object in the same story, or click “BACK” to go back to the Adventure Park and choose another theme and story. It typically takes 3 to 6 lessons to find each object, so students can switch stories relatively frequently if they wish. Students can explore one story in each of the 4 themes at the same time.

What do the icons represent on the Adventure Park lesson path?

When playing DreamBox lessons in the Adventure Park, your student will see several different kinds of icons along the path. Here’s a description of these icons and what they represent.

Placement Lesson Icons: Placement lessons are always represented by a lesson icon with a small yellow star on it. Aside from the star, these icons look just like regular lesson icons. The icons may have a picture of one of our virtual manipulatives or a number card. Whatever the graphic is, it is representative of the lesson behind it. Although the stars make the lesson icons a little different, students are never told that it represents a placement lesson.

Tutorial Lesson Icons: Tutorial lessons teach students how to use one of our virtual manipulatives. These icons all have a similar look. These are represented by a picture of the virtual manipulative in a box.

Lesson Icons: Lesson icons are designed to give students clues about the lesson they’re about to play. Whenever possible we include a small picture of the virtual manipulative used. When many lessons are represented by the same icon, we number the icons starting with the earliest in the sequence (one). This happens when lessons are sequenced in order to present slightly more difficult content. Presenting many shorter lessons is also more appropriate to the needs of this age group. Because of our unique sequencing, students don’t always get the next “level” of a game on their map, they aren’t always required to play every single level, and occasionally two “levels” will appear at the same time. Fortunately, this doesn’t seem to bother kids.

Checkmarks: Checkmarks will appear on a lesson to indicate that this lesson is done. Done means different things on different icons. Tutorial lessons are done when they have been played from beginning to end. Placement lessons are done when they have been completed one time. Lesson icons are done when the objectives of the lesson have been passed.

Backpacks: Backpacks hold the rewards that students earn as they play. By clicking on a backpack, students collect tokens, Adventure Friend cards and story goals. Tokens can be used in the Arcade in the Carnival. Adventure Friend cards are collected in My House. The story goal points motivate students to play more maps and earn all six goals in a story. For each story completed, students earn a certificate which can be printed from My House.

When should I not help my students?

Teachers naturally want to help a child who is struggling to learn something new, especially as lessons get harder. But because DreamBox is constantly assessing your student’s answers to understand what they’ve mastered and what they have yet to learn, your help can sometimes actually make the lessons too hard!

Here’s why: our GuideRight™ technology ensures that many aspects of the experience immediately adapt based upon how a student responds to each problem. The questions should be just challenging enough that they occasionally get one incorrect as they learn. Part of that process of recalibrating for each student involves occasionally presenting a series of questions that might be a little too difficult. If they do well, we move them on to something that might rely upon the understanding they just demonstrated. If they don’t do so well, we then provide the comprehensive set of lessons they likely need to develop that understanding.

So with DreamBox if you provide too much overt assistance or answer for your student it is quite possible that the system will temporarily attribute levels of proficiency — or lack thereof — that do not accurately reflect that of your student. If you’d like to learn more about this, and for tips on the kind of help you can give, read the DreamBox blog article: Why a Little Help Can Go a Wrong Way.

I teach pre-kindergarten and my students are only 4 years old. What can I do to make their DreamBox experience positive and not overwhelming?

Although our product is written for 5-8 year olds, many 4 year olds have successfully used DreamBox. The following are tips from other teachers on how to ensure that your students will enjoy both interacting with the computer and learn to navigate and play DreamBox successfully.

1. Start with short sessions with a teacher present. It’s enough to only play 2-3 games. Having you by his side builds game-play and mouse skills confidence. It lets him know that you value the time spent on the computer and support math learning. One-on-one time is always special and ensures that you’ll intervene before frustration kicks in.
2. Let your student lead. He may click on areas that don’t do anything and that’s ok. He’s learning how to explore a new environment and needs to experiment in order to learn how to react to highlighting and clickable areas.
3. Wait for him to ask for help and watch for signs of frustration. Nobody knows your student’s frustration level better than you. When you see that he is done exploring and is ready for some guidance, give it. “Try clicking here.” Or better yet, answer a question with a question. “Do you see anything that is highlighted? Is that a good place to click?”
4. Let your student make mistakes. This is particularly important when playing the math games. If you intervene and prevent your student from choosing incorrect answers, we won’t place your student in the lessons best suited for his abilities.
5. Replay the Mouse Tutorials over and over again! These are located in the Arcade in the Carnival, and they are always free. (Unlike other games in the Carnival area, the Mouse Tutorials never require a student to spend a token.) The Mouse Tutorials were specifically written to help our youngest users learn to use a mouse or keypad.
   1. The balloon popping activity focuses on rollover movement.
   2. The bowling pin game allows your child to practice clicking on specific targets.
   3. Finally, the turtle game is all about dragging and dropping objects.
6. Offer to move the mouse for your student. But, only do what your student tells you to do! Some users really want to play the games, even before they have developed the mouse skills to do so. It’s ok to play one or two games this way because your student leaves the game highly satisfied and continues to make progress.

Support

What should I do if DreamBox does not seem to be operating properly on my computers?

DreamBox Learning has found that certain types of Internet content filtering / blocking software or firewall can interfere with correct operation of the product.

Symptoms of this include:

• Sounds or images which do not play or display as expected.
• The math lesson client stops running, ejecting the student to a login screen.

All of DreamBox Learning’s content is entirely safe and appropriate for kids, but sometimes names chosen for content files match blocking and filtering rules in school Internet firewalls.

Because DreamBox Learning cannot know your school’s Internet filtering policies, the easiest and quickest way to solve the problem is to put the DreamBox Learning servers on your content filter’s “whitelist”. This can usually be done by the person at your school responsible for IT systems.

Placing our servers on your content filter’s whitelist should allow access to all of the content available to school students.

Depending on your system, there are several ways to specify the servers to be placed on your whitelist.

The easiest is to say that anything ending in ‘dreambox.com’ should be allowed.

If your system uses Internet IP addresses, then the address range 216.168.57.112/28 should be allowed.

If your system requires specific server names, then the following servers should be allowed:

• www.dreambox.com
• play.dreambox.com
• static.dreambox.com
• l.dreambox.com

If you still see problems after placing our server addresses on your school’s Internet content filter whitelist, please contact us with the name of your IT support contact, and a DreamBox engineer will work with that person to resolve the problem.

How do I contact DreamBox Learning for support?

There are 3 ways to contact us:

1. The best way to get customer support help is to click here to use the Support request form. If you want us to contact you about your feedback, simply click that option.
2. Email us at support@dreambox.com.
3. Call our customer service team at 425.646.8080, or toll free at 1-877-451-7845 (weekdays, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m, Pacific Time).

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