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How can ease of use make your technology solutions more effective and faster? 

As school principals navigate the ever-evolving landscape for technology solutions, learning software, and churning priorities, it is crucial to consider the ease of use of implementation. In this resource, you’ll discover five reasons education leaders should prioritize a seamless and effective solution that can support students and staff quickly.

Top 5 Reasons to Prioritize Ease of Use for Technology Learning

We’re excited to introduce Kerry, Manager of Curriculum Design, Reading Plus.  

DreamBox Learning is not only unique for its ability to support educators and drive student learning.  It’s also unique because our team includes diverse, passionate, and bright individuals who care about transforming the way the world learns.  

For us, it’s important to capture their stories and share what makes them special. We celebrate the people at DreamBox who bring ideas to life, make the impossible possible, and empower their teams to do well to do good.  

Please meet our colleague and friend, Kerry.

The DreamBox Difference: Our Team - Kerry

We are thrilled to introduce our special guest writer, Dr. Kristin Gehsmann. Dr. Gehsmann serves on the DreamBox advisory board, is the recent Director of the Virginia Tech School of Education, and is the author of Teaching Reading and Writing: The Developmental Approach (PreK-8). In this insightful article, Dr. Gehsmann discusses how educators can make the most informed decisions about new science of reading research and provides some wonderful tips and resources for finding peer-reviewed research.

Expert Science of Reading Advice from Dr. Kristin Gehsmann, Ed.D.

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How to Use Data-Driven Instruction to Reach Math Achievement Goals

6 Strategies to Close Math Gaps for ELLs

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<div>DreamBox Learning marketing team.</div>

In Fall 2020, DreamBox released new volume lessons featuring a 3D lesson format designed to show students the mathematical concepts behind volume. We invited DreamBox Nation educators to ask our curriculum designers about volume lessons. In the discussion, they answered questions about types of volume lessons, ways to prepare students for learning about volume, methods of practicing volume with different grades, and more! If you also have inquiries about DreamBox volume lessons, read through the top Q&amp;As from our discussion.In thinking back over your teaching of the concept of volume, what lesson is the best opener for this concept?An opening lesson we have used with children quite successfully is to have them guess how many objects will fit inside a jar. One can use beans, marbles, unit cubes, or any other similar-sized object inside the jar. Typically, I’ll present the jar, ask kids to record a guess, then get a too low guess, and a too high guess agreed upon by the class. Next, we could put several the objects from the jar and then ask student to estimate how many of the object remain. The key here is to let students continue to revise their estimates as they learn more information about how many objects are actually in the jar. What models are being used to teach volume?We use two main models. In 3rd grade, we focus on volume as the amount of fluid displaced by an object when fully submerged. In 5th grade, we introduce the idea of using unit cubes to measure the volume of prisms, but then circle back to measurement of volume using fluid displacement again.How do you use these lessons to be most effective for students?Our recommendation would be to let your students encounter these volume lessons on their own (i.e. wait until they show up in their lesson chooser) because the adaptive engine will only present those lessons to them when they have built a solid foundation in conceptual understanding in the prerequisite topics to volume.How do you collaborate to design the curriculum?That’s a great question! It all starts with a curriculum designer looking at the standards to decide what kinds of lessons might be best used for those standards. Next, they work with a user experience designer to convert those lessons into a digital format. An artist then looks at wireframes representing the lessons and creates a visual style guide so that the lessons are both functional and beautiful. We meet as a team to determine how to break the work down into a series of stories that software engineers can tackle. While the software engineers build the digital components of the lesson, the curriculum designers, user experience designers, and artists review the work on an ongoing basis. All our team has some capacity to work in code as well, so quite frequently we jump into the code to support the software engineers in implementing the design. Play-testing and making tweaks to the design of the lessons happens through-out this process so that the final lessons have gone through many iterations before we release them to students. Once students start playing the lessons, we review student performance data so that we can make further improvements in the lessons.How often should volume lessons be used?A key benefit of DreamBox is that students have some agency when deciding what lessons to work on. This empowers students to make choices in what they learn while limiting those choices to mathematical concepts for which we think the child is ready. Typically, this means students may play a few volume lessons in a row or they may choose to play one a week, once those lessons appear in their lesson chooser after DreamBox has identified students are ready to learn the concept of volume.How do we find out more information about the lessons?One way to learn more about these lessons is to look for the lessons in your Insight Dashboard. You can find a link to the volume lessons using either your activity feed or by looking up the volume standards for your state and creating an assignment for students. The activity feed works only if your students are in the middle of volume lessons. The assignment option works any time but before actually creating the assignment for students, you can click on the links to preview the Just Started Lesson, the In-Progress Lesson, or the Review lesson. This allows you to play a sample of the lessons and get a sense of how they work.How can we help students apply the volume lessons to real life?You may have heard the famous story of Archimedes and his bathtub where Archimedes discovered that the volume of liquid displaced by an object is equal to the volume of the object. It’s messy but students could start by measuring the volume of various objects in the same way we start our volume lessons, by measuring the objects in water. By participating in this hands-on, real-life activity, you could provide some context and some fun for students.What grade levels are the volume lessons for?The exact grade level of the lessons depends on your local standards, but in terms of DreamBox Learning Units, the volume lessons are split across 3rd and 5th grade. In 3rd grade, students explore volume as the amount of fluid displaced when an object is submerged and contrast the volume and mass of objects. In 5th grade, students use unit cubes to measure the volume of rectangular prisms to develop a formula for the volume of these prisms.I’d love suggestions for how to incorporate them into science lessonsA common topic in elementary school science is understanding how phase changes for materials work. One aspect of phase changes is understanding how the volume of an object might change in different phases. Another idea is that liquids have the property that they change shape depending on what container they are in, but their volume remains constant.When mass and weight are introduced in science, it might be helpful to circle back to the lessons in DreamBox where students either order objects by mass or compare the mass and volume of objects. This helps students distinguish mass from volume. The use of the digital scale in the mass ordering lessons could lead to an interesting discussion about the difference between mass and weight.How do we make the lessons of volume relevant? What will resonate with students as to why they need to learn about volume?Dan Meyer has some great videos where he uses multimedia to present stories that relate to volume and get kids wondering.One example is his water tank lesson, where students wonder how long it will take for this tank to fill up. See <a href="https://mrmeyer.com/threeacts/watertank/">https://mrmeyer.com/threeacts/watertank/</a> Another example is where students are given two different shaped glasses and asked to decide which glass of soda they would prefer. See <a href="http://threeacts.mrmeyer.com/youpourichoose/">http://threeacts.mrmeyer.com/youpourichoose/</a>In both cases, the stories are presented as puzzles for students to think about rather than presented as solutions to everyday problems students may or may not face.To see the full Ask DreamBox Anything discussion, current DreamBox educators can head over to DreamBox Nation to learn more. DreamBox Nation is accessible directly through the Insight Dashboard.&nbsp;<ul><li>Log in to your <a href="https://play.dreambox.com/">dashboard</a>, select Resources and then DreamBox Nation.</li><li>Create a login using the same email you use for DreamBox.</li></ul>If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our&nbsp;<a href="https://dreambox.wistia.com/medias/nzq3szt5pv">volume lessons overview video</a>. David Wees, DreamBox senior curriculum designer, walks teachers through our volume lessons. If you’re gearing up for volume instruction, these lessons will be the perfect complement.

In Fall 2020, DreamBox released new volume lessons featuring a 3D lesson format designed to show students the mathematical concepts behind volume.

Ask DreamBox Anything: Volume Lessons

<div>DreamBox Learning marketing team.</div><div> </div>

In the February DreamBox Nation ‘Ask DreamBox Anything’ series, educators had the opportunity to ask our curriculum designers about geometry lessons. Knowing that geometry can be challenging for many students, teachers wanted to find the best ways to complement their instruction with DreamBox. Our curriculum designers shared how younger grades can practice foundational geometry skills, tips for helping students with partitioning lessons, ways they can use shapes in real-world setting, and more!&nbsp;&nbsp;Check out the top 10 Q&amp;A from the series below:&nbsp;<h4>What does geometry look like for the K-2 environment?&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4>Currently, DreamBox offers multiple types of lessons to help build fundamentals of geometry within the K-2 years. There are patterns lessons, designed to help students notice similarities and differences between different geometric figures and how to use them in a sequence. There are also partitioning lessons that allow students the chance to build fundamental understandings of how shapes are composed of many pieces (with the bonus of being an early exploration of fractions). There are also lessons that deal with drawing and classifying geometric shapes where students are asked to draw shapes based on instructions and classify geometric figures based on their properties.<h4>Should lessons be assigned before the unit is started in class as a preview/pretest?</h4>DreamBox isn’t designed to act as a pretest, given that an assignment triggers a set of lessons designed to help the student grow in that area.When it comes to assessing what students know, our goal is to provide reporting about student proficiency with an innovative, reliable assessment design that uses longitudinal data, measures deeper learning over time, and is fun for students.&nbsp;Instead of giving a “high-stakes” one-day screening test that approximates a student’s surface level knowledge, DreamBox uses continuous formative assessment to provide rich proficiency reporting from an adaptive platform that is constantly diagnostic.&nbsp;<h4>How does Dreambox determine proficiency at earlier geometry standards if students haven’t done any of those lessons?</h4>If a student is new to DreamBox and is placed at a certain grade level, DreamBox will give them several lessons to start out to gauge where they are in their learning process. If a student displays proficiency in an area, the lessons that appear prior to that one in the sequencing will not be required to complete for that student.&nbsp;DreamBox will quickly begin to adapt students forward and back. So students may be working at a 3rd grade level in one domain, 2nd in another, and 4th in yet a different one. But we’ll continually be presenting them lessons in each of the domains that they are ready for. This is true of all domains and concepts, including geometry.&nbsp;<h4>What sort of teaching or instruction is provided when a student shows they do not understand a concept, especially with geometry vocabulary?</h4>In the geometry lessons on DreamBox that are a bit more vocabulary-heavy, there is a glossary of terms that exists and is always accessible for the student. Accessing the glossary does not penalize the student in any way, as we want the focus to remain on the learning above all else. The vocabulary, which important to begin to build a deeper understanding of, is never supposed to be a hold-up when answering a question on DreamBox. The lessons are designed to build up a student’s vocabulary base (and fill the glossary accordingly) slowly and over time. For example, DreamBox would not ask a student to create a pentagon with a pair of parallel sides before having the student first learn both what a pentagon is and what parallel sides are, independently of one another.&nbsp;<h4>Will there be various levels of complexity for the lessons?</h4>Yes! Every type of DreamBox lesson has many different “levels” within it, including our geometry lessons. Each set of lessons is designed to help guide students through the learning process for those specific topics. Every student’s path through a concept will be different.&nbsp;The DreamBox Learning curriculum is designed to take the student through a coherent learning pathway, accelerating or decelerating where need be based on student evidence. For example, this means they could be working on skip counting, doubling, halving, etc. before ever seeing the multiplication standard algorithm or “basic” facts.&nbsp;<h4>Any additional suggestions of how to use these lessons with special education or ESOL students?</h4>With any student, if an educator would like to explore the lessons with the students in order to help get them started, rather than using a student’s lesson as the example, it may be helpful to use the “Demo” lesson available in the educator dashboard. This can be found by visiting the Student Activity screen and finding the desired lesson.&nbsp;There is the option to turn on closed captioning to allow the student to both hear and read the directions for the lessons, which could be helpful for ESOL students!&nbsp;<h4>How can we use real world shapes along with DreamBox?</h4>Depending on what grade level and concepts are being dealt with here, there are many ways that geometry can be made into a more hands-on experience to accompany the DreamBox lessons. For younger students (roughly K-3), identifying familiar shapes in the real world is a great activity to try. Having students try to find specific examples of circles, squares, triangles, etc. at home and then share those examples with the class is a fun, engaging activity.&nbsp;With upper grades and middle school, when geometry starts to include more measurement concepts, a similar activity where students find the areas, perimeters, volumes, and surface areas of various real-life shapes can provide some hands-on experience. One possible example of an activity like this could be pairing students off and having each of them find two different objects and allowing their partner to guess which one has the greater or lesser volume just based on the appearance of the objects.&nbsp;Finally, a fun way to connect geometry with art could be to ask students to draw/create a depiction of something by using only a given list of shapes/shapes you have learned about/etc.&nbsp;<h4>How do the lessons facilitate critical thinking and opportunities for problem solving?</h4>Two important ways to support critical thinking in mathematics are the use of representation of mathematical ideas and discussions about those representations. DreamBox can supportboth of these strategies! You can use our <a href="https://dreambox.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/QE/pages/110678067/Test+Plan%3A+TeacherTools">Teacher Tools</a> and share these with students via a projector or by screen-sharing. You can then let students take the driver’s seat for this activity! Ask two students to manipulate the teacher tools while talking about what they are doing together to solve the problem while other students work with a partner to also solve the problem but without their own computers – they have to rely on what the two students using the computer do. This arrangement turns what might otherwise be a solo activity into a group collaboration. You can then listen in on conversations to make it easier to choose students to share their ideas with the class to move the problem solving forward and give all students access to the critical thinking that occurs.&nbsp;<h4>Dreambox aside, how do we provide hands on geometry experiences at home during hybrid or distance learning?</h4>Depending on what grade level and concepts are being dealt with here, there are still many ways that geometry can be made into a more hands-on experience with distance learning. For younger students (roughly K-3), identifying familiar shapes in the real world is a great activity to try. Having students try to find specific examples of circles, squares, triangles, etc. at home and then share those examples with the class is a fun, engaging activity.&nbsp;With upper grades and middle school, when geometry starts to include more measurement concepts, a similar activity where students find the areas, perimeters, volumes, and surface areas of various real-life shapes can provide some hands-on experience. One possible example of an activity like this could be pairing students off and having each of them find two different objects and allowing their partner to guess which one has the greater or lesser volume just based on the appearance of the objects.&nbsp;Finally, a fun way to connect geometry with art could be to ask students to draw/create a depiction of something by using only a given list of shapes/shapes you have learned about/etc.&nbsp;<h4>How can we make geometry more engaging for kindergarten students other than just rote memorization of shapes?</h4>In the classroom, one way to make the learning a bit more engaging could be to focus more on how shapes are made, rather than simply which shape is which. One possible activity could be to give students sticks/cut out pieces of paper/etc. and ask them to see how many kinds of shapes they can make with just 3 sticks, and so on for any number. This way they can start to make connections between things like number of sides compared to number of vertices in various shapes.&nbsp;Another way to make shape recognition more exciting could be to challenge students to find different shapes in the real world, whether in a classroom, outdoors, or at home. Doing this will not only help them recognize shapes in a more natural setting but will also likely lead to them finding two-dimensional shapes within three-dimensional ones, which is a helpful skill moving forward in geometry.&nbsp;To see the full Ask DreamBox Anything discussion, current DreamBox educators can head over to DreamBox Nation to learn more. DreamBox Nation is accessible directly through the Insight Dashboard.&nbsp;<ul><li>Log in to your <a href="https://play.dreambox.com/">dashboard</a>, select Resources and then DreamBox Nation.</li><li>Create a login using the same email you use for DreamBox.</li></ul> &nbsp;

In the February DreamBox Nation ‘Ask DreamBox Anything’ series, educators had the opportunity to ask our curriculum designers about geometry lessons.

Ask DreamBox Anything: Geometry Lessons

Classroom codes are a recent addition to DreamBox that makes it easier and more secure for K-2 students, who log in directly to DreamBox (rather than through a Single Sign-On portal)*, to enter their classroom. With this feature, K-2 students can type their unique code into DreamBox to quickly enter their class.Because some younger students need a little extra help remembering five-digit numbers, we wanted to find out which techniques teachers have used most successfully to help kids remember their classroom code.In a recent DreamBox Nation survey, teachers were presented with three popular methods — login cards, wall posters, and songs — and asked to indicate which they have either used in the past or would consider using in their classrooms. Here’s what they told us:

Teachers also shared their own unique tips and tricks, which included:<ul><li>Attaching login cards to a key ring or taping them to either a laptop or headphones.</li><li>Practicing typing or chanting the code each day.</li><li>Sending home a number pad so that students can practice typing out the code and then compete with classmates to see who can login the fastest.</li><li>Creating a master login sheet that includes the DreamBox classroom code plus login info for all other classroom apps. Sheets are then taped inside of each student’s math journals and folders, plus one copy is sent home.</li></ul>&nbsp;<h3>Helpful Tools for the Classroom</h3>&nbsp;<h4>Login Cards</h4>

1) Log in to your Insight Dashboard.*Tip: Save your DreamBox login page as a bookmark or desktop shortcut.2) From the&nbsp;Navigation Pane, select your classroom name.3) From the top of the&nbsp;Reports Pane, click the Login Cards icon

4) Print and attach cards to computers, headphones, binders, etc.<h4>Customizable Wall Poster</h4>Print a customizable, 8.5” x 11” <a href="https://go.dreambox.com/rs/715-ORW-647/images/Classroom-Codes-Printable-Wall-Poster.pdf">DreamBox wall poster</a> and post it in the classroom.*Note: You can type your classroom code into this document using Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Reader or your web browser.

<h4>Sing Your Code to the Tune of B-I-N-G-O</h4>For example, if your classroom code were 98004, then your students can sing:9-8-0-0-4 9-8-0-0-4 9-8-0-0-4 And now I know my class code! Do you have any other tips and tricks for remembering classroom codes? Let us know! Tweet us <a href="https://twitter.com/DreamBox_Learn">@DreamBox_Learn</a>.<h4>Related links:</h4><a href="https://support.dreambox.com/s/article/How-Students-Log-In-to-DreamBox-on-a-Computer-School-Account">How Students Log in to DreamBox (on a Computer)</a><a href="https://support.dreambox.com/s/article/How-Students-Log-In-to-DreamBox-on-an-iPad-School-Account">How Students Log in to DreamBox (on an Ipad)</a><a href="https://support.dreambox.com/s/">Customer Support</a>*Classrooms that use Single Sign-On, log in to DreamBox through a portal such as Clever or through a student or district portal, and do not use classroom codes.

...tricks for remembering classroom codes? Let us know! Tweet us @DreamBox_Learn. Related links: How Students Log in to DreamBox (on a Computer) How Students Log in to DreamBox (on an...

Tips for Remembering Classroom Codes

<div>VP of Learning for DreamBox Learning, Inc., Hudson is a learning innovator and education leader who frequently writes and speaks about learning, education, and technology. Prior to joining DreamBox, Hudson spent more than 10 years working in public education, first as a high school mathematics teacher and then as the K–12 Math Curriculum Coordinator for the Parkway School District, a K–12 district of over 17,000 students in suburban St. Louis. While at Parkway, Hudson helped facilitate the district’s long-range strategic planning efforts and was responsible for new teacher induction, curriculum writing, and the evaluation of both print and digital educational resources. Hudson has spoken at national conferences such as ASCD, SXSWedu, and iNACOL.</div>

We’re thrilled to announce an exciting addition to DreamBox for students in grades 3-8.&nbsp; By now your students have noticed our new Student Weekly Goals feature.&nbsp; This new feature motivates students to complete the target of 5 lessons each week by communicating the goal and celebrating when they achieve their goal with congratulatory animations.&nbsp; Like before, students will see their weekly completed lessons counted in a popout tab on the right side of their screen. But now we’ve added the target of 5 lessons and communicate to students that the weekly tally begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday.We set this target of 5 lessons per week based on a multi-year analysis of student growth and performance using millions of anonymized student achievement data points from both within DreamBox as well as on external tests.&nbsp; Our research scientists dug deep into anonymized data and independent efficacy studies to create this goal that optimizes learning outcomes for students. &nbsp;The analysis was clear: that when students complete five or more DreamBox lessons per week, they experience the strongest improvement gains in both mathematics comprehension and testing results – over 50% more growth on external benchmark and state tests.These findings were consistent during the beta testing of this feature; introduction of Student Weekly Goals contributed to an impressive 10% improvement in lesson completion. By embedding this target directly in the student experience, it’s easier for students to track their own progress and for teachers to help motivate their students to make the most progress in their math learning. Teachers who wish to set goals higher than 5 lessons per week can continue to set and communicate that goals for students in their classroom as they have in the past. At this time, teachers cannot change the weekly goal that students see within DreamBox.Here’s how it works:

When a student logs in, DreamBox will display the popout from the right-hand side that indicates the student’s weekly goal.&nbsp; The goal is in effect from Sunday to Saturday, covering the full school week.&nbsp; Students can minimize the slide or make it appear at any time by clicking “my lessons” or the tab on the right side of the screen.

As students complete lessons, the counter will update to show progress.

Once a student reaches their goal of 5 lessons completed, they will be congratulated with a celebration animation that indicates the goal has been reached for the week.

When a student completes more than 5 lessons, they will also receive congratulatory notifications for doubling (10 lessons) or tripling (15 lessons) their goal.&nbsp; Students can complete more than 15 lessons in a&nbsp; week, but they won’t receive goal notifications or continued celebrations after 15 lessons completed. Just as our research has shown that 5 or more lessons per week results in significant learning gains, we have also found that there is no benefit to completing more than 15 lessons. Students can complete more than 15 lessons in a&nbsp; week, but they won’t receive goal notifications or a continued celebrations after 15 lessons completed. Just as our research has shown that 5 or more lessons per week results in significant learning gains, we have also found that there is no benefit to completing more than 15 lessons.&nbsp;We’re extremely excited to see the impact of this new feature as it motivates students to achieve more in math.&nbsp; If you want to share your experiences or have any questions or suggestions for the feature, please join the discussion on<a href="https://dreambox.influitive.com/forum/t/feature-discussion-student-weekly-goals/353?u=dbl.ali.cunlisk">&nbsp;DreamBox Nation.</a>

We’re thrilled to announce an exciting addition to DreamBox for students in grades 3-8.  By now your students have noticed our new Student Weekly Goals feature.

Introducing Student Weekly Goals

<div>Melissa has a passion for learning and a sincere desire to have an impact on radically transforming the way the world learns. She has her master’s degree in Education with a focus on Educational Technology and Blended Learning together with 11 years of teaching experience at both the elementary and middle school levels. Since 2013, working with Suzhou Learning Power Education Technology Co. Ltd., Melissa has been participating in education reform panels across China, teaching demonstration lessons of Project Based Learning, STEAM, Robotics, and 3-D Printing as well as contributing to grade-level lesson plans using Little Bits and KEVA planks.She has been a Professional Development Specialist with DreamBox Learning since February 2016.</div>

<h2>Here's to a rocking school year!</h2>&nbsp;“What are the two most valuable resources in education? Time and money!” were the phrases I heard on repeat this week. As Allison Mateus &amp; I were spending quality time in Utah at the STEM Action Center, and at East Sandy, North Park, and Butler Schools to discuss supporting educators during the upcoming school year. So I thought I’d share some time-saving tips from the Professional Development Team for back-to-school.<h2>The Professional Development Team’s tips to an excellent first month with DreamBox Learning®:</h2>For the first 30-days of school, setting routines and expectations is everything! We do this for our class processes and procedures, but often see screen time as an opportunity to catch up on other things. Instead use the time to monitor student activity and nip negative behaviors in the bud.<figure class="table"><table><tbody><tr><td>Understanding DreamBox Learning</td></tr></tbody></table></figure><ul><li>Log into your Insight Dashboard™, click the Resources tab, and select the NEW feature “Educator Introduction to DreamBox Learning®” interactive pertaining to your grade level.&nbsp; This can be viewed individually, in a PLC, by grade level, or as a whole staff.&nbsp; Take notes, especially when best practices are discussed!</li><li>Want more playtime as a student?&nbsp; To play additional lessons select the appropriate grade level to access the demo environment<a href="http://bit.ly/DBL_K2">: Grades K-2,</a><a href="http://bit.ly/DBL_35"> Grades 3-5,</a> or <a href="http://bit.ly/DBL_MS">Middle School</a>.</li></ul><figure class="table"><table><tbody><tr><td>Before I Get Started</td></tr></tbody></table></figure><ul><li>Settings Tab Adjustments: Click on the Settings button, click on the Roster tab<ul><li>Language: Do I need to change any language settings to Spanish?&nbsp; This can be changed multiple times throughout the year, if needed.</li><li>New Users Only: Initial Placement Level – Must be done BEFORE students access their account for the 1st time.&nbsp; Using effective data, determine if any students are still working more than 1.5 grade levels below their age assigned grade level.&nbsp; If so, adjust their content level starting point to meet them where they are performing.</li></ul></li><li>Print Log-in Cards: Schools with district portals can skip this step. These can be found within the top banner once you click on a classroom in your dashboard.&nbsp; These are needed ONLY if students are logging in using the DreamBox Learning URL.</li><li>(Optional) Review the Resources Tab; check out the Motivators Tab</li><li>If you are using iPads, download the DreamBox Learning app.</li></ul><figure class="table"><table><tbody><tr><td>Student Introduction: The First 2-3 Weeks</td></tr></tbody></table></figure><ul><li>Allow 30-40 minutes the first day to introduce DreamBox Learning to your students.&nbsp; This time will allot for any unexpected snags.&nbsp; Afterwards, 20- to 30-minute sessions are ideal.</li><li><a href="http://bit.ly/DBL_ClassIntro">Establish best practices with your students.</a></li></ul>

<ul><li>Set a weekly lesson goal.<ul><li><a href="http://bit.ly/DBL_Stud_Share">Use these documents</a> to show students how to get help and keep track of their lesson goal.</li></ul></li><li><a href="http://bit.ly/DBL_StudHelp_BP">Just play!&nbsp;</a> Set a consistent routine with students to establish fidelity.</li><li>Using your Insight Dashboard, <a href="http://bit.ly/DBL_MonitorDoc">check student lesson completion</a> at least 2 times a week.</li></ul><figure class="table"><table><tbody><tr><td>Maintaining Fidelity: After 2-3 Weeks</td></tr></tbody></table></figure><ul><li><a href="http://bit.ly/DBL_Stud_Share">Set lesson completion goals for your students</a>.</li><li>Choose a day to review your data.<ul><li>Check to make sure students met their goal for the week. Celebrate!</li><li><a href="http://bit.ly/DBL_MonitorDoc">Look for orange triangle alerts</a></li><li>Does any student require a follow-up conversation to help them refocus?</li><li>Become comfortable using the Overview and Activity <a href="https://support.dreambox.com/s/article/Insight-Dashboard-Reporting---Classroom-Level-Reports">Reports</a></li></ul></li></ul>Being an educator is an overwhelming responsibility, whether it’s your first year teacher or your final year before retiring. Here’s to another year riding on the roller-coaster of education.

For the first 30-days of school, setting routines and expectations is everything! We do this for our class processes and procedures, but often see screen...

DreamBox Time Saving Cheat Sheet

Updated March 18, 2020Every student’s DreamBox Learning journey begins by logging in to their unique DreamBox account. How a student logs in — whether through a school’s DreamBox address or a single sign-on portal — depends on their school’s preference. Teachers will share a school’s login method with students at the start of each school year.(Note: the below instructions are for students accessing a DreamBox school account. For students logging in with a DreamBox Parent/Home subscription, please follow the instructions for&nbsp;<a href="https://support.dreambox.com/s/article/How-to-Log-In-to-your-DreamBox-Family-Dashboard">logging in to the Family Dashboard</a>).Below, we’ve outlined the four different DreamBox login methods available to students:

<h3>1) Unique DreamBox Web Address</h3>When a school is&nbsp;created in DreamBox, by default, it’s assigned a unique DreamBox website address. Schools have the option to log in using this address or through a single sign-on portal.Schools that opt to use their designated DreamBox address will instruct their students to log in using either a text-based username and password combination or a picture password plus 5-digit classroom code (depending upon the students’ grade level).Note that student login instructions differ by device type. For step-by-step instructions, visit the links below:

<h3>2) Clever Single Sign-On</h3><a href="https://clever.com/schools">Clever</a> is a third-party, single sign-on portal used by many school districts. Clever enables students to log in to DreamBox, and other school applications, with just a single username and password.Students can log in to DreamBox using either their unique Clever portal address or through another existing SSO portal (such as a district portal or other learning management system). <a href="https://support.dreambox.com/s/article/Clever-Instant-Login">Learn more about Clever SSO</a>Note that a teacher or an administrator can log in using the same DreamBox school address or portal address as their students but with their unique username and password. For teachers or administrators using a school specific DreamBox address, their username is their district email address.

<h3>3) DreamBox Single Sign-On</h3>&nbsp;With DreamBox Single Sign-On (SSO) students can easily access DreamBox after they log in to their district portal, without having to log in a second time. DreamBox SSO can only be used in conjunction with&nbsp;the DreamBox Automated Roster Management (ARM) tool.&nbsp;<a href="https://support.dreambox.com/s/article/DreamBox-Single-Sign-On">Learn more about DreamBox SSO</a>&nbsp;Note that student login instructions for DreamBox SSO differ by device type. For step-by-step instructions, visit the links below:

<h3>4) ClassLink Single Sign-On</h3><a href="https://www.classlink.com/k-12/overview">ClassLink</a>&nbsp;is a third party single sign-on portal that is used by many school districts. Students can log in via ClassLink and easily access DreamBox and all other district learning applications at the same time. Students can log in to DreamBox using either their unique ClassLink portal address or through another existing SSO portal (such as a district portal or other learning management system). &nbsp;<a href="https://support.dreambox.com/s/article/ClassLink-Single-Sign-On">Learn more about ClassLink Single Sign-On</a>.We hope this information helps simplify the different login methods available to DreamBox students. For additional information on this topic, visit the DreamBox Learning <a href="https://support.dreambox.com/s/article/Setting-Up-Your-DreamBox-Login-Method">support site</a>.

...DreamBox address or a single sign-on portal — depends on their school’s preference. Teachers will share a school’s login method with students at the start of each school year. (Note:...

Simplified student login for schools

A teacher recently contacted me with the following issue:<blockquote>“What my students enjoyed about Dreambox initially was the fact that they’re given a variety of activities to choose from, the activities adjust to their skill level, and they don’t have to work on only one activity for long periods of time.&nbsp; However, one of my students was complaining that her activities were too hard for her.&nbsp; That was two weeks ago – now, she only has one activity available on her Lesson Map!&nbsp; This student says she’s been given the same activity over and over again, for the past two days, with no other options.&nbsp; Is this a bug?”</blockquote>The short answer to this is “no, it’s not a bug”, and I will be more than happy to explain the problem.&nbsp; As you know, DreamBox Learning’s GuideRight technology is designed to adjust the difficulty and variety of lessons offered, based on a student’s demonstrated instructional level and unique input.&nbsp; If a student finds that DreamBox is not making these adjustments, then you might want to check the way they are using DreamBox – chances are, they are using the “Stop” button to exit out of their lessons.DreamBox analyzes a student’s input on a click-by-click basis, and uses this input to assign the most appropriate follow-up lessons.&nbsp; However, if a student does not complete a lesson, DreamBox does not make this assessment, as it assumes the student must leave for a non-academic reason (e.g. eating lunch, using the bathroom, etc).&nbsp; It’s hardly fair to give a student a bad grade every time they stop a lesson, so DreamBox chooses instead to ignore the results of the lesson entirely.For this reason, if a student makes a habit of exiting lessons with the “Stop” button, instead of completing the lessons, then they won’t be assigned new, easier to understand lessons in a timely fashion.&nbsp; In worst case scenarios, where the student keeps exiting the same lesson repeatedly, and doesn’t try doing any other lessons, this can actually cause DreamBox to stop offering other lessons entirely!In many cases, students who exit lessons do so because they are apprehensive about getting answers wrong.&nbsp; However, DreamBox analyzes a student’s incorrect answers, and uses this analysis to offer the most appropriate follow-up lessons.&nbsp; Therefore, it is very important that students do not shy away from incorrect answers – wrong answers are part of the educational experience, and this is doubly true in DreamBox Learning.If your student is saying that their lessons are too hard, then watch them use DreamBox for a while, to see if they are using the “Stop” button when they get frustrated.&nbsp; If they are, coach them on when it is and is not appropriate to use “Stop” mid-lesson.&nbsp; Then, encourage the student to push through every lesson, even if it is a little difficult or they have to guess or make mistakes, and you should see more appropriate lessons being offered.&nbsp; Remember, too, that the “Help” button is always available – one click will repeat the lesson instructions, while a second click will give more detailed instructions.&nbsp; This can also be very helpful for a student that is stuck on a difficult activity, and using “Help” will not have a negative impact on a student’s score for the lesson.And, of course, you can always contact us here in Customer Support!&nbsp; We’re always more than happy to study your student’s progress file and make recommendations.&nbsp; You can call us at 1-877-451-7845 Monday through Friday between 8AM and 5PM PST, or e-mail us at support@dreambox.com.&nbsp; We’re here to help!

“What my students enjoyed about Dreambox initially was the fact that they’re given a variety of activities to choose from, the activities adjust to their skill level, and they don’t have to work on only one activity for long periods of time...

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