This site is no longer active or maintained. It is an archive of trainings 2013-2019 at Pu'u Kukui Elementary School.
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DreamBox
We'll begin with DreamBox. You can access DreamBox learning by going to our school website and clicking on the Student page. Find the DreamBox icon and click on it and DreamBox will open. You'll see a list of classes and youʻll see a log in box in the top right hand corner. Use the log in box to log in as a teacher.
How it works - DreamBox Learning addresses critical Common Core standards for each grade level in a unique and adaptive manner. The focus is to build conceptual understandings using digital manipulatives before moving into having students use standard algorithms. Students are encouraged to only use the tools available to them within the DreamBox environment rather than using paper/pencil and calculators. This is a challenge for our older students. As students attempt each lesson, the engine behind DreamBox is collecting data points about what the student knows and is able to do and it will adapt the lesson based on student responses. So it is important to find a balance when assisting students. If you tell them the answers or how to do a problem, the software will think the student understands when they actually don't understand and it will adapt as though the student knows the concept. If you ask questions and give students an opportunity to struggle and make mistakes, the software will adapt and then will back up and offer problems to help the student build missing understandings. It really helps to go in and play the lessons before your students get to them so that you know what the student is being asked to do.
On the desktops, on the Chromebooks, on the Mac laptops, on the iPads - DreamBox works on all of our devices, at school and at home. If you install DreamBox on your iPad at home you will need to have a code (click on your DreamBox Access Button) and you will want to install DreamBox green (K-5) and DreamBox blue (3-8) on your iPad for a seamless use. At this point in time DreamBox does not work on phones, Kindles, or Android devices.
How it works - DreamBox Learning addresses critical Common Core standards for each grade level in a unique and adaptive manner. The focus is to build conceptual understandings using digital manipulatives before moving into having students use standard algorithms. Students are encouraged to only use the tools available to them within the DreamBox environment rather than using paper/pencil and calculators. This is a challenge for our older students. As students attempt each lesson, the engine behind DreamBox is collecting data points about what the student knows and is able to do and it will adapt the lesson based on student responses. So it is important to find a balance when assisting students. If you tell them the answers or how to do a problem, the software will think the student understands when they actually don't understand and it will adapt as though the student knows the concept. If you ask questions and give students an opportunity to struggle and make mistakes, the software will adapt and then will back up and offer problems to help the student build missing understandings. It really helps to go in and play the lessons before your students get to them so that you know what the student is being asked to do.
On the desktops, on the Chromebooks, on the Mac laptops, on the iPads - DreamBox works on all of our devices, at school and at home. If you install DreamBox on your iPad at home you will need to have a code (click on your DreamBox Access Button) and you will want to install DreamBox green (K-5) and DreamBox blue (3-8) on your iPad for a seamless use. At this point in time DreamBox does not work on phones, Kindles, or Android devices.
1. Teacher Dashboard - Once you've logged in you'll be at your teacher dashboard where you can view your classes and your students. You can also find links to resources to help you use DreamBox with your students. When you first log in you are able to see your class progress and information about your students. You can filter this information by date.
Notice that at the top of the DreamBox page you have links to Support, Resource HUBs and a Quick Start Guide (at the top right hand corner of your dashboard - right next to your profile/logout icon). If you click on the Resource Hubs button you'll be able to choose to go to the Teacher Resource Hub. At the Teacher Resource Hub you can navigate down to the middle of the page and you will find a button that says Teacher Tools. This link will take you to some pre-created interactive whiteboard lessons that you can use to help introduce tools to your students.
2. Overview - If you click on your class in the left sidebar you move a level deeper into the system and now have access to the following areas: Overview, Activity, Standards, Usage, AssignFocus, and Roster. The Overview is filterable by date ranges and gives you an overview of information about all of your students. If you click on a specific student in the left sidebar you will get an overview specific to that student. Once you've navigated to your class page you also have access to DreamBox Access Resources. This is where you can find the URL for home access, the code for iPad usage and a letter to parents explaining DreamBox. Clicking on the Common Core State Standards button will let you choose the standards you want to use. Leave this at Common Core.
3. Activity - If you click on Activity in your dashboard you will be able to see the activities that your students have been working on and you can play lessons to see what students are seeing, the progress theyʻve made, and to see where they may need your assistance. You can see your class as a whole or you can see by individual student (click on the student's name in the left sidebar).
4. Standards - Standards can be viewed by class or by individual student - depending on the information you need. You also have a choice of grouping view or grid view when you're looking at the entire class. Grouping view will break students into 3 groups for differentiation purposes. If you view it by group you can look at all domains or you can look at it by standards. In the image below you can see students who have not started working on the Numbers & Operations in Base Ten Domain, the students who are working on the domain and the students who have demonstrated proficiency in the domain. Grid view will show you all students and all standards in the main domains along with student progress. If you were looking at this by individual student you would see their individual progress and you'd have the option to assign a standards assignment to the student.
5. Usage - Usage can be viewed by class view or by individual student view and you can retrieve usage information over different periods of time. The top of the page shows average minutes of DreamBox use and if you scroll down you can view information about lessons completed during a specific period of time.
6. AssignFocus - New this year - If you click on AssignFocus you are able to assign up to 2 standards based lessons to each student and the lessons are available to the student for 7 days. To add an assignment here you would click on the Add Assignment button.
That will take you to a new window where you can decide how you will be adding assignments. Area #1 on the right explains what an assignment is and there's a link to a support article. Area #2 on the left lets you navigate to the grade level, domain and standard you want to assign. #3 shows the options you have available for your lessons (just started, in progress, or review). Areas #4, 5, and 6 show a break down of your students and their current progress on the standard you have chosen. From here you can put a check mark in the box next to the student's name if you want to create an assignment for them. At the top of the page you would click on the Green Add Assignment button to create the assignments. These assignments will show up on the student dashboard with a little assignment icon.
7. Roster - The Roster tab will let you pull up a list of your students and their usernames and passwords.