Dreambox and XtraMath

Hello families!

You may have heard about our new Dreambox Championship competition. I will be taking a look at our Dreambox stats each Sunday and finding the top three students in each class to be named our weekly Dreambox champions!

Now, what does it mean to be the top? I'm looking for quantity and quality when it comes to our Dreambox time. Students must complete at least 5 lessons to be considered for the championship. Beyond the 5 lessons, I am looking for the amount of time spent doing quality work on the site.

Dreambox is a responsive program, which means that it adjusts your students' work and lessons depending on their performance. If a parent or sibling decides to "help out" by doing some of the lessons, Dreambox will think that your child has a firm understanding of the concept and will move onto the next skill. This can cause problems if your student is not truly ready for that next skill!
Conversely, if a little sibling decides to push random buttons and click on random things, the student account will be moved backward because Dreambox will think that your student is having a lot of trouble. It is always best to let students work on their own lessons at their own pace, however you can definitely help them out and coach them through if necessary.

Please be sure to log into Dreambox through our class site, using the link to your right. This will take you straight to the BES Dreambox page and will save a lot of hassle. Also, if your child's birthdate password starts with a 0, some accounts are not using that 0. Try with the 0 first, and if there is a problem, try the same number but without the initial 0. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

While Dreambox focuses on numeracy, the understanding of numbers and number relationships, XtraMath focuses on fluency. Fluency is the ability to recognize and recall math facts quickly. The CCPS standard for fluency is 3 seconds per problem! In 2nd grade, students are expected to achieve fluency in addition and subtraction facts to 20. XtraMath operates much more like an online set of flash cards, testing students on their ability to solve quickly. When students show fluency in a certain fact, XtraMath will move along to continue their growth.