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DreamBox Learning: Alignment to Common Core standards

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is
a state-led effort coordinated by the National
Governors Association Center for Best Practices
and the Council of Chief State School Officers.
The release of the Common Core State Standards
(CCSS) is a milestone in the standards movement
that began more than 20 years ago when the Na-
tional Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
published Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for
School. NCTM, along with the National Council of
Supervisors of Mathematics and other mathematics
organizations, supports the goal of the CCSS to
describe a coherent, focused curriculum that has
realistically high expectations and supports an
equitable mathematics education for all students.
DreamBox Learning K-3 Math curriculum aligns
with Common Core through the standards of
Counting and Cardinality, Operations and Algebraic
Thinking, Number and Operations in Base Ten. DreamBox uses a rich adaptive learning environment that
enhances and deepens the foundational learning that is so essential to future success in mathematics.
Common Core Mathematical Practices
Throughout our curriculum DreamBox incorporates the
Standards for Mathematical Practice, which describe ex-
pertise that math educators at all levels seek to develop
in students. These practices rest on key “processes and
proficiencies” with longstanding importance in mathe-
matics education, including the NCTM process standards
and the strands of mathematical proficiency from the
National Research Council’s report Adding It Up.
• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
• Model with mathematics.
• Use appropriate tools strategically.
• Attend to precision.
• Look for and make use of structure.

DreamBox Alignment
Common Core State Standards for Mathematics K 1 2 3

Key: • Dots indicate the grade level at

Counting and Cardinality which DreamBox teaches this standard
Count to 100 by ones and by tens. •
Count numbers from 0 to 20. •
Count forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence
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(instead of having to begin at 1).
Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.
1. When counting objects, say the number names in the standard order, pairing each object
with one and only one number name and each number name with one and only one object.
2. Understand that the last number name said tells the number of objects counted. The •
number of objects is the same regardless of their arrangement or the order in which they
were counted.
3. Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger.
Count to answer how many, given a number from 1–20. •
Count to 120, starting at any number less than 120. In this range, read numerals and represent a
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number of objects.
Relate counting to addition and subtraction (e.g., by counting on 2 to add 2).
Given a two-digit number, mentally find 10 more or 10 less than the number, without having
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to count.
Count within 1000; skip-count by 5s, 10s, and 100s. •

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Comparing
Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the
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number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.
Compare two numbers between 1 and 10 presented as written numerals. •
Compare two three-digit numbers based on meanings of the hundreds, tens, and ones digits, using
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>, =, and < symbols to record the results of comparisons.

Number and Operations in Base Ten

Compose and decompose numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones and some further ones, e.g.,
by using objects or drawings, and record each composition or decomposition by a drawing or
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equation (e.g., 18 = 10 +8); understand that these numbers are composed of ten ones and one,
two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine ones.
Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones. •
Compare two two-digit numbers based on meanings of the tens and ones digits, recording the
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results of comparisons with the symbols >, =, and <.
Understand that the three digits of a three-digit number represent amounts of hundreds,
tens, and ones; e.g., 706 equals 7 hundreds, 0 tens, and 6 ones. Understand the following as
special cases:
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1. 100 can be thought of as a bundle of ten tens — called a “hundred.”
2. The numbers 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 refer to one, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, or nine hundreds (and 0 tens and 0 ones).
Read and write numbers to 1000 using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form.
Fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies based on place value, properties of
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operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.
Add numbers using strategies based on place value and properties of operations. •
Add and subtract within 1000, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place
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value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.
Mentally add 10 or 100 to a given number 100–900, and mentally subtract 10 or 100 from a given
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number 100–900.
Explain why addition and subtraction strategies work, using place value and the properties
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of operations.
Use place value understanding to round whole numbers to the nearest 10 or 100.
Fluently add and subtract within 1000 using strategies and algorithms based on place value,
properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.

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Operations and Algebraic Thinking / Addition and Subtraction

Represent addition and subtraction with objects, fingers, mental images, drawings, etc. •
Solve addition and subtraction problems, and add and subtract within 10. •
Decompose numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs in more than one way, e.g., by using
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objects or drawings.
For any number from 1 to 9, find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number,
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e.g., by using objects or drawings.
Fluently add and subtract within 5. •
Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve problems involving situations of adding to, taking
from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using •
objects, drawings, and equations.
Solve problems that call for addition of three whole numbers whose sum is less than or equal to
20, e.g., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to •
represent the problem.
Apply properties of operations as strategies to add and subtract. •
Understand subtraction as an unknown-addend problem. •
Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10. Use
strategies such as counting on; making ten; decomposing a number leading to a ten (e.g., 13 – 4 = •
13 – 3 – 1 = 10 – 1 = 9); using the relationship between addition and subtraction.
Determine the unknown whole number in an addition or subtraction equation relating three whole
numbers. For example, determine the unknown number that makes the equation true in each of •
the equations 8 + o = 11, 5 = o – 3, 6 + 6 = o.
Understand the meaning of the equal sign, and determine if equations involving addition and
subtraction are true or false. For example, which of the following equations are true and which •
are false? 6 = 6, 7 = 8 – 1, 5 + 2 = 2 + 5, 4 + 1 = 5 + 2.
Add within 100, including adding a two-digit number and a one-digit number, and adding a two-
digit number and a multiple of 10, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on
place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.
Understand that in adding two-digit numbers, one adds tens and tens, ones and ones; and
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sometimes it is necessary to compose a ten.
Subtract multiples of 10 in the range 10-90 from multiples of 10 in the range 10-90 (positive
or zero differences), using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, •
properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.
Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve one- and two-step problems involving situations
of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in •
all positions.
Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies. •
Determine whether a group of objects (up to 20) has an odd or even number of members, e.g., by
pairing objects or counting them by 2s; write an equation to express an even number as a sum of
two equal addends.
Use addition to find the total number of objects arranged in rectangular arrays with up to 5 rows
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and up to 5 columns.

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Multiplication and Division

Multiply one-digit whole numbers by multiples of 10 in the range 10–90 (e.g., 9 × 80, 5 × 60) using
strategies based on place value and properties of operations.
Determine whether a group of objects (up to 20) has an odd or even number of members, e.g., by
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pairing objects or counting them by 2s.
Interpret products of whole numbers, e.g., interpret 5 × 7 as the total number of objects in 5
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groups of 7 objects each.
Interpret whole-number quotients of whole numbers, e.g., interpret 56 ÷ 8 as the number of
objects in each share when 56 objects are partitioned equally into 8 shares, or as a number of •
shares when 56 objects are partitioned into equal shares of 8 objects each.
Use multiplication and division within 100 to solve problems in situations involving equal groups,
arrays, and measurement quantities, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the •
unknown number to represent the problem.
Determine the unknown whole number in a multiplication or division equation relating three
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whole numbers.
Apply properties of operations as strategies to multiply and divide. Examples: If 6 × 4 = 24 is
known, then 4 × 6 = 24 is also known. (Commutative property of multiplication.) 3 × 5 × 2 can be
found by 3 × 5 = 15, then 15 × 2 = 30, or by 5 × 2 = 10, then 3 × 10 = 30. (Associative property of •
multiplication.) Knowing that 8 × 5 = 40 and 8 × 2 = 16, one can find 8 × 7 as 8 × (5 + 2) = (8 × 5) +
(8 × 2) = 40 + 16 = 56. (Distributive property.)
Understand division as an unknown-factor problem. For example, find 32 ÷ 8 by finding the
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number that makes 32 when multiplied by 8.
Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between
multiplication and division (e.g., knowing that 8 × 5 = 40, one knows 40 ÷ 5 = 8) or properties •
of operations.
Solve two-step problems using the four operations. Represent these problems using equations with
a letter standing for the unknown quantity.
Assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies
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including rounding.
Identify arithmetic patterns (including patterns in the addition table or multiplication table), and
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explain them using properties of operations.

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