Have you ever played Clash of Clans? It's an awesome app that can be found in the Android Store. In Clash of Clans you build a city and give it defenses and build an army to battle other cities. This is the basic plan for Dreamscape as well. Guess what?! It's all free! Students can choose to pay for a subscription to the program which unlocks more for them, but they can do everything in the program without the subscription. I have about 20 students who have paid for the subscription and it has made other students want to pay for the subscription as well because of the awesome benefits.
In Dreamscape, students will create a Dwell which will house their army, resources, and other defenses. Students will build their army and challenge other players by attacking their Dwell. In order to level up and get better resources, armies, and defenses, students must answer comprehension and skill questions. The only way to progress in this game is by reading and answering questions!
In Clash of Clans time will pass if you just log out of the game and your resources and other items will improve. In Dreamscape, the only way for time to pass and for you to upgrade things is to answer the questions correctly.
I love this game. Yes, I have my own Dwell that I have built up so that I can battle my students. My username is ElizabethS15 in case your students want to try to challenge me. They enjoy trying to destroy my Dwell. I read the passages and answer the questions just like the students do. We take time during class to play the game. Students sit around the room in comfortable positions and play. They are helping each other answer questions (because they cannot upgrade their items unless they get questions right).
The higher the level of items, the more questions a student must answer correctly in order to upgrade it. I love that this is the case. The more the students play, the more they want to play. More questions required to upgrade items means more time students are spending answering questions and working on skills.
As a teacher I am able to assign specific skills or reading passages to my students. During this distance learning time Dreamscape also created specific passages and skill work for students for this time. I get to view my students' progress on the skills they are working on including how often they are getting certain skills and their percent correct. It is easy to differentiate for my students because I can choose grade level skills for each individual student. Since I teach 5th grade I am able to provide easier or more challenging work since Dreamscape offers up to 8th grade level material.
One of the best parts is that the creators of Dreamscape are constantly trying to make their program better. They listen to teachers. They listen to the students. They ask for ideas and opinions and actually implement them. They are quick to respond and always helpful. For teachers they are continuously providing Professional Development in how to implement the game.
If you have not tried Dreamscape with your students, you need to. Let me know how it goes!
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