What a session looks like for your child
For a parent who wants to know what their child is actually doing for those ten minutes.
The home page
Your child taps their name and lands on a page that says hi to them, shows their streak and stars, and a bar labeled "Today's goal" with a count out of 6. Below it are six tiles: "Reading", "Math", "Writing", "Science / Social", "Move" and "Life Skills". Each shows 2 to 4 minutes. They tap one to start.
One subject
A subject is a handful of questions: 4 in grades 1 and 2, 5 in grades 3 to 5, 6 in grades 6 to 8. Six kinds show up. Multiple choice. True or false. A typed answer, where they type into a box and tap "Check", and autocorrect is off, so what they type is what gets checked. Put-these-in-order, where they tap items into slots. And explore questions, which have no right answer and are there to make them think.
After each answer the app says "Correct!" or "Not quite." and gives a one-line reason either way. Explore questions get a different reply, because there's nothing to mark wrong. Sometimes there's a "Did you know?" fact under it. Then "Next" until the last one, which says "Finish".
In math, from grade 3 up, one question in every session is a times-table fact. Grade 3 stays inside the 2s through 9s. Everyone above works the 2s through 12s. A fact they miss comes back on another day in a different form until it sticks.
In writing, the last question of every session is a Sentence Stretch. It starts with a short sentence on a chalkboard, like "The dog ran.", and a heading that says "Stretch it!". Each step asks for one piece, a describing word, a how, a where or a why, with four tiles to pick from. The right one drops into the sentence in its own color. A wrong one gets crossed out with a line saying what job it does instead. From grade 6 the pieces get harder: an aside set off with commas, a clause that adds a twist, what happened because of it. Then it says "Your turn" and they stretch a sentence of their own. What they type there stays on the screen. It isn't saved or sent anywhere.
The end of a subject
They see their score for the subject, then a card labeled "Do this offline" with up to three short tasks that don't need a screen. Then they tap the button that marks the subject done and the tile on their home page gets a check.
If they open a finished subject again the same day, the tile says "practice only". They can do more questions, but the stars for that subject are already banked, and the app says so before they start.
The end of the day
When the count reaches 6 of 6, a banner tells them great job and to go play. That's the whole design. The session has a real finish, and the app doesn't offer them one more thing to tap.
Common questions
Do they need to do all six subjects?
No. Each subject stands on its own and earns its own stars. Doing all six in one day is what counts as a full day, and full days are what unlock the bigger rewards, so there's a reason to. But three subjects on a busy day still count as three.
What if they get a question wrong?
They see "Not quite." and a one-line reason, then move on. Nothing is taken away. The question goes into a review pile and comes back on a later day, and getting it right then is what moves it out.
Can I see the questions they got?
The ones that matter, yes. The grown-up area has a "Keeps missing" list with the actual questions your child has gotten wrong at least as often as right, and a "Practice more" list of the standards behind them, named in plain words. It doesn't show every question they ever saw.
Still stuck?
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Email ervin@brightstepchild.com