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Log activities

[For all Staff] Learn how to add and manage logging activities for students.

Sabrina avatar
Written by Sabrina
Updated over 3 weeks ago

Use brightwheel to record and share photos, activities, notes, learning milestones, and more with your families by logging activities. Review all the activity types available to you below!

Activity Types! ✨

  • Photo

    Take a picture in-app or upload from your device's gallery and share it with parents to give them updates on their child's day. Multiple photos can be selected from your device's gallery to upload in bulk. Maximum upload size is 15MB.

    • Guardians can easily view and download photos in bulk in Gallery View!

  • Video

    Record a video in-app or upload it from your device's gallery. Let parents experience those special moments from anywhere! Multiple videos can be selected from your device's gallery to upload at one time. Uploads can be up to 90 seconds in length, or up to 100MB. If your video exceeds these limits, an error will occur when attempting to upload.

    • Guardians can easily view and download videos in bulk in Gallery View!

  • Observation*

    Enables educators to log student observations in accordance with a set of state standards or learning frameworks.

  • Food

    Create custom food menus and track meal types and items for students. The Premium version of this feature allows for CACFP tracking.

  • Nap†

    Record the start and end times of naps and quickly be able to see who is napping or not with the nap icon that appears next to the student's profile icon when in progress.

  • Potty

    Track diaper changes and potty breaks, and easily record when diaper cream has been added.

  • Note

    Add notes to easily communicate with your parents about daily activities and important information.

  • Kudos

    Give your students recognition for doing a good job and share it with their parents.

  • Custom*

    Create custom tags to log specific activities affiliated with your school or program.

  • Meds

    Provide updates on medication given, what time, and any specific notes to provide parents with peace of mind their children are getting the care they need.

  • Name to Face*†

    Internally document students' whereabouts and mark them as Here/Away. This can be used to document whereabouts on field trips, if a staff member takes a child from the classroom to the bathroom, etc. This activity type will only be visible to staff.

  • Incident*

    Log an incident for the parents and/or staff to be aware of.

  • Health Checks

    Track and monitor student health by providing temperature readings and any specific notes.

*Premium Features
​†Cannot be logged for a future date or time

Log Activities on the App

You can log activities from a Room to share to multiple students' feeds at once or from a specific student's profile to share to their feed only!

From a Room

  1. Select the applicable Room

  2. Click the Add Activity wheel

  3. Select an Activity Type

  4. Select an individual, some, or all students

  5. Click Next

  6. Optionally, click Staff Only, add custom Notes, or a photo

  7. When ready, tap Add Activity

From a Student's Feed

  1. Open a specific student's profile

  2. Click the Add Activities wheel

  3. Select an Activity Type

  4. Select an individual, some, or all students

  5. Click Next

  6. Optionally, click Staff Only, add custom Notes, or a photo

  7. When ready, tap Add Activity

Log Activities on Web

Activities such as photos, meals, naps, etc. can also be logged from a web browser on a computer, tablet, or other device.

ℹ️ All activity types except Custom activities can be logged on the web. To log a Custom activity, use the mobile app.

From a Room

  1. Click to expand My School and select Rooms

  2. Select to open a room

  3. Click the + Add Activity button

  4. Select an Activity type

  5. Use the Student field to select an individual, some, or all students

  6. Fill in the applicable details based on the type of activity selected

  7. Choose whether to check the Staff Only box or not
    💡This is not selected by default and is up to each program what activities should or shouldn't be shared to the student's feed. Learn more about this option here.

  8. When ready, click Add Activity

From a Student's Feed

  1. Click to expand My School and select Rooms

  2. Click to open a specific student's profile

  3. Jump to the Feed tab

  4. Click the + Add Activity button

  5. Select an Activity type

  6. Use the Student field to select an individual, some, or all students

  7. Fill in the applicable details based on the type of activity selected

  8. Choose whether to check the Staff Only box or not
    💡This is not selected by default and is up to each program what activities should or shouldn't be shared to the student's feed. Learn more about this option here.

  9. When ready, click Add Activity

🚩 At present, staff can log all activities, and there's no option to customize which ones they can use. We suggest clarifying with staff what activities should and shouldn't be logged.

Edit or Delete Actions

You can edit or delete actions from the web or mobile app.

ℹ️ If you edit/delete an activity and it was previously published on a student’s Portfolio - the activity will remain on that Portfolio but will not be available to add in the future in the Portfolio builder.

On the app

  1. Navigate to the specific student's Feed

  2. Locate and click the specific activity to be edited/deleted

  3. In the pop-up window, click Edit Activity or Delete

  4. If editing, the following actions can be taken:

    1. Update the Time
      ​Please Note: Android users will first need to confirm the date in order to edit the time

    2. Add/update the Note

    3. Uncheck/check the Staff Only box

    4. When finished, click Update Activity

  5. If deleting...

    1. Click Delete in the pop-up confirmation window to complete the request

On the Web

  1. Click to expand My School and select Rooms

  2. Select the applicable room from the list

  3. Jump to the Feed tab

  4. Use the available filter options to narrow down the results

  5. Locate and click Edit next to the appropriate activity

    1. If editing, make the desired changes and click Save when finished
      ​Please Note: Edit options are limited to date, staff only, and notes at this time.

    2. If deleting, click the Delete Activity option at the bottom of the pop-up to complete the request

💡 Administrators can follow these same steps to edit or delete a photo uploaded by a parent to a student's feed.

FAQs

Why can't parents see student activities?

If parents can't see activities, or messages, check to confirm they are listed with the correct permissions as a Parent Contact Type.

If parents can see messages but are are missing activities, the likely cause is the activities were logged as Staff Only and are only visible to staff. If marked as Staff Only, the activity will display a staff badge on the student feed as seen below.

To resolve, confirm the Default Activities to Staff-Only setting is turned OFF in your Admin School Settings. Next, make sure staff are not selecting the Staff Only checkbox when logging individual activities. Finally, approve any historical Staff Only activities so they are visible to parents, following our Room Feed and Approval steps.

Can families like activities?

Yes! Parents can use the ♥️ heart option to like activities posted to their child's feed! All activities can be liked except Name to Face, Incident, Health Check, Check ins/outs, and Absences.

Can I record actions for multiple children at once?

Yes. You can select one, some, or all children when logging an activity from a Room. Actions will only be recorded on the selected children’s activity feeds.

Can I add multiple pictures at once?

Yes! Follow the guidance above to log a Photo Activity and select one or multiple photos.

Who will see the recorded actions or photos?

Recorded actions and photos will only post on the feeds of the students you selected. A student's feed is visible to teachers, Parent and Family contact types. Approved Pickups and Emergency Contacts cannot see recorded activities.

What are Staff Only posts?

The Staff Only check box offers your more control over which posts can be viewed by parents and when. Learn more here. The Name to Face activity type is only visible to staff, by default.

Can you see which staff member recorded an activity?

Yes, this is only viewable via the web! All staff can see who logged an activity by logging on to the web, going to My School > Rooms then selecting the room name, and then clicking the Feed tab under the room name. When on the room feed, next to the time the activity was logged, it will show the staff member's name who logged it.

Can you log multiple photos at once?

Yes, you can log up to 10 photos at one time on the app only! Here's how:

  1. Navigate to the room you want to add the photos to in the app

  2. Select Add Activity > Photo

  3. Select the album button in the lower left-hand corner to choose your photos

  4. Choose 10 photos by clicking them and then click Add

  5. Select Use Photos in the bottom right-hand corner

  6. Go ahead and select the Student or Students you would like to log the activity for then click Next

  7. Choose Add Activity for the photos to post to the chosen Students' feeds.

Please Note: You will need to make sure you have given the Brightwheel app permission to access photos stored on the device in your device settings.

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