It’s hard to know exactly what your child is doing during their school day. Parents may wonder, “What do they do all day?”

La Petite Academy, an early education curriculum inspired by STEM — science, technology, engineering and math— has brought an app called “brightwheel” to its school to provide parents with a way to stay connected with their children while they’re at school.

brightwheel (with a lowercase ‘b’) has been used at the Covington La Petite location for about six months now, according to the director of this location, Nicole Vranna.

“The app is a mobile-based app where we can send real-time photos, videos, updates, daily menus, food that the children have eaten, updates on learning experiences, just any other amazing moments that we capture with the kids throughout the day with the kids in our care,” Vranna said.

The app was founded by Dave Vasen, who featured this app on the ABC television series, Shark Tank.

According to Vranna, this app is an easier way for parents to get progress reports about what their child did that day at school.

“We used to do daily sheets, which is a paper form where the teachers would go in and fill out highlights of the day that the kids experienced, that we sent home everyday and now that we have transitioned to the app, the parents have (it) right on their phone, computers (or) whatever device they want to use, they get real-time updates throughout the day all day long,” Vranna said. “And it’s in a feed, so they can pull up their phone, log in there and see everything that has gone on throughout the day with their child instead of waiting at the end of the day at pick up to find out that information. They’re able to access it any point of the day that they want to.”

Vranna said teachers are able to send updates to parents through iPads, which are provided to each teacher in every classroom.

According to Lydia Cisaruk, the director of communications at La Petite, there is a component to the app that allows parents to be able to choose what aspects they want to use, and what sort of updates they would like to receive.

“All of our families can get custom notifications sent to their phone for photos and videos (and) they get to customize the notifications,” Vranna said. “(It’s) a great thing to offer them when they have their children in our care.”

Vranna said this app is a great way for parents to connect and to even ask questions if they have any.

“The parent benefits I would say they feel more connected to the teachers. Throughout the day they can send notes and questions if their child had a rough drop off or something, they can just log in to this app and they can ask the question and the teacher gets the message and can respond directly to them,” Vranna said. “I think it just helps communication between the staff and the families.”