Quick Add Record a Tracker

Record a tracker using Quick Add

Summary: Quick Add is the fastest way to record a tracker entry for a child in the moment. Trackers capture recurring classroom information — things like a diaper change, a nap, or a behavior you are following. From inside your classroom, click Quick Add, choose the Record Tracker tab, then set visibility, optionally add a photo, choose the date, select the child or children, and choose the tracker. Add a note if you want, then click Save. The entry appears in your activities feed, where you can edit or delete it.

Who can do this

Any teacher can record a tracker for the children in their classroom. No special role is required.

Step-by-step

1. Open your classroom. Choose your classroom name so the record-keeping buttons appear at the top of the screen.
2. Open Quick Add. Click the Quick Add button, then select the Record Tracker tab. The form is very similar to the Record Lesson form.
3. Set the visibility. Turn sharing on to make the entry eligible for a parent activity report, or off to keep it from being shared. See "Understanding visibility" below.
4. Add a photo (optional). You can attach a photo to the entry. This is optional and can be skipped.
5. Choose the date. Set the date for the tracker entry.
6. Select the child or children. Choose a single child or several children.
7. Choose the tracker. Select the tracker you want to record. If a tracker is grayed out, see "Why a tracker is grayed out" below.
8. Add a note (optional). You can add a shared note, a private note, or both. See "Shared notes vs. private notes" below.
9. Use Add current time (optional). For time-based trackers such as a diaper change, click Add current time to drop the current local time into the note field. You can edit that time afterward if you need to. See "The Add current time shortcut" below.
10. Save. Click Save. The entry is recorded and appears in the activities feed, where it is visible and editable.

Understanding visibility

The visibility setting controls whether the tracker entry can be shared with parents. It is worth being precise about what that means.

• Sharing on means the entry is eligible to appear on an activity report, if your school uses the activity report feature. It does not push the entry out to parents in real time. Nothing is sent the moment you save.
• Sharing off means the entry is private and will never be shared with parents. Turning sharing off also lets you record trackers that were set up as private. See "Why a tracker is grayed out" below.

Why a tracker is grayed out

If a tracker appears grayed out and you cannot select it, that tracker was set up as a private tracker, and you are currently recording a shared entry. Private trackers can only be recorded on a private entry.

To record a private tracker, turn sharing off. Once the entry is private, the private tracker becomes selectable and you can record any tracker for the child.

The Add current time shortcut

Some trackers are about when something happened. For those, the Add current time link is a shortcut: click it and it fills the note field with the current local time. It is fully editable, so if the diaper change or nap actually happened earlier, you can go back into the note and adjust the time. It simply saves you from typing the time by hand.

Shared notes vs. private notes

When you record a tracker, you can add two kinds of notes, and the difference matters:

• Shared note — shown to parents in the activity report.
• Private note — for your records only. It is never visible to parents at any point.

A few things worth knowing

• The Record Tracker form mirrors the Record Lesson form, so if you can record a lesson, recording a tracker will feel familiar.
• A grayed-out tracker is almost always a private tracker being added to a shared entry — turn sharing off to use it.
• Everything you record is editable. If you make a mistake, find the entry in the activities feed and edit or delete it.

Related articles

• Record a lesson using Quick Add
• Record an observation using Quick Add
• Editing or deleting an entry from the activities feed
• Activity reports: how and when entries reach parents

Watch the video

Here is a short video covering this topic for additional reference.