Brightkeep
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Curriculum

What they learn, grade by grade

Brightkeep's math and reading questions follow what US schools teach from kindergarten to 6th grade, using the Common Core standards as the map. Science, Our World, spelling and puzzles come along at every level.

See the skills by grade
A demo kid's subjects on the parents' page: Math about 3rd grade, Puzzles about 2nd, Reading about 4th, Science about 2nd and Our World about 1st, each with how many were answered and how many were right.
A demo kid's grades on the parents' page.

How levels work

A level for every subject, read as a grade

  • Each subject climbs on its own. A kid can read at 4th-grade level and do math at 2nd, and get questions that fit both.
  • It climbs when they're ready. Right answers move a subject up; when something is hard, the questions ease off and come back to it later.
  • You can set it. On the parents' page, nudge a subject up or down, tell us their school grade, or set homework on the skills school is on.
Math, reading, spelling, science and Our World
School grade Level in the game
Kindergarten Level 5–6
1st grade Level 7
2nd grade Level 8
3rd grade Level 9
4th grade Level 10
5th grade Level 11
6th grade Level 12
7th+ grade Level 13–15

Puzzles run a little ahead: 1st grade is level 6.

Kindergarten to 6th grade

The skills, grade by grade

The kinds of skill each grade's questions practice, with some of the Common Core standards they follow.

  1. Kindergarten

    Levels 5–6 in the game

    Math

    • Counting objects and counting on
    • More and less, bigger and smaller
    • Adding and taking away within 10
    • Naming flat and solid shapes

    Reading and language

    • Rhymes and first sounds
    • Letter sounds and short words like cat and sun
    • First sight words
    • Capitals and end marks

    Common Core standards include K.CC K.OA K.G RF.K.2 RF.K.3

    Tap a code to read the standard itself.

  2. 1st grade

    Level 7 in the game

    Math

    • Facts within 20 and fact families
    • Tens and ones, 10 more and 10 less
    • The equal sign as a balance
    • Measuring with a ruler, and time to the half hour

    Reading and language

    • Sounds like sh, ch and bl
    • Silent e, vowel teams and syllables
    • Nouns, pronouns, verbs and tenses
    • Key details in a short story

    Common Core standards include 1.OA 1.NBT 1.MD.A.2 1.MD.B.3 RF.1.3 L.1.1

    Tap a code to read the standard itself.

  3. 2nd grade

    Level 8 in the game

    Math

    • Adding and subtracting within 100
    • Arrays, even and odd
    • Rulers, inches and centimeters
    • Coins, time and graphs

    Reading and language

    • Contractions, possessives and group words
    • Prefixes, suffixes and compound words
    • Capitals and commas
    • Short true passages

    Common Core standards include 2.NBT 2.OA.C.3 2.MD.A.1 2.MD.C.8 L.2.2c L.2.4 RI.2.2

    Tap a code to read the standard itself.

  4. 3rd grade

    Level 9 in the game

    Math

    • Times tables and fact families
    • Rounding to the ten and the hundred
    • Unit fractions on a number line
    • Area, perimeter, grams and liters

    Reading and language

    • Main ideas, facts and opinions
    • The lessons in fables
    • Word families, roots and affixes
    • Joining words and comparing words

    Common Core standards include 3.OA 3.NBT.A.1 3.NF.A.2 3.MD.C.7 RL.3.1 RL.3.2 L.3.4

    Tap a code to read the standard itself.

  5. 4th grade

    Level 10 in the game

    Math

    • Factors, primes and patterns
    • Equivalent fractions, and adding them
    • Converting units
    • Angles and symmetry

    Reading and language

    • Inference and theme
    • Narrators and point of view
    • Similes, metaphors and idioms
    • Run-on sentences and formal writing

    Common Core standards include 4.OA.B.4 4.NF.A.1 4.NF.B.3 4.MD.A.1 4.G.A.3 RL.4.1 RL.4.6 L.4.5

    Tap a code to read the standard itself.

  6. 5th grade

    Level 11 in the game

    Math

    • Order of operations and writing expressions
    • Decimals: rounding, adding and multiplying
    • Adding, multiplying and dividing fractions
    • Volume and points on a grid

    Reading and language

    • Quoting the text
    • Perfect tenses and either…or
    • Figurative language
    • Word analogies

    Common Core standards include 5.OA.A.1 5.NBT.A 5.NBT.B.7 5.NF.A.1 5.MD.C RL.5.1 L.5.5

    Tap a code to read the standard itself.

  7. 6th grade

    Level 12 in the game

    Math

    • Ratios, percents and unit rates
    • Negative numbers and absolute value
    • Powers, expressions and one-step equations
    • Mean, median, mode and range

    Reading and language

    • Longer reads with evidence
    • Connotation and formal style
    • Pronouns, and commas for extra information
    • Figurative language

    Common Core standards include 6.RP.A.1 6.RP.A.2 6.NS.C.5 6.EE.A.1 6.EE.B.7 6.SP.B.5c L.6.4b L.6.5c

    Tap a code to read the standard itself.

  8. Still growing

    Not in the game yet, and next on the list

    • Multiplying and dividing big numbers on paper: facts stop at 12 × 12.
    • Numbers past 999, like place value to a million.
    • Line plots, the four-quadrant grid and nets of 3D shapes.
    • Comparing two texts and citing evidence from them.

Every level

Beyond math and reading

Four more subjects, each with its own level, so the adventure isn't all sums.

  • Spelling

    Hear a word and pick or fix its spelling, from short words up to tricky ones. Add your kid's own list from school and the game asks those words.

  • Puzzles

    Patterns, odd ones out, opposites, sizes, scales, riddles and number puzzles: thinking that helps in every subject.

  • Science

    Living things and their babies, habitats, the senses, pushes and pulls, magnets, solids and liquids, food and food chains.

  • Our World

    Directions and maps, landforms, flags and landmarks, community helpers, then and now, timelines, inventors, needs and wants.

Straight from the game

What a question looks like

Big words, big buttons, pictures where they help, and most with three or four answers to pick from.

  • A math question: a clock with both hands on 12, “What time does the clock show?”, and the answers 12 o'clock, 11 o'clock and 6 o'clock.

    Math

    Counting crabs to times tables, fractions, area, angles and ratios.

  • A reading question after a short story: “What made the puppy quiet?” with the answers a bone, a song and a bath.

    Reading

    Letter sounds and sight words, then stories with questions about them.

  • A spelling question: “We went inside ____ it was raining. Which spelling is right?” with because and three misspellings.

    Spelling

    Hear it, pick it, fix it, with your own list from school if you like.

  • A puzzle question: “Which one doesn't belong?” with a cookie, a T-shirt and a pair of socks.

    Puzzles

    Patterns, odd ones out, riddles, scales and number puzzles.

  • A science question: a parrot and “Where does a parrot live?” with the answers icy polar land, rainforest and ocean.

    Science

    Living things, habitats, the senses, magnets, matter and food chains.

  • An Our World question: “Water flowing across the land toward the sea is called…” with the answers lake, beach and river.

    Our World

    Maps and directions, landforms, flags, landmarks, then and now.

Practice that feels like an adventure

Brightkeep is invite-only while we grow. Join the waitlist and we'll write when there's room for your family.

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