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Semester Setup

When you create your account, you will be prompted to set up your semester. Setting up your semester involves a few things: picking your start and end dates, creating a name for your planner, and adding your classes. The semester holds all of your students, subjects, and content for your school year.

Setup Planner

Web

  1. Click Let's Get Started to begin the setup process.
  2. Enter a name for your planner. Planner Name automatically populates with the nearest school year. PowerSchool recommends creating a planner for the entire school year unless your school is strictly semestered and no classes are taught in multiple semesters.

  3. Enter the dates for the first and last days of class. 

    You can edit these dates at any time after you complete the setup process.
  4. Click Next Step.

Mobile App

Tap on Sign in with Google or Sign up with Email if you are creating a new account. If you have already created an account in your browser but haven't gone through setup yet, tap on Log In. After logging in for the first time, you will be automatically directed to the Semester setup page.

  1. Enter a name for your semester.

  2. Select the start and end dates of your semester to when your schedule begins and finishes.

    1. Tap on Starts and Ends to bring up the calendar and navigate to the appropriate dates.
  3. Tap on Select or OK when finished.

Setup Teaching Schedule

Your teaching schedule is the number of days your timetable is and how long it takes to repeat itself. 

For example:

  • If you teach the same classes every day, you have a Daily schedule.
  • If you teach a different set of classes for each day of the week, you have a Weekly schedule.
  • Some schools have four-, five-, or even six-day rotating schedules that may begin on different days of the week.

Web

  1. Select the schedule that best fits your teaching schedule.
  2. Select your teaching days.
  3. If you have a rotating schedule, select your rotation days. 
    1. Select I need a multi-week rotation if you need to add multiple weeks. 

Mobile App

  1. Select your semester rotation, tap Select or the forward arrow.
  2. Select the days of the week you teach, then tap Next or the forward arrow.
  3. Tap Create My First Subject.

Create Classes

Here is a quick breakdown of the difference between subjects and non-teaching blocks when it comes to scheduling:

  • Classes are relatively straightforward. You might teach Grade 11 English, Grade 10 English, and Grade 12 World History all in the same semester. These would get their own class, making them easy to distinguish between lessons and assessments.
  • A Non-Teaching Block is a period of time that you'd like to have in your schedule or timetable but doesn't require any lesson planning. This could be Lunch, Recess, or Study Hall. 

Web

  1. Click the + Add a Class button.
  2. Select the Class option from the drop-down menu.
  3. On the Create a Class dialog, enter a name for your class.
  4. Click the color picker tool and select a color to associate with the class.
  5. Once you've chosen a name and color for your class, click Create.

Repeat these steps until you've created all the necessary classes for your school year.

Mobile App

  1. Tap on the + icon.
  2. Tap on Subject.
  3. Tap New Subject to edit your subject's name.
  4. Tap the color picker tool and select a color to associate with the class.
  5. Once you are finished editing your subject, tap OK to go back to the Subjects screen.
  6. You can tap on the + icon  to add more subjects.
  7. When you are finished creating all your subjects and are ready to move on, tap Continue.

Set Up Timetable

Before you can start planning your lessons, you'll need to customize your planner by setting up your timetable/schedule.

After creating your classes, they are listed as Unscheduled. Now you can schedule them on the appropriate teaching days.


Web

There are multiple ways to schedule classes on your timetable, so choose the method that works best for you.

Option 1 - Drag and drop method: 

  1. Click on the subject you wish to schedule and drag it onto its desired position on the timetable.
  2. You can edit the class length after it has been placed by dragging the two lines that appear on the bottom of the block. The next time you drag and drop a class, the length will default to the most common length used on the timetable.

Option 2 - Schedule in bulk: 

  1. Click the scheduling icon to the right of the class you would like to schedule.
  2. Select the start and end times of the class, as well as the rotation days that you have this class in your timetable. You can enter the start and end times by typing in the time field or clicking the clock icons.
    • If your class appears at different times for each day, it may be easiest to schedule all instances for the same time and then move the blocks into the correct time slots.
  3. Click Schedule when finished.

Option 3 - Draw method: 

  1. Click and drag a box on the timetable.
  2. Select a class to add.
  3. Select the start and end times.

Schedule the remaining classes on your timetable.

Click the Start Planning! button to save your schedule and continue to the Planner.


You can click on any existing block on your timetable to edit its details, including switching it to another class. You can come back and edit your timetable at any time, but changes to your timetable only apply from the present and future. Past timetables will not be affected. 

Once a class has been added to your timetable, you can move the block on your timetable by clicking on it and dragging it into a new position.

To edit the length of a class on your timetable, you can click on the two lines at the bottom of each block and drag up and down.

If you need to remove a class from your timetable, simply move your cursor to the scheduled block and click the X.

The planner supports overlapping classes. Schedule classes with overlapping start and end times, and they'll appear side-by-side on the timetable

Mobile App

  1. Tap the + icon in the bottom-right corner to begin inserting classes into your timetable.
  2. Tap Select Class or Choose Section to choose which class to schedule.

  3. Tap on Days Taught or Choose Days Taught to choose the rotation days that this class appears on. Tap on the start and end times to schedule the class, then tap Insert or the checkmark.

    If you need to schedule the same subject in multiple time slots, you must do this step for each time slot on mobile.
  4. You will be taken to your current timetable, where you can review your scheduled classes.
  5. To schedule more classes, tap on the + icon in the bottom-right corner. You can tap on a scheduled class to edit or delete it from your timetable. You can also edit your rotation schedule by tapping on your selected rotation schedule in the top-right corner.

When your schedule is finished, tap Save or Continue to be taken to your Planner view and begin creating lessons.

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