Sign-in cards and classroom devices

Students sign in on a device a teacher has set up for the class. They tap their name and enter the pictures or PIN on their sign-in card, so nobody needs an email address or a password. Apart from reading at home through a linked parent, a student can only sign in on a device the school has set up.

Classes are opening soon, so classroom devices cannot be set up yet. Until the school agreement is in force, a device that opens the class sign-in is sent to the family sign-in screen instead.

Set up a classroom device

Do this on the device the class will use.

1. Sign in to your own account on that device.
2. Open the class, then its Settings tab, and find "Classroom devices".
3. Fill in "A name for this device", such as iPad by the reading corner.
4. If you are a school admin, choose under "Who can sign in on it" between "Only" with your class's name and "Any class in the school". Other teachers set a device up for their own class.
5. Choose "Set up this device for", which ends with your class's name.

Setting a device up signs you out on it, because it is about to be handed to students, and it opens the class sign-in. It also replaces any family sign-in that was set up on that device. A device stays set up for 180 days, and after that it needs setting up again.

"Classroom devices" lists each device with the class it serves and when it was last used. To take one away, choose "Stop using this device", then "Stop using it". Anybody signed in on it is signed out straight away.

How a student signs in

1. On the classroom device, open the address printed on the card. A device set up for one class goes straight to that class's names.
2. On a device shared by the whole school, the student chooses their class under "Which class are you in?", or a camera can read the square code on their card to open the class.
3. Under "Who is reading today?", the student taps their own name and picture.
4. They enter their pictures in order, or their PIN.

After five wrong tries, the student is locked out for 15 minutes and sees "Too many tries. Ask a grown-up to help." On the class's Roster, they show as "Locked out after too many wrong tries", with a "Let them try again" button that lets them straight back in, on the device they were using and on any other.

A device nobody at the school set up shows "A teacher needs to set up this tablet first." Somebody who finds a card and types its code at home sees no student names.

When students share one device

When a student has finished, they tap "Grown-ups" at the bottom of the screen and then "Someone else is reading". They are signed out, and the device goes back to the class sign-in for the next student.

There is no button on the class screens for a teacher to take a device back. To use it for a different class, sign in on it again and set it up from that class's Settings tab, which signs you out again.

Print sign-in cards

Cards appear as soon as you add students. Print them then, because each PIN or set of pictures is only shown once and we keep it only in a scrambled form that cannot be read back.

To print cards later, you make new ones:

1. Open the class and choose "Print sign-in cards" at the top of the page.
2. Every student starts ticked. Untick anyone who does not need a new card; "Choose nobody" clears every tick, and "Choose everybody" ticks them all again.
3. Under "They sign in with", choose "Pictures" or "A PIN".
4. Choose "Make new cards for", which shows how many students you ticked, then "Make new cards" to confirm. Their old PINs or pictures stop working at once.
5. Choose "Print the cards", and "I have printed them" when you are done.

Each card has the class name, the student's first name and last initial, their four pictures or their PIN, the address to open, the class code, and a square code a camera can read. If one student loses a card, choose "Choose nobody", tick only that student, and make a new card for them, so nobody else's pictures or PIN change.

The class code

The class code is on the class's Settings tab, under "Class code", with a "Copy" button. Parents type it on their own account to ask to link to their child. The class's lead teacher or a school admin can choose "Make a new code". The old code stops working, including the code and square code on cards you have already printed. Students' pictures and PINs are not changed.

Reading at home

Students can also read at home, but only through a parent who has linked their own account, and only while "Linked families can read school books at home" is switched on in the class's Settings. See Linking your child to their class.

Where to go next

• Starting a class and adding students
• Devices and browsers

If a student still cannot sign in, write to support@taletykes.com or use Contact.