Question

Photo of Shawn Ross

0

'In Class' Classroom split/designation

1

Working on figuring out how we transition our current groups and processes to Rock. Currently we pre-print stickers in ACS People Suite. WIth Rock we'll be all on-demand check-in/sticker printing.

We have a couple large rooms (locations in check-in?) that are used at one of our campuses; a Pre-K classroom and a K-1 classroom. Large rooms (like K-1) have a large-group time that splits into smaller groups.

They have practical separations in place to split a sizable class group into smaller groups. These groups help by providing consistency:

  • Easy ability for the child to know which table to go to for small group times
  • Fostering community between children (large community becoming smaller)
  • Helps with the small group leader building relationships

Currently (for example):

  • Children with last names 'A-L' have their stickers marked with a Sharpie (a color)
  • Children with last names 'M-Z' have their stickers marked with a Sharpie (a different color)

So, if we're checking everyone in 'on-demand' how do we reflect these smaller designations for the in-group groups? Is there a way as part of the check-in process to 'direct' the child to the appropriate small group?

The only thought I have so far is to take the "K-1" location (call it the Red Room) and split it into multiple 'locations' with a similar logical name, i.e.....

  • Red Room A (Kindergarten Group)
  • Red Room Z (Kindergarten Group)
  • Red Room B (1st Grade Group)
  • Red Room Y (1st Grade Group)

Since these groups are based on the 1st letter of the last name I don't know how I would tell Rock to 'associate' the child on check-in appropriately

I'm just looking for ideas on how we can help facilitate the 'small groups' need for the classrooms

Thanks!

  • Photo of Jim Michael

    0

    Here are some thoughts: Don't confuse the _room_ (physical location) with the _group_  (the "thing" the kids are actually checking-into.) You can check into different groups that all happen to be in the same location. That said, I doubt you really want your kids to check into a group called "Red Room K A-L." What you probably want to do is let all Kindergarten-aged kids check into the same Kindergarten Group, and then have a designation on the nametag on WHICH Kindergarten group they should go to.

    It's totally doable (almost trivial) to create a label merge field that has the necessary Lava logic to print "Red Room A" vs. "Red Room Z" on the tag, yet all kids are still checking-into the "big" Kindergarten group. The only reason you'd want to have actually broken-down groups to check into would be if you want/need to run analysis on how many "A-Ls" you have vs. "M-Zs". 


    • Shawn Ross

      Shawn Ross

      So, with this type of a scenario I would need for each room



      • A special label design

      • A specific label merge field for this use (one total, or one for each room or one for each label?)

      • The specific groups that are allowed to check-in to the room

      • Logic in the label design (via Lava) for each case


      correct?

      • Jim Michael

        Jim Michael

        Pretty much, but unless I'm misunderstanding, you don't need a special label for each room... You just need to tweak an existing label to add the name of the sub-group the kid is supposed to belong to, or an indicator icon or whatever. At check-in, Rock will look at the letter the last name starts with and print the proper group name/icon accordingly (this is the Lava logic in the merge field and it's not difficult at all).


        That's ultimately what you're going for, right? A way to tell the parent/kid what group they belong to in the room? I can't really think of any better way to do it... if you wanted actual check-in groups for each "part of the alphabet" then check-in itself would need to be heavily modified, because out of the box it can't make a decision like "last name that starts with A-L checks into this group." It can only make decisions as to where a kid goes based on grade or age. Well, I GUESS you could also go down the path of pre-assigning kids to groups (aka "membership required" setting on the group), which would let you do all that... but you'd then lose much of the magic of check-in as your people would constantly be maintaining group memberships for check-in, and things like graduating kids to next grade become a nightmare.