Elementary schools usually don't use periods, so you need only one generic Bell Schedule. It's harmless to keep the default 7-period schedule, or you may simplify it to one period all day long — it doesn't really matter since you won't be using the periods.

For each period you may specify the start and end time. This allows it to calculate attendance more accurately, since it knows how many minutes each class is. But this is optional, so you may leave the times blank. If you use time-slots instead of period numbers, just name each period like "8:30-9:30". It is okay if you have different periods overlapping during the day. (You cannot have two bell schedules on the same day, so you must fit all periods into one bell schedule.)

If students meet for Advisory or Tutorial, define those as periods too. You may optionally add Lunch, Brunch, Recess, etc., to your bell schedules. Students can see the bell schedules when they login, so this is for their benefit.


School Days

The screen is a calendar where you specify which days use which Bell Schedule. By default it assigns the first bell schedule every Monday through Friday, but you can remove dates add weekends. Click the "Bulk Edit" button to set a bell schedule for a day of the week — e.g., to set the same bell schedule every Friday.

For non-school days, select "Holiday", "Staff Day", or "Snow Day". (Don't define bell-schedules for these.)


Scheduling Classes

On the screen, admins select which period each class meets. Teachers may optionally do the same on the screen (admins may restrict this). Edit the section and set the Period menu.


Block Schedules

Different classes may meet on different days, and each class may meet more than one period. (Unlike other SIS's, you don't need to define multiple sections for multiple periods; instead you should set a single section to have multiple periods.) Here are examples of different kinds of schedules:

If you have a class that meets 3rd and 4th period everyday, set period menu to "Multiple..." then select periods 3 and 4. It's also possible for a class to meet in two non-consecutive periods, like 3 and 7. This assumes each day usually has the same periods.

If you have different periods on different days, like odd periods on Tuesdays, even periods on Wednesdays, and all periods on all other days, that would require three bell schedules like below. For example, a 3rd period class will meet everyday except Wednesday.

If you have an A/B-day schedule, you need two bell schedules like below. If a class meets 1st period on A-days, set the period to "A1". If a class meets 1st period everyday, on both A and B days, set the period menu to "Multiple..." and select "A1" and "B1". (Note it is necessary to include the letters in the periods like "A1" and "B1"; otherwise, if you had just period "1" in both schedules, there would be no way to distinguish which days the classes meet.)

If you have an even more complex schedule, where different classes meet for different periods on different days, you may need a separate bell schedule for each day of the week, like below. For example, if your Science class meets 3rd period on Monday and Wednesday, 3rd and 4th block period on Tuesday and Thursday, and no class on Fridays, then you'd set the period menu to "Multiple..." and select M3, Tu3, Tu4, W3, Th3, Th4.

Bell schedules are very important if your school takes Period Attendance. If you do not set your periods correctly, it will create conflicts in your attendance data. Otherwise, if you're not using Jupiter for attendance or automatic scheduling, the bell schedules are not critical.


If you're unsure how to enter your Bell Schedules, please feel free to contact us for help. Be sure to include a link to your webpage that shows the bell schedules for you school, so we can help you.