Create a LENA Grow classroom group - standard or refresher (Admin only)

To create a classroom group you will need:

  • LENA Online account administrator permission
  • Center already created in LENA Online (with help from LENA support team)
  • Room name
  • Name of coach who will be working with this room (can be specified later, but ideal to do it now)
  • Names and email addresses for teachers who will be participating in coaching sessions
  • About 5 minutes per group, plus additional time to fill in information about the room and add children. (These last two tasks can be done by the coach instead.)

1. Select the child care center where you want to add the group.

Using the drop down menu in the upper left of the screen, choose the child care center where you want to add a new group.

Here we'll add the new group to the center called Rainbow Center:

Help: the center is not listed in the context menu

If the child care center that the new classroom belongs in is not listed, we'll need to help you create a new center before you add the new room.

Contact us at [email protected] or +1 303 441 9072 and provide:

  • your name
  • the organization you are part of
  • the name of the new center
  • the best way to contact you to confirm or ask questions

2. From the Main Menu, Admin section, select Functional Groups.

3. Click the New Room button.

4. Enter details for this group.

Group name

Use the following pattern for naming your classroom groups so that they will be easier to find in menus and reports:

Center Name - Classroom Name - Year Season

For example:

Rainbow - Infants - 2021 Spring

If the group is for refresher sessions, add the word Refresher to the end of the original group's name.  For example:

Rainbow - Infants - 2021 Spring Refresher

Note: Group names are limited to 50 characters. Use abbreviations where possible.

Coach assignment, if known

Using the drop-down menu, select the LENA Online user who will be the coach for this room.

If the coach is not listed, make sure you have added that person as a user.

Recorder assignment type

Select Fixed to if each recorder will be used for the same one child throughout the sequence.

  • This means the recorders stay assigned after being transferred for processing.
  • You can manually unassign/reassign them after this recording period is over.

Select Per Recording if the recorders are shared between two or more children during the same recording and coaching sequence.

  • This means the recorders will be automatically unassigned after every transfer, making them available for other children.

Note:  This selection applies to all recorders for all children in this group.

Room Profile and teacher information, if known

Fill out as much information as you know now. You can edit later.

  1. Choose the type of LENA Grow sequence this room is doing.
  2. Indicate how many children are enrolled in the classroom at the beginning of the sequence, including those who may not contribute LENA Days.
  3. Tell us how many teachers are assigned to this room at the beginning of the LENA Grow sequence, including any who may not participate in coaching sessions.
  4. Click Add to enter name and email address of any teacher who is participating in coaching during this sequence (work email preferred, but personal is ok). 
    • Teachers can be added later, but aim to add them before processing the first baseline/practice LENA Day so that LENA Online can automatically send the Teacher Perceptions Survey. This will save you a step!
    • Teachers enrolled here will be listed on the Session Preparation screen and certification dashboard so that the coach can easily take the required actions to facilitate their certification. 
  5. Choose the child care setting that best describes this room.
  6. Mark any and all funding sources that apply to this room.
  7. Click Submit. Your answers will be saved, and you can return any time to add or edit as needed.

5. Click Submit to save the group.

6. Add or move children into the group.

As the account administrator, you can fill in the children yourself, or they can be added by the associated coach.

If this room includes children who have previously participated, then the admin or someone else with access to the entire organization will need to move those children. Coaches without access to the entire center cannot move completed/dropped children.

To create the list of children in the room:

  • Add children who have never participated in a LENA Grow sequence.
  • Move children in from other groups if they have previously participated in LENA Grow. 
How can I find out whether a child has already participated?

A user with access to the entire center (not just groups) will need to check the participant list in one of these ways:

  • Go to the Participants screen for your center, and filter the list on "All" participants. This will show currently enrolled, completed, and dropped children.

OR