How do I create classes?

Overview

On CommonLit, classes can be created manually or imported from an integration, like Google Classroom or Clever. You must be associated with at least one school in order to create classes. If you selected "District-level" as your school type during sign-up, you will need to add your school(s) to your profile on your My Account page.

Please note, there is no limit to how many students can be enrolled in a CommonLit class. However, larger classes may cause slower page loads. For the best possible site performance, we recommend capping classes at 100 students.

In this article, we'll cover how to:

• Create classes manually
  • Add students
• Import classes and students from Google Classroom
• Import classes and students from Clever
• Import classes and students from Canvas*
• Sync classes and students with ClassLink*

*Integrations available with School Essentials PRO and PRO Plus subscriptions.

Create classes manually

1. Click My Classes (the teacher) in the menu on the left
2. Choose the Manage Classes tab
3. Click Create a Class
4. Choose to create your class Manually.
5. Name your class and select the grade(s) and subject area(s). NOTE: If you are in multiple schools, ensure your class is in the correct school.
6. Click Create Class

Once you create the class, you will see it listed under your school on your Manage Classes Page.

Add students

Once the class is created, students can join using the class code. To start, click Add Students to view the class code. Instruct students to go to www.commonlit.org/enroll and enter your class code. If students have an existing CommonLit account, they should log in to their existing account and go to their My Account & Classes page. From there, they should select "Add class code" or "Add another class code" and enter your class code. 

For more detailed instructions, see: How do students create their accounts if they're not imported from an integration like Google Classroom or Clever?

If you want to control your students' usernames and passwords yourself, you can create their accounts for them one at a time by logging out of your teacher account and following the steps above.

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Import classes and students from Google Classroom

1. Go to your Manage Classes page
2. Click Create a Class
3. Click the Import from Google Classroom button
   1. If your account is not yet connected to Google Classroom, select the Google account associated with your Google Classroom classes and allow the required permissions.
4. Select the class(es) you would like to import. 
5. Select the grade(s) and subject area(s) for each class. When you've done this for each of your classes, click Import.
6. CommonLit will import your classes and your students. Please wait up to one minute for your students' accounts to be imported. After a minute, refresh the page to see your students. 
7. Instruct your students to log in to their CommonLit accounts by clicking the "Log in with Google" option on the CommonLit login page. For full instructions on how they should access and set up their accounts, see the How to Log Into CommonLit Using Google student-facing handout.

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Import classes and students from Clever

If your school has chosen to share data with CommonLit via Clever, you can connect your CommonLit account to Clever and import your classes. To do so:

1. Log into CommonLit through Clever by clicking CommonLit on your Clever dashboard or choosing the "Log in with Clever" option on the CommonLit sign in page.
2. Complete the onboarding by logging into your existing CommonLit account. This will connect your CommonLit account to Clever.
3. Select any of your classes available via Clever to import into CommonLit.
   1. If you do not import all classes, you can import additional classes at a later date by clicking Create a class on the Manage Classes page and choosing the Import from Clever option.

If a new student is added to a Clever class you have already imported, they will be added to the class in CommonLit via the weekly sync with Clever on Saturday evening. However, if you would like to add them to the class sooner, simply go to your Manage Classes page and click the Sync with Clever button. Please note, a sync with Clever can take up to 15 minutes to process.

If you do not see CommonLit in your Clever dashboard, reach out to your Clever school/district admin to verify that your school/district has connected to CommonLit on Clever and that you are included among the application's sharing rules. If you and your admin need further assistance, please encourage your admin to reach out to partnerships@commonlit.org to integrate with Clever.

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Import classes and students from Canvas

CommonLit will allow you to import any published, available Canvas courses as CommonLit classes. To import a Canvas course, follow the steps below:

1. On Canvas, click Assignments on your course navigation.
2. Click + Assignment.
3. On your Assignment form, select External Tool under Submission Type.
4. Click Find to search for CommonLit.
   1. If you haven’t already done so, you'll first be prompted to connect your existing CommonLit account to Canvas or create a new CommonLit account linked to Canvas.
5. If your class is published and available to import, click Import Class or click Import from Canvas at the bottom of the screen.
6. Select the grade levels and subjects associated with your class, then click Import.
7. CommonLit will automatically import your class and its students and co-teachers.

Note: Importing classes from Canvas is not required to post assignments to Canvas. Assignments created in any class type can be linked to Canvas. For more information, please see Canvas: How do I post or add an assignment?

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Sync classes and students with ClassLink

If your school uses the ClassLink integration and is sharing data with CommonLit, your account and classes will be imported via the nightly sync with ClassLink. If you want to connect your account to ClassLink sooner, you can log into CommonLit through the ClassLink Launchpad and link your ClassLink account to your CommonLit account. Then, you can click the Sync with ClassLink button on your Manage Classes page to import any classes and students being shared with CommonLit.

If you do not see CommonLit in your ClassLink dashboard, instruct your ClassLink school/district admin to reach out to partnerships@commonlit.org to integrate with ClassLink.

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