1. Start on the TIES home page or InforMNs home page.
2. Click on the SchoolTIES logo.
3. Once you are on the SchoolTIES page, click on the "Sign Up" link on the left side of the screen.
4. On the Sign Up page, click on the "I have my code and I am ready to start my page" link.
5. Enter your activation code, then click the Activate Me button.
6. On the registration page, you will need to enter information about your classroom and create passwords for security.
   
   Visitor password: Type a password for your visitors to use. (You must type a password when you create a new account.) The password is the word that will be used every time someone wants to look at your page; this includes you, students, parents, administrators, everyone. Note: You may go into the edit mode once you have created your page and delete the password so it is no longer needed by a visitor to access your page.
   
   Teacher login and teacher password: These words give you and only you access to edit your page. The teacher login and password should be different from each other and not easily guessed. Using your first or last name is not a good idea. Using both numbers and letters in your login and password is the most secure. Each login and password must contain at least 4 characters, and only numbers and letters (no spaces or special characters) can be used.
   
   When all text boxes on the registration page have been filled in, click on the Submit button. The next screen reviews the login and password you have entered. It is a good idea to print this page and save it in a safe place. After you have printed the page, click on the "Create your page" link at the bottom of the text.
7. On the password page, type in your visitor password and click on the Go button. You should now see your page.
   

1. To log in to the SchoolTIES editor, click on the "Teacher Login" link on the left side of the page, then enter your teacher login and password and click on Go.
2. Use the links on the left side of the page to access the different sections of your SchoolTIES pages.

Your welcome message is located at the top of your front page. Change it as often as you like.

Tip: You can spell-check your message by composing it in your favorite word processing application, then cutting and pasting it into the message text box. The SchoolTIES Editor will even retain your formatting.

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Browse your calendar items by selecting a month and date from the drop-down menu or clicking on the arrows on either side of the month menu.

To add a calendar item:
Click on the "Add new calendar item" link. A window will pop up in which you can enter the information.

Calendar items contain three fields:
DATE: This is the date that your item will be shown on your calendar. 
TITLE: This should be descriptive but short. For example, "No school" or "Picture Day" work well, but "Due to the blizzard, there will be no school today" is too long. Save the details for your calendar message.
MESSAGE: This is where you can add details about the calendar item.

Insert another item or close this window and return to the Calendar Editor.

To edit an existing calendar item:
Click on the Edit button and you will see the same window in which you added a new calendar item. Make your changes in the appropriate fields, then click on the Update Calendar Item button.

To delete a calendar item:
Put a check mark in the box (by clicking on the box) next to the item (or items) you wish to delete, then click on the Delete selected button.

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The Assignment Editor displays all of the assignments that you have entered into SchoolTIES. To help you organize and keep track of your assignments, the SchoolTIES Editor lets you view them by month or class.

Assignments are, by default, displayed beginning the date that you enter them in the Assignment Editor. You can prevent an assignment from being displayed but keep it in your database by clicking on Display to remove the check mark and then clicking on the Update Assignment button. When you are ready to display the assignment, click on Display to remove the check mark and then on Update Assignment. 

To find all of your assignments for a particular month, select a month and year from the Select box, then click on Go. 

Browse to the previous or next month's assignments by clicking on one of the arrows on either side of "Show assignments from." 

Browse assignments by class by selecting a class from the list on the top of the page. You will see all of the assignments that you have created for this class.

Organizing your assignments:
Use the Class/Unit Field on the Add Assignment screen to organize your assignments. Choose a few categories into which all of your assignments can fit. For example, Science, Math, Reading, Health and so on might work if you are an elementary school teacher. If you teach algebra, you might want to organize by chapters or topic areas ("Chapter 1: Real Numbers," "Chapter 2: Variables," etc.). You can then place information about individual assignments in the Title and Description fields of the Add Assignment form.

Attaching files to your assignments:
You can attach files to your assignments so your students can download and print worksheets, forms or other material they might need to complete the assignment. Each SchoolTIES account has 20MB of storage available for photos and assignment files.

These file types can be attached: 

• Text files (*.txt)
• Rich text documents (*.rtf)
• Word documents (*.doc)
• JPEG photos (*.jpg)
• GIF image files (*.gif)
• Zip files (*.zip)
• Stuffit files (*.sit)

To attach a file to your assignment:

• If you haven't already, create an assignment, then return to the assignment display screen.
• If a file is not already attached to the assignment, you will see the "Attach file" link. Click on the link to open the Attach File form.
• Click on the Browse button to find the location on your computer of the file you want to attach.
• Once you have selected the file, click on the Add File button to upload it.
• If your upload is successful, you will see on the assignment display screen that the "Attach file" link has changed to the name of the file that you just uploaded. The file is now available to your visitors.

You will receive an error message if you try to upload a file that is not one of the accepted types or causes you to exceed the 20MB storage limit.

Deleting attached files:
It is a good idea to periodically go through your assignments and delete outdated files. To do this, click on the "Delete file" link next to the file to be removed. 

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Your resource list is located on the right side of your home page. To create a link to another web page, type the address (URL) of the web page in the URL field of the Resource List Editor, and a link will be created automatically.

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To upload a photo to your Photo Album: 

• Click on the Browse button to find the picture on your computer that you want to attach. You can upload JPEG (*.jpg) and GIF (*.gif) images.
• Once you have selected the picture, click on the Add Photo button to upload it.
• Each SchoolTIES account has 20MB of storage available for photos and assignment files.

Tip: Keep the size of your photo under 30 KB and its width to less than 150 pixels; anything larger will not display correctly in your Photo Album. 

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Your login and password may contain only letters and numbers and are NOT case-sensitive.

Please record your login and password and keep them in a safe place.

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1. Click on the "Colors and logo" link in the SchoolTIES Editor, then click on the Browse button to find the location on your computer of the file you want to attach.
2. Once you have selected the file, click on the Add File button to upload it. Your logo needs to be 140 x 150 pixels or smaller. The existing SchoolTIES logo, for example, is 82 x 109 pixels.

1. Click on the "Colors and logo" link in the SchoolTIES Editor, then click on the color picker icon. When the color palette pops up, click on the color you want. Then click "Change menu color."

Customize your SchoolTIES page to fit the needs of your classroom using the Layout Manager. To choose which SchoolTIES sections will be displayed on your page, click on the link in the edit column next to the appropriate sections. If you choose to hide a section, you can still view and edit any content on it.