What's in this article?

Why House Points?

House Points is an optional system you can run with LiveSchool, but can be HUGE in facilitating your positive school culture. It builds camaraderie and school spirit between your students and faculty.

There's some work to get started, but once you do, House Points can be a major contributor to your community (and be a whole lot of fun).

If you need a little more inspiration, check out the video below to see what House Points can do.

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Set Up Houses

You can create up to 12 Houses in LiveSchool, and there are three ways to assign students to a House: manually, randomly, and by grade.

Looking for creative ways to name your Houses? Check out our 1,000+ House names!

First, go to House Points then click "House Setup."

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Setup Option 1: Sort Students by Grade

From the House Setup screen, click on "Create Houses Using our Grade Lists".

It takes just one click to sort your students in grade level Houses. When you do, your Houses will be named based on the grade number, but you can rename them by customizing the House name (below).

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Setup Option 2: Sort Students Randomly

From the House Setup screen click on "Sort my students into Houses for me." Then enter the names of the houses you'd like and click "Continue".

To sort students randomly, choose Sort my students into Houses for me, choose how many Houses you'd like to create, name your Houses, then Create Houses!

You can then download a House list to announce Houses to students!

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Setup Option 3: Create Houses from Pre-Sorted Groups

To create Houses from Rosters you've already created, click on "I've set up my House rosters" and search for the House rosters you've built.

To sort your Houses manually, you'll first need to create rosters for each of your Houses. Once you do you can link them to House Points. Click here for a detailed step-by-step.

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Customize Your Houses

House names and colors are very important. Once you've set up your Houses, you can control what names and colors are displayed on the House Points Dashboard any time during your competition using the steps below.

From the House Setup screen, click on "I've set up my House Rosters" and select "Options" for each house.

From the House Points main menu, choose House Setup then I've set up my Houses. Click Options, then you can select Edit Name or Change Color.

The House Points Dashboard will update instantly.

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Run Your Competition

Setting a Start Date (and Re-Starting the Competition)

The House Points Dashboard will only show points earned after the start date.

Set the start date for the day before the first day of your competition, and repeat these steps if you'd like to restart the games for a new quarter, no need to clear your site's history.

The start date updates the dashboard for everyone in the school.

From the House Points screen select Options and click on the date. Set a new date on the calendar.

From the House Points main menu, choose Options, then click the date next to "Competition Start Date:". Choose a new date and click back, and the Dashboard will be updated automatically, and for the whole school.

Do not click "Delete Houses" unless you'd like to reset house points to default settings. But if you do, don't worry! You can re-link your house rosters to House Points using these steps.

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Subtract Negative Points from House Totals?

You can choose whether negative points earned by individual students deduct from House totals.

This setting is separate from the Subtract Points for Negative Behavior setting that affects student point balances.

From the Options screen, select Yes, Subtract Points or No, Don't Subtract to determine if demerits will be removed from your Houses.

From House Points main menu, choose Options, then click No, Don't Subtract to make your choice.

When "Yes, Subtract Points" is chosen, the Dashboard will update for the whole school with what negative point (behavior) was recorded, but will not show which student earned the negative point.

Please also note that switching this on is retroactive. Any old demerits that were issued could cause the totals shown on the House Points Dashboard to decrease

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Display The Dashboard!

Displaying the House Points Dashboard can add an exciting, and rewarding, element to your competition. Every time a point is earned, the student's name is recognized on the Dashboard -- including which point they earned.

Your dashboard also displays the real-time standing point balance/score for each House in your competition. As each house earns points, the totals change in real-time. We recommend that you display your dashboard throughout the building in common areas so that students are more engaged with your competition.

Display the Dashboard on Smartboards or large televisions.

Requirements to Display the House Points Dashboard

To display the House Points dashboard, you'll need:

a TV
a connected device (or integrated technology in your TV) that can connect to the internet, navigate to a certain screen in LiveSchool, and login to your LiveSchool account.
an input device (for example, a keyboard and mouse) to accomplish the above login + navigation

How To Display the House Points Dashboard

Attach your internet-connected device to your TV.
Using your input device (keyboard and mouse), log in to LiveSchool.
Navigate to the House Points section of LiveSchool.
Click Points Dashboard.
Leave your device connected to this screen. You will remain logged in, and your dashboard will update in realtime.

If you have trouble, try to display the House Points dashboard by navigating directly to the URL insights.liveschoolapp.com. From that URL, log in using your LiveSchool account credentials.

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View the Points Dashboard from the House Points section of the app.

You can also print House posters to keep your students in the loop if your school doesn't have TVs.

Looking for more LiveSchool Resources? Click here!