Edit Curriculum

Modified on Sat, Jun 27 at 9:45 PM

Edit curriculum and add custom lessons

Summary: The curriculum editor lets you reorder subcategories and lessons, add your own custom lessons, and create new subcategories and categories so the curriculum matches your school. This requires curriculum editing permission, which Account Owners and Administrators have, along with any teacher an administrator has given curriculum-editor access. To reach the editor, switch to Account Admin using the context switcher in the upper-right corner, then open Curriculum under Settings in the left menu. Note that the built-in Montessori lessons are managed and cannot be edited. You can add your own custom lessons alongside them.

Who can do this

Editing curriculum requires the right role. Here is who can and cannot do it:

Account Owners and Administrators can edit curriculum.
A Teacher who has been given curriculum-editor access can edit curriculum in addition to managing their classroom. This is a toggle an administrator turns on for a teacher, not a separate role, and it grants curriculum editing only.
Teachers cannot edit curriculum. They can manage their classroom only.

Curriculum editing is available to Account Owners, Administrators, and any teacher an administrator has given curriculum-editor access. If you are not sure whether you have it, ask an administrator at your school, they can turn it on for you.

Open the curriculum editor

Use the context switcher in the upper-right corner and switch to Account Admin.
In the left menu, under Settings, click Curriculum. This opens the curriculum editor.

How the curriculum is organized

The curriculum follows a clear hierarchy, and understanding it makes everything else easier:

Categories are the top level, listed on the curriculum editor page. Each category shows its subcategory count and total lesson count.
Subcategories sit inside each category. Click a category to expand it and see them. You can also use Expand All to open everything at once.
Lessons sit inside each subcategory. Each lesson can include elements, the measurable learning objectives tied to that material.

This Category, Subcategory, Lesson structure is the backbone of the curriculum, and it is what the sequencing and custom-lesson tools below work within.

Managed lessons vs. your custom lessons

This is the most common point of confusion, so it is worth being clear.

The built-in Montessori lessons that come with the platform are managed lessons. You cannot edit them. If you open the menu on a managed lesson, you will see Preview and Archive, but not Edit, along with a note that reads "Managed lesson. You can't edit this lesson." This protects the integrity of the core Montessori scope and sequence.

What you can do:

Preview a managed lesson to see its full details.
Archive a managed lesson to remove it from your active curriculum if your school does not use it.
Add your own custom lessons anywhere in the curriculum. Custom lessons are fully editable.

So if you need to change something about a managed lesson, the path is to add a custom lesson with the content you want, not to edit the managed one.

Reading the lesson list

Inside a subcategory, each lesson row shows several columns at a glance:

Elements shows how many elements the lesson contains.
Details shows two icons: a document icon for the teacher-facing details and a photo icon indicating whether photos are attached.
Year cycle shows the relevant grades or year cycles for the lesson (for example, Toddler, or PK1, PK2, K).
Essential shows a star. A filled star means the lesson is marked Essential.

Reorder subcategories and lessons

You can re-sequence the curriculum using drag and drop, with one important boundary described below.

To reorder subcategories:

Turn on the Sort subcategories toggle at the bottom of the editor. A banner confirms you can drag and drop items to change their order.
Drag the subcategories into the order you want.
Turn Sort subcategories back off when you are done.

To reorder lessons within a subcategory:

Click into the subcategory.
Use the same sequencing option for lessons, then drag and drop them into the order you want.

The one limit on moving lessons

Drag-and-drop sequencing only works within a single subcategory. You cannot drag a lesson from one subcategory into a different subcategory, or into a different area of the curriculum.

If you need a lesson to live in a different area, do not try to move it. Instead, create a new lesson in the area where you want it, following the steps below.

What the Essential star does

Lessons can be marked Essential using the star in the Essential column. The Essential mark adds an extra layer of filtering. On the Journal / record-keeping view, you can choose Essentials Only to narrow the view to just those lessons. It is a way to highlight and quickly focus on the lessons that matter most.

Add a custom lesson

Go to the category and subcategory where you want the lesson to live.
Click Add Lesson. This opens a window with four tabs: Info, Elements, Parents/Guardians notes, and Parents/Guardians photos.
On the Info tab, enter the details. Title is required. Grades/Years is required and lets you select one or more (for example, PK1 and PK2). Description is optional, and you can use the Add Attachment link to attach a file.
On the Elements tab, add one or more elements with Add Element. Elements can be reordered by dragging and removed with the trash icon. Elements are optional.
On the Parents/Guardians notes tab, add a parent-facing description if you want one. Optional.
On the Parents/Guardians photos tab, upload photos for parents to view in reports if you record this lesson for their child. Optional.
Click Create to save the lesson.

Add a custom subcategory or category

If a new lesson needs a home that does not exist yet, you can build the structure for it.

To add a subcategory: open the category, choose to add a subcategory, then enter a Title and an optional Description and click Create.

To add a category: click Add Category in the upper-right of the editor, then enter a Title and an optional Description and click Create.

Between custom lessons, custom subcategories, and custom categories, you can fully customize the curriculum to meet your school's needs.

A few things worth knowing

You cannot edit the built-in managed lessons. To change how something is taught or recorded, add a custom lesson with the content you want, and archive the managed lesson if you do not want it showing.
Drag-and-drop reordering only works inside a subcategory. Moving a lesson elsewhere means recreating it in the new location.
Only a Title and Grades/Years are required to create a lesson. Description, elements, parent notes, and parent photos can all be added now or later.
If you are not sure whether you have curriculum-editor access, ask an administrator at your school, they can turn it on for you.

User roles and the Account Admin area
Recording a lesson and selecting its elements
Filtering the curriculum and record keeping by Essential lessons
Understanding Grades and Year cycles
Archiving lessons

Watch the video

Here is a short video covering this topic for additional reference.