Hi @ThomasMenapace,

Grading Periods are a feature that is set up and configured by a school/district/institution Canvas administrator.  Unfortunately, as Free for Teacher is a somewhat globally available Canvas instance, features like Grading Periods are not available in that instance.

If you were to, at some point, have access to a Canvas instance with an administrator overseeing it, they would be able to configure the grading periods on their end and they'd then work in your courses in that new Canvas instance.

Hope this helps!

-Chris