Parent Communications with LMS

Since all of our students in the District have either iPads or laptops, most of their classes should be using some type of learning management system, or LMS.

An LMS provides teachers a way to share assignments and digital resources
It also provide students a way to submit assignments digitally to demonstrate learning.
This should be a routine part of our students' learning experiences.


There are several Learning Management Systems available.  Those most commonly used in our District include:

        SeeSaw - this is primarily directed towards our K-2 students, but works at all levels
        Canvas
        Schoology
        Google Classroom
        Inkling - All of our K-4 students can use this for PLTW Launch

Apple Classroom is something completely different, but is often a mistaken part of this conversation.  More details will be coming soon about this amazing tool.
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- These LMS applications are all free to use and available on iPads or laptops.

- Students' Google accounts may be used to log in to Canvas, Schoology, or Classroom.

- Canvas, Schoology, and Google Classroom all tie in very well with Google Drive documents.

- All but Inkling have some type of parent communication component.  This is an easy way to communicate with parents about what is going on in class.

- Paid versions of Canvas and Schoology may be tied in with Infinite Classroom so that class lists and course grades are synchronized daily.  Assignments created with Google Classroom may be also quickly used as assignments with both of these applications.
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Parent Communications:

Communicating with parents is an important part of continuing learning beyond the classroom and provide an effective means to support children outside of class.

with Google Classroom:

To add parents to your class roster Sign in to Classroom with your Google Account. ... Click the class. At the top, click Students. Next to a student's name, click Invite Guardians. In the text field, enter a guardian's email address. ... Click Invite to send the invitation. Once this is set up, notifications will be sent to parents via email.	Parents may be added to your class list if you see this box to the left of your classs list.
When invited, here is the link parents will be taken to.  They will need to 'Accept' being on this list.  The following screen will allow then to set their preference of how often they would like to receive email summaries.

with Canvas and Schoology:

Teachers may invite parents to any class as 'observers' and have similar viewing access as the students.  In Canvas, you actually add 'People'.  The drop-down shown here will determine their role. Parents may log into a course in the same way that their students do.  They can 'see' the course, but, as expected, cannot submit anything.

with SeeSaw:

SeeSaw works well for younger students.  They did a great job making this application easy for teachers and students.  It works especially well with sketches and pictures taken with the camera. Students can use a QR code to quickly enroll in a teacher's course. Once students are added parents/families may be added to receive class notifications or have a chance to view their child's work.

Please let me know if you would like to learn more about creating parent connections through Learning Management Systems.