Prince William County Public Schools provides a variety of tools to help increase communication between teachers, students, and parents.
iPad at Unity Braxton
This year, your UBMS students tested iPads before they are distributed to all middle schools. iPads will be the standard device for all middle schools next year. Your student will keep their device for all of their time here at Unity Braxton. They will not be issued another device each year. It is important that they take care of their device. Overall the trial has been a positive experience, but we need your help with a few concerns.
- Keep iPads in Cases: iPads should stay in their cases, even when charging. If damaged outside of the case, families are responsible for the cost. Please remind your student to keep their iPad in the case.
- Charge iPads at Home: Many students are coming to school with uncharged iPads, missing valuable instruction. Teachers do not have enough outlets for everyone. Please establish a routine or space at home for charging. If a charger is lost, a new one can be purchased from the school for $5.
- Educational Use Only: The iPad is for school use, not for watching videos or playing games. Misuse can lead to consequences as the school monitors useage.
- Follow School Rules: Students must follow directions for proper iPad use. Misues or vandalism (e.g., writing on the keyboard) will result in referrals.
Canvas Parent
Parents may sign up for an Observer role in Canvas, our learning content management system. With this role, parents and guardians can view their child's courses in Canvas. Observers cannot submit work for the children they observe, but they can see course announcements, course content, and assignments.
- Gettings Started - Pairing
To become an observer, you will first need to obtain a Pairing Code from your student. To find the pairing code, the student will need to log in to Canvas, click on Account on the top left, then settings. Off to the right you should see an option to pair with Observer. Click on that to get the code!
- Canvas Parent - Next Steps
Once you pair with your student's account, you will then be able to see all of your student's courses on your dashboard. From here, you may view content from each specific course. In each course, you will find announcements, a syllabus, and modules that contain notes, assignments, and submissions.
Reminder - Student grades should be accessed through ParentVUE, not Canvas. Report Card grades are pulled from ParentVUE, not Canvas.
Notifications - Canvas notifications can get overwhelming. To adjust your settings, go to Account, Settings, Notifications. From here, you can personalize the type and frequency of the notifications that you receive.
- Canvas Parent Mobile App
There is a Canvas Parent Mobile App available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. While it may sound convenient, the mobile app is very limited in content. For full access from mobile devices, please go through your browser or use a computer.
If you sign in and your mobile app automatically opens, go back to the sign in screen, click on the aA in the address bar, and click on 'Request Desktop Website.'
Additional Canvas information can be found here.
To go to Canvas, click here.
ParentVUE
Upon registration and providing a valid email address, you will recieve a ParentVUE Activation email from [email protected]. With the information from that email, you will be able to set up your ParentVUE account.
From ParentVUE, you can...
- Review messages
- Report absences
- Review grades - assignments that impact overall averages are shown here
- Access your student's schedule
- Review and complete PWCS documents
The ParentVUE mobile app is useful and convenient and available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Additional ParentVUE information can be found here.
To go to ParentVUE, click here.
SchoolStatus
As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, and with family engagement and communication as core aspects of our division's strategic plan, communication from the division and school is shifting to a new communication platform called SchoolStatus. This tool allows for two-way communication with automatic translation, including through text message.
In order to ensure accurate delivery of messages, please make sure that phone numbers and email addresses are up to date in ParentVUE.