Hello, Harmony / Pioneer Virtual Academy Families,
Welcome back to a new school year! We are excited to serve you and your family. We look forward to being a part of your student’s learning journey. If you have completed course selection and had it approved by your mentor, you should be receiving your curriculum and Canvas logins soon, if you haven’t already. If you have any questions throughout the year, you can reach out to your mentor.
You should have received an introductory email from your mentor. If you haven’t or don’t know who your mentor is, you can find your mentor information in the Family Resource Center. Go to the Parent Dashboard > Click your student’s name on the right > Enrollment Information.
In this Touchpoint:
- Calendars
- Important: Pioneer Homeroom / Attendance
- Flex Submission Dates
- Portfolio Submissions for 1st Quarter
- Canvas Tips
- MobyMax Placement Tests and Quiz Resets
- Odyssey Curriculum and Quiz Resets
- Ordering
- Get Social
Calendars
A great place to stay up-to-date on important dates is the calendar found on the parent dashboard. Here you’ll find information such as Flex submission dates, testing dates, school dates, etc.
Click here for the official Pioneer Virtual Academy calendar for the 2023-24 school year.
Upcoming School Dates:
Aug 1: First Day of School
Sep 4: Labor Day (No School)
Sep 28: End of 1st Quarter
Sep 29: Fair Day (No School)
Oct 2-6: Fall Break (No School)
Important: Pioneer Homeroom / Attendance
Be sure to have your child respond to the weekly discussion post in the Pioneer Homeroom in Canvas. The question is posted each Friday, and you have until the following Friday to answer the question. Responding each week provides Pioneer Virtual Academy a weekly “attendance log” and helps them to have a connection with students. This is an important part of your child’s attendance with PVA
If you have any questions about the weekly Homeroom question, please contact your mentor.
Flex Submission Dates
Here are the Flex Direct and Flex Independent submission dates for the 1st semester. Be sure to submit your students’ worksheets on time as this tracks attendance and progress.
August 11 – (Kindergarten – Language Arts, Math, Social Studies)
August 25 – (Kindergarten – Language Arts, Math, Science)
September 8 – (Kindergarten – Language Arts, Math, Social Studies)
September 22 – (Kindergarten – Language Arts, Math, Science)
October 13 – (Kindergarten – Language Arts, Math, Social Studies)
October 27 – (Kindergarten – Language Arts, Math, Science)
November 10 – (Kindergarten – Language Arts, Math, Social Studies)
December 1 – (Kindergarten – Language Arts, Math, Science)
December 15 – (No Kindergarten Submission)
To find helpful information about Flex Direct or Flex Independent courses, log into the Family Resource Center and go to the Curriculum Orientation. From the sidebar menu in the Flex Direct and Flex Independent sections, you’ll find FAQs, which include submission instructions and a submission video.
Portfolio Submissions for 1st Quarter
For Harmony Portfolio courses, the 1st quarter portfolio submissions are due on Sept 22. All portfolios need to be submitted no later than December 15 to give the teachers time to review and grade them.
The guidelines for portfolios are as follows:
- 5-8 portfolio items per subject.
- Items need to show student work, and examples could include worksheets, reports, tests/quizzes, science projects, etc. Remember that portfolio Items need to be the student’s actual work, not a learning log or description of what the student has been doing.
- Portfolio items need to be grade-level work.
- Portfolio items need to demonstrate student work over the course of 2 months.
Canvas Tips
Here are some useful tips in Canvas for Flex, Portfolio, and Homeroom courses.
When you go to your child’s Canvas account, select Calendar on the left side. The calendar view shows the previous and upcoming submissions for all of that student’s courses in Canvas.
- You can click on the item and a box will pop up with details. You can then click on each item to go right to the submission in the course.
Also, be sure to check back in Canvas to see comments from the graders and teachers. When you go to the student’s Canvas account, there will be alerts on the right for any comments from teachers. Or you select the course, then select Grades > Score. If there is a comment icon, you can click on that to see the comment.
- Based on the comment, you might want to resubmit the assignment.
MobyMax Placement Tests and Quiz Resets
If your child has a MobyMax course, be sure to check out the helpful information in the MobyMax section of the Curriculum Orientation. If you would like your child to take a placement assessment for Language Arts or Math, please contact your mentor, and we’ll get that set up for you.
Also, if you would like your child to retake a MobyMax quiz or redo a lesson, please contact your mentor with the module name and quiz or lesson title. Lessons and quizzes that have been reset will generally appear in the Assignments tab on the MobyMax student dashboard.
Odyssey Curriculum and Quiz Resets
Here’s some helpful information from the Odyssey section of the Curriculum Orientation for resetting quizzes and tests.
Reviewing Lesson Materials before Taking a Quiz
To review lesson materials before taking a quiz, the student would not find these learning activities in the gradebook. They would need to go back to the portfolio to find them. Once you find it, click on the details and look at the activities that precede the quiz.
Retaking Activity Quizzes
Odyssey activity quizzes can be redone by typing the activity code in the bottom right corner of their homepage in Odyssey. Learning activities and activity quizzes disappear when they are completed. To find the activity code, students can look in their Portfolio, on the top left side of their homepage in Odyssey, or in the Gradebook. Then copy the activity code and paste it into the box next to the magnifying glass on the Odyssey homepage. Push “enter” and the quiz will appear again.
Resetting Lesson Quizzes and Chapter Tests
There are some activities that don’t have activity codes. These are lesson quizzes or chapter tests. These have to be reset by a member of the Odyssey team. Please fill in the form at this link for a reset: https://harmonyed.com/orientation/curriculum/section/7430969/topic/7430979/
You can also request a quiz reset by going to this link: harmonyed.com/quiz-reset/
Resource Orders
Ordering is open for all types of orders. For all the ordering types except reimbursement, you can submit one order per semester per student. The 1st semester ordering period is July 1- Oct 31, and the 2nd semester ordering period is Dec 1 – Jan 31.
Request Technology: This is the best place to order laptops to make sure they are ordered in case there are any hold-ups with your orders.
Request Educational Supplies & Resources: Order all your general supplies, workbooks, textbooks, pencils, art supplies, museum membership, etc. You can submit items from multiple websites.
Request 3rd Party Payments: Once your 3rd party vendors are approved, you can request the payment for them here. You will receive a check to pay them once it is processed. If your child is taking a full-year class, make sure to split up the payments and only pay by semester.
Request Curriculum Subscriptions and/or Kits: If you want to purchase curriculum or other subscriptions offered through Harmony (like MobyMax, Dreambox, etc.) and use it as an extra resource, this is the place.
Request Reimbursement: Reimbursements can be submitted up to 10 times per year – once for each month of the school year. Only one file can be submitted per submission, but you include several receipts into one Google or Microsoft Word doc and submit them that way.
Request Educational Subscriptions: Educational subscriptions include subscriptions for Tinker Crate, ABC Mouse, Kiwi Crate, and dozens of other educational subscription options. If you don’t see an item listed, you can request that subscription when you request school supplies on the resource order form.
Get Social
Are you part of our growing community of Harmony parents? If not, please join us and get social. It’s a great place to share what is working with your family, ask questions of other parents, and receive updates on Harmony activities.
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/harmonyedTennessee/
- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/harmonyed_/
We wish you a wonderful school year!
Brianna Webster, Pioneer Account Manager (bwebster@harmonyed.com)
Denise Glines, Paraeducator (dglines@harmonyed.com)
Carly Edwards, Mentor (cedwards@harmonyed.com)