Canvas is Shakopee's Learning Management System. Teachers use Canvas to post announcements, deliver materials, and collect digital work from students. Students can submit assignments, take quizzes, participate in discussion boards, access resources, and track their to-do list. Canvas is used in grades 6-12, Shakopee Online, and some elementary classrooms. Scroll down to see ⭐️ directions for setting up a parent account and tips for using Canvas.
Parents/Guardians can sign up to become "Observers" of their students in Canvas in order to see course materials, grades and feedback students receive on their assignments, and view a calendar that shows due dates for all of their classes.
DeleteWe have two systems in Shakopee that have similar sounding names. This chart illustrates how these systems are used in Shakopee Public Schools. Parents with secondary students (grades 6-12) should create both Canvas and Infinite Campus accounts.
Infinite Campus |
Canvas |
What is it?
Who is using it?
What will I find there?
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What is it?
Who is using it?
What will I find there?
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Additional background about Canvas
Canvas is a very powerful and flexible tool for teachers to deliver instruction to students. With all students 6th-12th having their own device to use, it is essential for workflow of files and resources. Canvas gives parents a window into the classroom so they can see the work of their students and help support them with due dates via the calendar. Here's a video with more information about the Canvas Parent mobile app.
⭐️ Canvas Parent-Guardian Accounts
In August 2025, we will be making a significant change to how parent-guardian (also known as observer) accounts are created.
- Canvas usernames will match the parent portal username in Infinite Campus.
- We will automatically pair parent/guardian accounts with their students.
Unfortunately, the only way to set this up is to remove all current observer (parent/guardian) accounts and start over. We understand that this will be an inconvenience for some existing users but it was unavoidable.
What you can do on the Canvas website
Here are some things you can do/places you can go starting from the Canvas home page. There are 5 areas of interest for this page, as shown in the picture below.
- Settings: You can customize your notification preferences, among other things, in your personal settings. Your settings are always available from any Canvas page in the upper left-hand corner if you click Account. Then click on Notifications. Once in Notifications, you can change how often you are notified about aspects of your children’s courses. Hover over notification box to change their frequency.
- Courses: This is where you view all of the individual courses for your child.
- Calendar: The Calendar shows a view of all course due dates, including ungraded updates of in class work.
- Coming Up: This is a notification center for a quick view of upcoming items and events.
- Grades: This button will show grades for each course. You can then click on each course to view more details about your student's grade and see whether students have submitted their work.
⭐️ What you can do on the Canvas Parent app
The Canvas Parent app offers a limited view of everything in Canvas, but is easy to view one student at a time. In the Canvas Parent app, you will see a screen that looks like this:
1. User Menu: send messages to teachers, add additional students, get help, change user, or log out. It is recommended that you email teachers directly with questions instead of using Canvas to message teachers.
2. Select Student: Switch between multiple students. You will need to use the User Menu and have a pairing code to add additional students.
3. Courses: View courses that are currently active for your student. Grades will also display for the course here. Tapping on a course will display more grading details and the home page for the course. Tapping on an assignment will allow you to see directions for the assignment, whether it was submitted, and set an alert to remind yourself to check in with your student.
4. Calendar: The calendar displays which assignments are due each day.
5. Alerts: They indicate if assignments are missing, have received a grade, etc.
Customize your email notifications
Once you have an account, be sure to edit the notifications or you will receive a lot of emails. Notifications can be found in your account settings in Canvas. We recommend setting the following notifications to either notify right away, daily summary, or weekly summary. Turn off the rest.
- Announcements
- Grading
- Submission Comment
- Conversations (all)
- Global Announcements
How to support your student(s)
Now that you have a Canvas account, consider how you will monitor your student's progress. A few recommendations are:
- Designate a day each week that you will review Canvas with your student.
- Review the previous week to see what assignments are missing.
- Dig into classes with lower grades to see what could be resubmitted to earn a better grade.
- Use the calendar to look ahead to next week to plan ahead for upcoming deadlines.
- Email teachers if you have questions about assignments or grades.
Change/reset your password
- Go to shakopee.instructure.com on a computer or mobile browser. You cannot change your password in the Canvas Parent mobile app. Click on “Forgot Password” to receive an email to reset it or sign in to change it.
2. Sign in and click on Account in the upper-left corner.
3. Click on Settings, then Edit Settings.
4. Check the box to change your password. Enter your old and new password and then click "Update Settings."
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Contact Tech Support
If a parent or guardian is having technical issues, please email parenthelp@shakopee.k12.mn.us or call (952) 697-8701. If you have questions about the content of a course such as an assignment or grade, please email the teacher of that course.