August 28, 2008

Dear 7th & 8th Dr. Data Computer Class Parents:

Welcome to the second newsletter for Dr. Data's classes.

Here are some tips for your perusal.

  1. Grades are usually posted daily before Dr. Data leaves school by 4 p.m. So parents and students can have a daily intelligent dinner conversation about what their child did in my class on a daily basis. Strongly suggest that you use your Carmody's Parent Portal at https://campus.jeffco.k12.co.us/campus/portal/jeffco_IC.jsp If parents don't have a log in for Carmody Parent Portal, you need to to go to the school office in person to obtain because of security. Note: sometimes Dr. Data will complete posting grades late in the evening occasionally. So check in the morning for updates if you feel there are some missing grades from the previous day.

  2. If you ever need to contact Dr. Data, please e-mail him at: jkuzmich@earthlink.net as his primary e-mail address. Don't get discouraged if you can spam messenger error. He will change the spam blocker to accept your e-mails.

  3. Important Special Offer: I believe it may be important for your child to have access to my 7th grade classes keyboarding software application for home use. Oddly enough, my 7th grade students tend to type better than my 8th grade students. Since all students will be tested every Friday beginning next week, it is important that their speed and accuracy be maximized since my grading system is not restricted to 100 points. See my grading scale at: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/typing.html. Outstanding students can earn far beyond 100 points on a 100 point test!

    Normally, I'd like my students to double and/or triple their present speed typing speed of words per minute by the end of the semester. If so, your child be a super typist forever and obtain great typing scores as indicated by my grading scale above. Unfortunately, some students will not practice beyond class time and consequently, their speeds do not change much. But I know it is possible to accomplish this double or triple speed improvement, especially if coordinate with typing practice at home between now and the end of school. It would also be possible for others in your family to benefit from this instructional CD-ROM. Especially if you have younger children who could also be exposed to it. Carmody Middle School has a site license for the software application, All the Right Type, for use in our school PC computer lab. This is a highly effective ‘learn to keyboard” program. Ingenuity Works, the publisher of All the Right Type, has a special arrangement that enables students and parents to purchase a home version of this program for a very reasonable reduced price. In order to participate, you need to download the forms yourself at http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/ATRT_Letter.html and return to Dr. Data ASAP.

    Please fill out the attached Student Bulk Order Form and returning it to me accompanied by a check in the amount of $23.00 (per program) by Friday, September 5, 2008. Be sure to include your child's name on the check. The check should be addressed to: Carmody Middle School. No cash please. These charges include:

    Important: the order will be cancelled unless a minimum of 10 orders are placed.

    If you would like to investigate more about this product, ask your child about this software application as there are using it class daily as well as visit the product's web site for more details at: http://www.ingenuityworks.com/iworks/main/products/all_the_right_type_3/

    Hope this information is helpful. This is the fourth year that we have offered this product to Carmody parents through our site license relationship and the results are amazing for students who practice daily at home. For example for one student who had a lot of difficulty in learning how to type, that child in one semester went from one word per minute to 32 words a minute. Usually, students who practice at home daily will easily double or triple their present typing speed by the end of the semester. And having the same program at home that we use in school is very helpful. An order form was given to your child last week. You can also download the forms yourself, please go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/ATRT_Letter.html and return to Dr. Data ASAP.

  4. Must see to believe it! Creativity in the Carmody Computer Program. Dr. Data is now sponsoring many extra-credit opportunities for both 7th and 8th grades to do on computers for Carmody faculty members. Whenever they have finished their daily and/or weekly work, these students can be assigned to undertake special assignments for Carmody staff and to be rewarded extra-credit . Most of the seventeen projects deal with multimedia applications including graphics and layout, such as newsletters, banners, flyers, PowerPoint slideshows, web pages, and much more. For more details, go to http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/Projects.html for actual samples of work done by our students for Carmody's faculty. Not only a great way to provide valuable services to our faculty, but talented students who participate in these extra-credit projects can also apply to be a student assistants next semester specializing in creative computer generated projects for Carmody. With practice, both my 7th & 8th grade computer students will gain confidence and real-work experience using computers as they contribute to the Carmody environment. And I already have some qualified 7th grader students who will be doing award certificates for our faculty for Carmody staff as well for extra-credit. If your 7th or 8th grade child would benefit from such experiences , please e-mail Dr. Data about this matter as several faculty members already have projects to be done ASAP! Already several award certificates designed by 7th graders are now posted at: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/Projects.html for your perusal.

  5. On Tuesday, September 2nd, eighth grade classes will began Week 4 instruction at:  http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/business/Week4.html .  This week, my students are learning to make their business logos and business cards this week.

  6. Seventh grades classes will begin with word processing on Tuesday, September 2nd. You can peruse the curriculum at: Word Processing: 4 weeks, September to early October for first semester and January to February for second semester classes. There are 18 assignments in this unit of instruction.

  7. Had a great time at the Carmody Back To School Night this last Thursday from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. All parents who attend Dr. Data's presentation in his classroom earned 10 bonus points awarded to their child as part of his Floating 'A' program.

  8. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Hope this helps and looking forward to a successful semester. Please stay in touch with Carmody's Parent Portal at https://campus.jeffco.k12.co.us/campus/portal/jeffco_IC.jsp

Till next time,

Dr. Data