Dear Carmody Middle School 7th Grade Computer Class Parents and Their Children:

What's New?!

  1. Glad to see so many parents last night at the Carmody Middle School Back to School Night. For those of you that were disappointed with my missing two PowerPoint presentations because my projection system didn't work last night, fear not. Below, I will share it with you these two special PowerPoint presentations about pertinent class information.

    2. Very, Very, Very Important Creative News!

  2. I believe it may be important for your child to have access to my 7th grade class’s keyboarding software application for home use. Why? I'd like my students to double and/or triple the speed of their present typing speed of words per minute by the end of the semester. If so, your child be a super typist forever. I know it is possible to accomplish this, especially if we coordinate 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. You will receive a flyer on Monday via your child concerning this special pricing, but I have also enclosed the introductionary letter and form for you to complete. In order to participate, you need to fill out the attached Student Bulk Order Form and returning it to me accompanied by a check in the amount of $21.00 (per program) by September 23, 2005. 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 only the third 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 18 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.

    More New Information!

  3. Word processing instruction will be taking place for the next four weeks beginning on Monday, September 12th. For specific references to this curriculum and daily assignments, please go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/claris_syllabus.html for the schedule and descriptions.

  4. Note: every unit of instruction in Dr. Data's classes has a final video keykboarding project to validate content mastery. For our 3-week keyboarding unit of instruction, a video tape recording of every one of our students typing in home row will be made on Thursday and Friday, September 8 and 9, 2005 with emphasis on little eye contact with the actual keyboarding experience . At parent teacher conference on October 12 and 13, 2005, you can view the video for proof of how well your child types.

  5. The four-week unit of word processing instruction will conclude with a two-page Korean Pen Pal letter that will be in CSAP standards and mailed to Seoul, Korea to Mr. Young-Hun SHIN, English Chairperson in Kwangju district in Seoul, Korea. Their Korean students have studied English since 1st grade and basically read and write as well as our Carmody students. Deadline for submitting the preliminary draft to me is Friday, September 30, 2005 and the final copy along with pictures and other memorabilia is Friday, October 7, 2004. For specific details about this final project, please go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/penpal_908.html

    4. If your child doesn't presently have an A or higher in the 7th Grade Elective Computer Class, please to http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/Success.html and review the 14 points posted on how this can be realistically accomplished. Beginning this week or the fourth week of the semester, daily classroom assignment kick in which can have drastic changes to ones academic standing if daily assignments are not completed and submitted to Dr. Data in an orderly manner But students can also easily complete daily assignments at home for the word processing unit if there is a computer or typewriter at home. For those students who don't have access to computers/typewriters at home, they can make arrangements to stay after school till 3:15 p.m. and use the PC lab on Mondays, Wednesdays (if there is no faculty meeting) and Fridays with advanced notice with Dr. Data. In addition on Tuesdays and Thursdays are available to 3 p.m. via the Carmody Middle Open Lab program in which school buses are provided at no charge to parents/students. So be aware that your child's grades the next two weeks will probably be a good indicator on how well your child is going to do in this class for the rest of this grading period. Please remember to sign your child's web-based progress in Carmody's Parent Portal report system each week along with your child's name printed so 25 extra-credit points can be earned each week. For parents without Internet access, have your child print out a weekly progress report every Monday and returned that same week to Dr. Data. When the Carmody Parent Portal system is up and running, I will notify you by e-mail ASAP!

    Closing Comments

  6. If you have any questions about your child's work or class procedures, please don't hesitate to contact Dr. Data at either his e-mail address at: jkuzmich@jeffco.k12.co.us or jkuzmich@earthlink.net as well as his voice mail system at: 303-982-8883. For pressing issues, the fastest way to contact Dr. Data is to call the Carmody main office phone at 303-982-8930 and the receptionist will post a "love note" in his mail box for his prompt attention.

  7. Don't forget to visit Dr. Data's lesson plans on his weekly voice message system about the week's instruction. This could be particularly valuable whenever your child is absent from school or on a school field trip. Again, do so, please call 303-982-8883 24/7. The message is usually updated by Friday for the upcoming week's instruction.

  8. Hope this installment of Dr. Data's 7th grade elective computer class newsletter is helpful in keeping you up-to-date with your child's activities. If you should ever not be pleased with your child's grades, there is unlimited makeup on all assignments and tests before the end of the present grading period of September 30, 2005. In addition, there are floating A's that can cashed in plus unlimited extra-credit that can be earned at home or after school. Have your child see Dr. Data for more details. And if that wasn't enough, students will earn 2 extra-credit points for every page that they type for a teacher at Carmody and one point per every page for non-school typing.

  9. Hope this information is helpful and have a great Labor Day weekend.

Till next time,

Dr. Data