Dear Carmody Middle School Elective 8th Grade Parents and Students:

  1. There's now only one more week before the first grading period at Carmody Middle School officially comes to closure. Please utilize the Carmody Parent Portal at https://campus.jeffco.k12.co.us/campus/portal/jeffco_IC.jsp to know how your child is keeping up with Dr. Data's assignments and tests. Especially since there have been seven word processing assignments given since last week!

  2. Just completed a rather challenging week in the PC lab because the school's networking system has been down for the past four days. So students have not been able to save their work to their folders nor open up their previously saved work. And worst yet, nobody can access the Internet and/or print, including Dr. Data. However, Dr. Data has been inputing daily grades into his notebook computer via a "wireless" Internet connection which is both slow and unstable. But at least, you still are able to check your child's grades on a daily basis. With only one week left in the grading period, the timing for the network problem couldn't be worse because many Carmody teachers are having difficulty in inputting their grades into Carmody Parent Portal. But Dr. Data's wireless notebook system is doing the job! Please continue to check your child's grades on a daily basis and whenever concerns occur, do e-mail him at jkuzmich@eathlink.net and your questions will be answered.

  3. The 8th grade computer has really been disrupted by the networking situation. But fortunately, the entire curriculum is on-line so your child can access it 24/7 at: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/business/Lesson_Plans.html. with detailed lesson plans for each week of the semester. The major assignments that your children have been learning thus far are which sample examples for your perusal:

  4. Next week, we will work on Internet search engines. Pray that the school server works or I may have to go week seven lesson plans working with spreadsheets and other essential advertising and contract projects that can be found at: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/business/Week7.html

  5. If there are any grading mistakes on the progress report, the Carmody Parent Portal should also have alerted that to it. If not, this mid-term progress report is a good safety valve to help alert you. And when missing assignments/tests are presented to Dr. Data, they will be updated in the electronic gradebook. So, please have your child visit with me during class.

  6. Reminder: extra-credit assignments are not required and a zero grade only means that the student didn't do any extra-credit.

  7. An "M" grade means the student has not submitted it to Dr. Data, but it can be resubmitted for full credit.

  8. Important Special Offer: I believe it may be important for your child to have access to my 8th grade classes 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. 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. You will receive a flyer on Monday via your child concerning this special pricing, but I have also enclosed the introduction 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 Friday, September 29, 2006.. 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 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. An order form will be given to your child tomorrow. Deadline for ordering the software has been extended to Friday, September 29, 2006. You can also download the forms yourself, please go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/ATRT_Letter.html and return to Dr. Data ASAP.

Hope this information is helpful. Have a great week!

Thank you.

Till next time,

Dr. Data