February 23, 2006 Newsletter

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

  1. Final 4th Grading period grades are now posted on the Carmody Parent Portal. You will probably received the grade report sometime next week. If there are missing assignments designated with an "M", it is missing and earns zero credit. There are reasons why this is so.

    • Did not complete the assignment and did not submit it to Dr. Data.
    • Never did it and now we are beyond the 4th grading period deadline of February 15th so the missing work can not made up now and will remain earning zero credit.
    • Completed the assigned and probably printed it out but never picked up the assignment and therefore did not submit it to Dr. Data.
    • Submitted it to Dr. Data and somehow it got lost in the new Infinite Campus grading program with all of its many changes this semester. But, there's still hope because your child could easily check their computer server folder where they must save all school work to provide proof that she did it and if completed successfully, I'll grade it for him/her without penalty. Namely, print it out again!
    • If your child received less than the maximum grade for each assignment, they did not complete it as given. Such as missing the title, the instructions, did not provide name, date and period in the upper right corner of the document or did use the spelling checker correctly.
    • Yes, all assignments and tests could have been made up without penalty until Wednesday, February 15, 2006. Now we are in a new grading period with a makeup deadline of April 14, 2006.

    Hope this helps now that we have a brand-new grading period: 5th grading period. And sure to check the Carmody Parent Portal daily, and you will always know if your child's daily assignment was graded before they ever come home from school that day!

  2. 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 tomorrow, Friday, February 24, 2006 and the final copy along with pictures and other memorabilia is Friday, March 3, 2006. For specific details about this final project, please go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/penpal_908.html

    . Students all received a Korean Pen Pal letter today so everybody is to begin their CSAP quality two page letter between and February 24th when the first page is due for 100 points. Each paragraph must have a topic sentence plus grammar, spelling and sentence syntax needs to be CSAP quality. For every letter received from Korea, your child will earn 40 bonus points. The final copy of the Korean pen pal letter is worth an additional 300 points.

    Note: letter must be positive as your child is indeed representing Carmody Middle School in this international Korean pen pal project . Namely, no slang or any information inappropriate for school.

  3. I believe it may be important for your child to have access to my 7th grade class’s keyboarding software application for home use. Note: some students type nearly 100 words a minute earning grades well beyond 200 points on a 100 point typing test. And yet there are some students can barely typing 10 words a minute which is basically the speed as ones handwriting speed with neat penmanship. Why? Practice at home can make a huge difference. Consider the following creative alternatives for enhanced student practice at home that can and will actually change your child's grades in the 7th Grade Elective Computer class this semester.

    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 February 17, 2006 extended to this next week, Friday, March 3, 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.

  4. If you are receiving the five class newsletters thus far, please go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/parent_newsletters.html and print them out. In addition, please send me your e-mail address to be put on the class e-mail list for future newsletters at: jkuzmich@earthlink.net.

    Closing Comments

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 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@earthlink.net or 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.

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.

Hope this information is helpful.

Thank you.


Mr. John Kuzmich, Jr.
(alias Dr. Data )