1. Progress Reports for the first grading period will be distributed on Wednesday, January 30th . Parents are to sign them for 100 points for your child. Please return by this Friday. Hope this helps as we move towards the end of the grading period on Friday, February 15, 2008. See Carmody Parent Portal to follow up this progress report as grades are updated on a daily basis.

2. The "Rest of the Story!" Why does Dr. Data give regular daily assignments?

• To engage students to more fully master the daily objectives to build a better understanding of the technology concepts being taught for not only today, but for the future.
• To promote a comprehensive network of completing assignments at home, library or other places "outside" of school so they become masters of their technology applications in that they can incorporate it away from the classroom at home or other places outside of class in the student's "real world" of learning.

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. 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 $23.00 (per program) by Friday, February 8, 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:
   • A hybrid CD-ROM that works on nearly every PC and Macintosh computer from all Macintosh's from system 8.6 and higher to OS 10 and PC's from Windows 95, 98, 2000 and XP.
   • A manual and a warranty card.
   • All shipping charges from Vancouver, Canada to Carmody.
   • All taxes.

   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 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. When 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, my 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. A Frequently Asked Questions Section will be added to the school website for Dr. Data's classes. Parents, please submit questions that I have answered for you by e-mail that wasn't easy to find on the school web site and/or new questions that need addressing now and I will share my answers in a "Frequently Asked Questions" section on my school web site to benefit all of my students parents. The subject is wide open. It can be on grading, missing assignments, any difficulties encountered, etc. Many of you have already contacted me since the beginning of school and I would like to gather up all of those questions/answers for this new addition to the web site.
   

6. Podcasting will continue to be utilized. Please share opportunities where I may best incorporate podcasting for the benefit of improving Dr. Data's website, instruction, etc. Samples of podcasting can be found at http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/podcasting/pod1.mp3 and http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/podcasting/pod3.mp3 for a personal manner of sharing information in an audio format over the Internet for both 7th and 8th grade classes.
   
   
7. The present grading period is now three and a half weeks old. Don't hesitate to check your child's work as a good start usually means a good finish. Be sure to check your child's grades at the Carmody Parent Portal at https://campus.jeffco.k12.co.us/campus/portal/jeffco_IC.jsp to view and print out a progress report. Please continue to check your child's grades on a daily basis and whenever concerns might occur, e-mail Dr. Data at jkuzmich@eathlink.net and your questions will be answered before breakfast. And most important, Dr. Data rarely leaves school without updating his electronic grade book on a daily basis. All assignments can be downloaded from the class web site. You will also find learning objectives for every day of instruction so you can have an intelligent conversation at the dinner table on a daily basis about not only if the day's assignment was completed and graded, but specifically if your child actually mastered the daily learning objective(s)! To obtain the assignments from our web site, the following should be helpful.
   

8. 7th Grade Curriculum can be viewed at: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/claris_syllabus.htmll with specific daily assignments at: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/claris_syllabus.html#Required.
   

   Days of Word Processing Instruction

   1. Introduction to the PC Lab on how to sign-in, security and use the computers - First day of class in each semester

   2. Knock Knock Jokes - Assignment #1 - B-3
   3. Principal Letter - Assignment #2 - B-4
      
      Learning Objectives: students will:
      • 1) rewrite marked sentences with complete thoughts, including CSAP grammar, spelling and sentence syntax.
      
      
   4. Using ClarisWorks and More Jokes - Assignment #3 - B-5 and B-6
      
      Learning Objectives: students will:
      
      • 1) change font, 2) font size and 3) style in a word processing document.
      • Copy and paste a sentence in order to duplicate the content.
      • Typing test scores at a minimum of 10 words per minute on typing test 1A .
        
        
   5. A Fractured Fairy Tale - Assignment #4 - B-7 and B-8

      Learning Objectives: students will:

      • Rremove text to the lft of the pointer.
      • Select text
      • Move a block of text
      • Duplicate text
      • Use the spelling checker
      • Save a file in the same place
      • Change a file name orsave in a different place.
        
        
   6. Back and Forth to the Future and Crazy Alphabet - Assignment #5 - B-8
      

      Learning Objectives: students will demonstrate the following word processing text maneuvers.

      • Execute copy and pasting of text to another location.
      • Edit a text with typo mistakess, faulty information and spelling errors.
      • Copy and paste text for multiple repeated text by only typing the selected text once.
        
        
   7. Pete's Wardrobe - Assignment #6 - B-9
      

      Learning Objectives: students will demonstrate the following word processing text maneuvers.

      • Formatting expectationsa:
        • type correct font
        • font size
        • font style
      • Use the shortcut for the spelling checker in Microsoft Word (F7)
      • Find your own typos before using the spelling checker.
        
   8. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich and My Spell Cheque r - Assignment #7 - B-10
      
      Learning Objectives: students will demonstrate the following word processing text maneuvers.
      
      • Students will be able to find specific text by using the edit and replace functions without retyping text.
        
   9. Oops and Double Answers - Assignment #8 - B-33 and B-34
      
      Learning Objectives: students will demonstrate CSAP writing structure
      
      • Answer questions with a complete sentence of noun, verb and predicate
      • Use spelling checker
      • Match fonts, font size and font styles
        
   10. Everybody, Somebody and Nobody and Limericks - Assignment #9 - B-25 and B-26
       
       Learning Objectives: students will demonstrate the following
       
       • Use the find and replace text function in Microsoft Word in order to globally change words and phrases in the exercise.
   11. Morning Routine and Advanced Riddles -Assignment #10 - B-14
       
       Learning Objectives:
       
       • Students will demonstrate the find and replace text function in Microsoft Word.
         
   12. News Survey and Human Brain - Assignment #11 - B-20 and B-21
       
       Learniing Objective is for:
       • Students create an outline with Microsoft Word by inserting symbols into the document.
         
         
   13. Mullworth T. Scribe's Restaurant Menu and Wacky Definitions - Assignment #12 - B-27
       
       Learning Objective:
       
       • To demonstrate the differences from left, right and center Justification plus formatting of font styles, fonts and size of font.
         
         
   14. Party Invitations I & II - Must use Crazy Font Clue Sheet to input mini Pic's Classic, Little People and Wingding fonts in the appropriate places substituting graphical fonts for words - Assignment # 13 - B-20

       Learning Objective:

       • To insert graphical fonts in substitution for alpha/numeric letters.
         
         
   15. Your Own Party Invitations (2) - Must use Crazy Font Clue Sheet to input mini Pic's Classic, L'il People and Wingding fonts in the appropriate places for substituting select graphical fonts for words - Assignment #14 - B-21

       Learning Objective:

       • To insert graphical fonts in substituion for alpha letters iin creating a party invitation with seven different graphical picture fonts.
   16. Ice Cream and Fun Riddles - Assignment #15 - B-27 and B-28

       Learning Objective:

       • To insert formatting styles correctly for indenting, justification, spacing and font usage in a letter document by typing the document in a mirror of the original worksheet.
   17. 7th Grade Scale for Typing Proficiency and Spring Break Assignment #16 - B-38

       Learning Objective:

       • To create a desktop publishing document by inserting the correct formating layout with italics and bold type style, indenting, centering, and font size where illustrated.
       • To create and insert tables with multi-column formatting in a letter document
   18. Typing Your First Carmody Middle School Paper: Hints! and Backward Words - Assignment #17 - B-30 and B-31 Carmody Middle School Fee Schedule - Assignment #18 - B-32

       Learning Objective:

       • To create a desktop publishing document by inserting the correct formating layout with italics and bold type style, indenting, centering, and font size where illustrated.
   19. Final Korean Penpal Letter due - Assignment #18 - B-34 and B-35: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/penpal_908.html

       Learning Objective:

       • To create a desktop publishing document by inserting the correct formating layout with italics and bold type style, indenting, centering, and font size where illustrate.
       • Correctly write a topic sentence for each paragraph
       • Include a supporting sentences in each paragraph
       • Include a concluding sentence.
         
         
9. 8th Grade Curriculum can be followed for this week at: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/business/Week3.html for Week 3 which covers spreadsheets. All assignments will be done in Microsoft Word.
   
   
   
10. The PC Lab has been almost fixed with full school server log-in, printing and Internet connections. Give us another two days and the lab should be much improved. Now that everybody can save and print, no excuse for proving that students have completed an missing work!! If your child does complete class assignments at home, please send a short short on the assignment's home printout to verify that it was done by the student. We have optical mice now and presently working out the "bugs" in getting them to work correctly.

Hope this information is helpful. Good luck making it through midterms being distributed on Wednesday.

Thank you.

Till next time,

Dr. Data