1. End of first grading period for second semester was Thursday, February 14th. But because of the change for teachers submitting their grades to the school., Tuesday (tomorrow) will be the last day of makeup workfor my classes for first grading period to be changed! Over the weekend, I did upgrade all grades for my classes so you and your child can review what I have recorded that was in the baskets on Thursday. Simply go to Carmody's Parent Portal for the latest grades at: https://campus.jeffco.k12.co.us/campus/portal/jeffco_IC.jsp. Then 7th graders can go to http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/claris_syllabus.html#Required and print out all missing assigniments and have your child do them at home today. Tomorrow is the very last day for me to upgrade the grades. I will not give any new assignments tomorrow to make it easier for students to finalize their first period grades with me. 8th grade students likewise should go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/business/Lesson_Plans.html for weeks one through five for any and all missing assignments to submit to me on Tuesday, tomorrow. Week six's assignments will begin on Wednesday as part of the second grading period.
   
   
2. 7th Grade Curriculum can be viewed at: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/claris_syllabus99.html with specific daily assignments at: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/claris_syllabus99.html#Required. On Wednesday, we will begin on assignment #11. The big news this week is that students can workat home and/or in class on their Korean Pen Pal letters as they are due on Friday. This final project was assigned a month ago.
   
   If you are not familiar with this final project worth 400 points, the four-week unit of word processing instruction in the 7th grade classes 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, February 22, 2008 and the final copy along with pictures and other memorabilia is Friday, February 29, 2008. For specific details about this final project, please go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/penpal_908.html.
   
   
   
3. 8th Grade Curriculum can be followed for this week at: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/business/Week6.html for Week 6 which cover basic Internet search engine techniques. Extra-credit is being offered to students who learn Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 in editing photos and artwork from the Internet. This software application is junior version of PhotoShop. If you have either software at home, please allow your child to use it. Students are encouraged to enhance Internet photos with special effects available in the software. For more extra-credit opportunities, go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/Projects.htm



4. The "Rest of the Story!" Because of the enhanced security of the Jeffco School District web sites, Dr. Data has made some changes in his web site which had some security restrictions in class. But the following changes have been done to keep Dr. Data's web site fully functional both in school and outside of Carmody for all parents/students. These changes will require:
   
   
   • That you have an Adobe Flash Player installed on your computer. Not worry, if you don't have it, you will be prompted to download it automatically and for free when you click on the very first assignment to be viewed and printed. Then once it is installed, you will never have to do this again. And all the assignments will be displayed and printed perfectly.
   • There are some assignments posted as .JPG graphical files that don't display well. But just on "Expand to Regular size bix and click on it and it will both display and print perfectly. Sometimes, it may take a few seconds to display this box to the bottom right area of the assignments.
     
     
5. 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.
   
   

6. A Frequently Asked Questions Section will be added to the school web site 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 and your child earns 25 extra-credit points per FAQ question. 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.
   

7. Podcasting will continue to be utilized. Please share opportunities where I may best incorporate podcasting for the benefit of improving Dr. Data's web site, 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.
   
   

Hope this information is helpful.

Thank you.

Till next time,

Dr. Data