April 22, 2009

Dear Carmody Computer Parents and Their Students:

Latest News: Five Steps To Success!

Several important points to emphasize in this, the 12th 2009 winter semester newsletter.

1. Spring Fever Barometer Check!: View your child's weekly class participation grades. If on a descend, spring fever is in full blossom.
   
   
2. Things to observe when checking Parent Portal:
   
   
   • Compare 3rd grading cumulative grade with 4th grade cumulative grade. It should be similar unless there are special circumstances to be resolved.
   • Missing assignments can be completed in one of three ways.
     1. At home
     2. After school during open lab
     3. During class when your child completes their daily assignment
        
        
3. 7th and 8th grade Classes: Special One-Day Event
   
   
   • "Students Go To Work With Their Parent" is for Thursday, April 23, 2009.
     
     
4. Latest Curriculum Developments in 7th & 8th Grade Computer Classes
   
   
• 7th Grade Classes:
  1. Students are completing their Final Database Project on their favorite topic. Project is worth 500 points.
  2. Students will begin Spreadsheet unit of instruction on Monday, April 27, 2009. If you are familiar with spreadsheets, don't hesitate to share your knowledge as students usually have difficulty in understanding the concepts of formulas in a spreadsheet setting. Instruction can be found at: Spreadsheets: 1.5 weeks.
     
     
• 8th grade classes: "How To Start A Teenage Business!" We just concluded a landmark innovation this past week: Radio Broadcasting with Script Writing and Audio Recordings including special effects for Podcasting Development. We will do another project, "Vocal Jam" with Mr. Chetcuti with students beginning next week on a volunteer basis. I think would be a great pen pal music assignment. Students would collaborate with a specific student at Somers Middle School in Somers, New York and interact with the following concepts and procedures.
  1. Create an Audacity track in their name/grade/interests
  2. Leave an empty track for a reply
  3. Before returning the project, the student would record a vocal track(only using mouth and voice sounds)
  4. My student would open it, Listen to the vocal jam track and comment on it by adding a comment track.
  5. Then add another vocal track, and send it back
  6. Your student listens to the new additions and comments, adds a new comment track at the bottom and then adds a new audio vocal track.
  7. The process continues
     
     
• 8th grade students will begin to learn on Monday on how to create web pages. Students will have two tracks to choose from:
  1. HTML basics which covers HTML programming.
  2. Using a GUI interface in Microsoft Publisher which is fast and easy way create web pages.
  3. See Week 12A and 12B for detailed lesson plans and learning objectives for each track.. Double credit earned if your child does both tracks!!
     
     
5. Success Guaranteed in Dr. Data's 7th & 8th Grade Computer Classes if Students/Parents Follow These Guidelines! When parents are engaged with their child's school work, success is very attainable. The 16 points outlined on this web site make parent-student-teacher interaction seamless and easier for all student success to be achieved. Nobody should be failing Dr. Data's classes if these points are being followed! If you have any concerns, don't hesitate to contact Dr. Data ASAP.

Hope this helps.

Till next time,

Dr. Data