Mr. Curry can be   contacted at rdcurry@yahoo.com
or by voicemail at 408-923-1800               ext. 3831.

 for Reading Is Cool

 are due by the 5th 

of  each  month!

Congratulations to Katherine V for setting the record for reading 9, 258 books last month.  She can really now say "I read that already" no matter what book Mr. Curry suggests.

Room 31
Resources 
QuizLab

MyGradeBook

Harvey 

Rm 31 MyWay Page
  (user name: vproom31 
   /password: homework)

Gaggle e-mail 

Animation Factory:
   (User name: rdcurry 
    Password: vproom31)

Time for Kids

New School Mascot Unveiled

 School Song is now "I Love You"

From now on, after the morning flag salute, the pledge leader will lead the entire school in singing the new school song, "I Love You, You Love Me".  Fifth grade teachers have been asked to report any 5th graders who either refuse to sing or who sing improper lyrics.

Penny Pitch and Count-A-Thon Fundraisers

All Vinci Park Parents are invited to join the Home and School Club for our 31st fundraising event of the year.  The event, at which parents can win high fashion items from Crate and Barrel and Nordstroms by pitching pennies, will also feature our customary cuisine, hot dogs, nachos, and cotton candy.

    That will be followed the next day by the Math Count-a-thon.  For every number that a child counts to, those who pledge will have to pay a minimum of $0.25 per number.  In practice, Room 31 students Rajandeep and Thien C. have both gotten up to 29,345,786,453,234,001 before collapsing in exhaustion.

  As usual, we thank Mrs. Herring, Mrs. Gibbs, Mr. Mensinger and Ms. Nowak on spearheading yet another fundraiser to help fund things that the district, due to state funding shortfalls, can't provide our students with otherwise.  It also helps pay for the 56 field trips that our class has taken this year (including the 20 fun trips to the school production room to watch Mr. Curry print out homework sheets and tests).

Modernization Update: Phase 47 Now that all our students in the 3 inside pods are all in newly modernized classrooms, we will be starting construction on the just approved Arnold Scwarzenaggar Physical Fitness Facility.  Funded by the state with the money saved by not fully funding the state schools , the five story structure will be built on the blacktop recently covered by portable classrooms as well as 80% of the school's field.  The field was deemed as not usable due to deferred maintenance.  Although the facility may eventually be available for use by students, outside political donors and outside "fee-based" programs will have priority.  Mrs Izant was less than enthusiastic as she attended the groundbreaking ceremony along with the governor (above photo). The district still hopes to eventually upgrade the 5th grade permanent portables.  Those rooms need for workers to change the air filters and connect the rooms for cable for basic television transmission, but that will have to wait for the next round of modernizations. The Schwarzennegar Rec Center will lave an olympic sized swimming pool , full gym and a weight lifting center.  The governor, a former body builder and Mr. Olympia, was once the Chairman of President Reagan's  Council for Physical Fitness.

Mr. Curry will be leaving Vinci Park       Saying he needs a change of pace, Mr. Curry will be transfering from Vinci Park Elementary next year to teach 6th grade Language Arts/Social Studies at Piedmont Middle School.  He says he eventually would like to move up one grade level each year.  Mr. Curry, who has taught here at Vinci Park for 6 years, stated that he would like to broaden his experience and teach a different group of students.      In an unrelated event, upon hearing the news, all 31 students from Room 31, many of whom also had Mr. Curry as their teacher in 4th grade, have suddenly filed transfer requests for next year so as to attend Morrill Middle rather than Piedmont Middle School.

5th Grader Makes Huge Stock Market Mistake    A 5th grade student didn't listen carefully and he invested a real $100,000 in  the Stock Market Game Student groups were told to research stocks and then invest an imaginary $100,000 to manage.  A student, who like many students doesn't listen carefully enough to Mr. Curry's instructions, instead invested the money their parents had obtained as a new mortgage for their house.  We will find out on April 8th, just how much they earned or lost in their portfolio.

Science-O-Rama (sponsored by Synopsis) Coming April 21st    A pair of  overachieving 5th grade students have proposed building a real nuclear reactor for the 2nd Annual Vinci Park Science-O-Rama (sponsored by Synopsis).  They were inspired by our class celebration of Albert Einstein's birthday on March 14th.  Instead of simply doing a report or powerpoint on Einstein, they decided to actually test some of his physics theories and test  them as their Science-O-Rama (sponsored by Synopsis) project.  Mr Curry felt himself agolw with pride and/or anticipation of their demonstration at the Science-O-Rama (sponsored by Synopsis)

Coming Projects

• Social Studies:  "You Are There" News Reports from the Revolutionary War, using video, with our students as reporters and the people who made history!.
• Science/Technology: We will continue with our AAA (Amazing Aquatic Adventures) collaborative project with a second and a third grade class we are telecommunicating with elsewhere in San Jose.
• Science: Earth Day Cleanup of the entire San Francisco Bay - Friday, April 22nd.
  
• Science: Matter Project (Chemistry) was due March 4th
• Science-O-Rama:  Our annual Science Fair, sponsored by Synopsis, will take place on April 21st at Open House.
• Science Solarquest online Web Quest/Group Project.  groups will present their finished presentations to NASA scientists at NASA Ames and the best one will decide the first planet chosen for manned exploration.
  
• Reading/Language Arts: Spring Novels. Choice of a book Dear Mr. Henshaw, Shiloh,  Holes, Illiad, Odyssey, War and Peace, Dr. Zhivago, or Hop on Pop to read in small groups and to do book reports on (due April 8th).
• Language Arts: Young Author's Fair-- students are encouraged to create a book to enter in our school-wide fair.  Student entries are due by April 25th.
  
• Math:  Division of Whole Numbers & Decimals and Stock Market Game .Math Challenge Site: www.thatquiz.com 
  
• Accelerated Program for advanced students in competition against students from Cal Tech and MIT
  
• GATE Math assignment Java Math Problem Solving
• Last weeks of Stock Market Game (through April 8th).  Student groups will research stocks and then invest an imaginary $100,000 and they will then manage their portfolio.  See Mr. Curry's sample list of possible stocks.
• Vinci Park Recycling will occur again in mid-April
  

 Several Vinci Park students have been drafted by the San Jose Sharks, including the first ever women in NHL history. They will be the youngest rookies in NHL history as well.  These players first came to the attention of the San Jose Sharks while passing a hockey puck back and forth to each other on the cement floor of the HP Pavillion while on a Reading Is Cool Field trip.
We can all see them play locally at the HP Pavilion.