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MEET MR.

CURRY

MR. CURRY, A SAN FRANCISCO NATIVE, HAS BEEN


TEACHING FOR A TOTAL OF 18 YEARS. BEFORE COMING TO
PIEDMONT IN 05-06, HE HAD SPENT 6 YEARS AT VINCI PARK
ELEMENTARY TEACHING 5TH GRADE.
MR. CURRY IS THE PRODUCT OF PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS IN
SAN FRANCISCO. HE GRADUATED WITH BA DEGREES IN HISTORY
AND LIBERAL STUDIES AND A MULTIPLE SUBJECT CREDENTIAL
FROM SAN FRANCISCO STATE.
MR. CURRY BELIEVES THAT AS
AMERICANS, WE HAVE A
RESPONSIBILITY TO BE INFORMED
AND ACTIVE IN PARTICIPATING IN
OUR DEMOCRACY. THAT IS WHY,
EVEN IF WE STRONGLY DISAGREE
WITH OUR LEADERS, WE MUST STILL
PARTICIPATE IN BRINGING ABOUT THE
CHANGE WE WANT. THAT IS JUST
ONE REASON WHY MR. CURRY TRAVELS
TO WASHINGTON D.C. SO OFTEN.

President and Mrs. Bush with Mr. and Mrs.


Curry at the White House.
MEET MR. CURRY
MR. CURRY IS
A BIG GIANTS
AND 49ER FAN
AND HE IS A
“TECHIE”
He has led
workshops at
the district &
County on the
use of
technology in
education.
He also likes
playing with
Photo Shop and
editing photos.
Homeroom
Homeroom is the one place where students
start the day everyday (except for
Thursdays).
Homeroom is designed to give the
students a sense of stability, as the goal is
to keep them in the same homeroom
through the end of 8th grade.
Homeroom is where notices are distributed
and collected.

In Homeroom, students will put together


their portfolio of representative work for
all 3 years at Piedmont Middle School.
Located right along the
information Highway.
Technology is integrated
throughout the Language Arts and
History/Social Studies Curriculum
The TECH
ZONE
On-line grade book
Quiz Lab
Research/
Presentations for
Social Studies and
Language Arts
Word Processing
MR. CURRY HAS TAKEN ADVANCED COURSES AND
WORKSHOPS IN TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION IN
EDUCATION. HE HOPES TO EARN HIS MASTER’S DEGREE
IN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY IN THE NEXT FEW
YEARS. HE PARTICIPATED IN AN INTERNSHIP AT
LOCKHEED MARTIN’S SPACE SYSTEMS’ IT DEPARTMENT
(SUMMER 2004). In 2007, he worked at National
Semiconductor.

In July 2006, he was part of the


Yahoo! Teachers of Merit
program at Yahoo! Headquarters
in Sunnyvale!
MR. CURRY’S CLASSES WILL BE USING
COOPERATIVE LEARNING THROUGHOUT THE
CURRICULUM. THIS STRUCTURE HAS BEEN
SHOWN TO HELP IMPROVE STUDENT
ACHIEVEMENT, SOCIALIZATION AND SELF-
ESTEEM

STUDENTS WILL BE ASSIGNED TO 3-5 MEMBER


LEARNING GROUPS. WE WILL CHANGE GROUPS
EVERY 6-8 WEEKS.

IN OUR COOPERATIVE LEARNING APPROACH,


STUDENTS WILL HELP EACH OTHER TO STUDY
AND TO DISCUSS TOPICS, BUT ALL GRADES
WILL BE INDIVIDUAL AND NOT GROUP GRADES.
EVERY SUMMER IS SPENT IN TAKING PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT COURSES AND EDUCATIONAL TRIPS.
IN 2007, HE SPENT INDEPENDENCE DAY IN PHILADELPHIA WHERE IT
ALL BEGAN. HE ALSO WENT TO STUDY THE ARTIFACTS OF KING TUT.
IN SUMMER 2005, HE STUDIED THE US CONSTITUTION AT GEORGE
WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON.

IN OTHER RECENT YEARS HE


TRAVELLED TO NEA
CONVENTIONS IN NEW ORLEANS
(before Katrina) WASHINGTON D.C.,
PHILADELPHIA AND ORLANDO. IN
2004 HE TOOK A COURSE ON
SLAVERY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
MARYLAND AND HELPED CREATE
A NATIONAL SCIENCE
FOUNDATION PROJECT ALSO IN
DC.
Mr. Curry and his wife, who have been married for 11 years,
love to travel. We have gone on trips to Mexico and Europe,
the Football Hall of Fame in Ohio, Boston, New York,
Washington DC, San Diego, LA and Seattle, as well as Las
Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Yosemite.
To prevent this from
happening,
students have an “at home”
set of books.
Grading
Students are expected
to turn in all their
work on time.

Grades will be
corrected and
recorded on
www.MyGradebook.com
usually the same
day.
Grading
-Report Cards sent out at the end of each
trimester.
-Progress reports sent home halfway through
each trimester.
-Through www.mygradebook.com , parents
and students can access grades. Make
sure your email is listed carefully and
submit or resubmit it at Back to School
Night. This is available ONLY in Mr. Curry’s
classes.

Mr. Curry will be only happy to schedule a


conference or discuss your child’s
progress, but NOT at Back To School Night.
Use of Technology in Class
-Appropriate use only
-No Chat nor IM allowed unless
assigned by class
-QuizLab (www.quizlab.com) access in
class or at home, though those with
no home access are given
preference in class.
-E-mail pen pals project is possible if a
partner class is found in another
country.
-Research for projects
-Power Point presentations and
possibly video “Movies”
-Word Processing of assignments
-Use of software and web-based
educational programs
-Weekly Assignment sheets
The focus of 6th Grade Social
Studies/History is World History with
a focus on the Ancient World.
We will study from Pre-History…
…to the Fall of Rome
We will cover the great World Civilizations and we
will consider their contributions to our world.
Students will do research
projects and some creative
group and individual projects.
A major project will be
to write a drama about
being a time traveler
going to those early
civilizations and
witnessing the ways of
life and events first-
hand. TIME TRAVEL
California State Content
Standard for History/Social
Sciences
6.1 Students describe what
is known through
archaeological studies of the
early physical and cultural
development of humankind
from the Paleolithic era to
the agricultural revolution.
California State Content Standard for History/Social
Sciences
6.2 Students analyze the geographic, political,
economic, religious, and social structures of the early
civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Kush.
California State Content
Standard for History/Social
Sciences
6.3 Students analyze the
geographic, political, economic,
religious, and social structures of
the Ancient Hebrews.
California State Content Standard for
History/Social Sciences
6.4 Students analyze the geographic, political,
economic, religious, and social structures of the
early civilizations of Ancient Greece.
California State Content Standard for
History/Social Sciences
6.5 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic,
religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of
India.
California State Content Standard for
History/Social Sciences
6.6 Students
analyze the
geographic,
political,
economic,
religious, and
social
structures of
the early
civilizations
of China.
California State Content Standard for
History/Social Sciences

6.7 Students
analyze the
geographic,
political,
economic,
religious, and
social structures
during the
development of
Rome. Real photo of Mr. and Mrs. Curry at Pompeii
Students will do
research projects and
some creative group
and individual projects.
Since Mr. Curry has taught classes
which have won awards for
multimedia projects, we can look
forward to an awesome experience!
The focus will be on continuing the
development of phonemic awareness,
reading comprehension and critical
thinking skills.
We will use the Holt Language Arts program. The
Literature book has some outstanding stories and skills
instruction.
Students will be also challenged to read
books at their instructional level but which
also become more challenging as they
progress during the year. Book reports will
be done for each trimester.
The typical weekly expectation is that
students will read the selection,
answer the increasingly more difficult
“Response” questions and write a
minimum 1 paragraph (5 quality
sentences) summary of the selection.
That is followed by taking the
QuizLab test for the selection and
doing any skills practice work that is
assigned. Students are to have a
novel to read every day.
State Standards for English/language Arts

Reading
1.0 Word Analysis, Fluency, and Systematic
Vocabulary Development
Phonics-based Spelling and weekly Vocabulary
2.0 Reading Comprehension (Focus on
Informational Materials)
Social Studies Content / Current Events Activities
3.0 Literary Response and Analysis
Summary and Questions for each story, Book reports
Writing State Standards for English/language Arts
1.0 Writing Strategies
2.0 Writing Applications (Genres and Their
Characteristics) Students write narrative, expository,
persuasive, and descriptive texts of at least 500 to 700
words in each genre. Student writing demonstrates a
command of standard American English and the
research, organizational, and drafting strategies
outlined in Writing Standard 1.0.

Writing Genres: Narrative Expository Research


Response to Literature Persuasive

Writing Workshop at the end of Many Chapters in


Literature Book.
Weekly Essays in Language Arts and/or Social
Studies.
We use a very
structured and basic
step-by-step approach
to the writing process,
similar to the Step Up
To Writing used in the
district’s Elementary
Schools.
Written and Oral English Language
Conventions 1.0 Written and Oral English
Language Conventions (grammar)

We use teacher developed


rubrics for assessing
student writing. The state
will test student writing in
7th grade. 6+1 Trait Criterion
2. ideas
3. organization
4. voice
5. word choice
6. sentence fluency
7. conventions
+1presentation
English/Language Arts Standards

Listening and Speaking


1.0 Listening and Speaking Strategies
2.0 Speaking Applications (Genres and Their
Characteristics)
Students will give both small group
and individual oral reports based
on both language Arts and Social
Studies Reports and Projects.
They will be assessed for their
presentations and the students
listening will be accountable for
listening skills.
We hope to be
communicating and
collaborating with classes
in Uganda, Africa and in
Thailand as part of
We have already set up exchanges with
classes in Kampala, Uganda, (Africa) (see
article)
  and another school in
 KraNuan Thailand
(Visit their website--in Thai)
Our Class website is at:
www.sjteach.org/20.html
We will be learning
about our world and
developing literacy
skills through
participation in the
Chronicle In
Education program.
We will get
classroom sets of
newspapers once
each week.
Check student Binder Reminders regularly
Check student progress on
www.mygradebook.com or request for a
printed copy
(give Mr. Curry the response card)
Contact Mr. Curry whenever you
have a question or concern
email: rdcurry@sjteach.org
Voice Mail: 408-923-1800
ext 4420
Our Class website is at:
www.sjteach.org/20.html
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