"Oh, man!" groans Adrian Ayala when he finds that all of his three holdings have plunged. Pepsi dropped from 41.92 points on Dec. 13 to 41.02 on Dec. 20, Disney from 16.65 to 16.53, and Best Buy from 25.52 to 24.72. He shakes his head in despair.

But Ayala doesn't lose any real money. This is a stock simulation project coordinated by his teacher, LoriAnn Abrahams.

Abrahams, who had been a financial analyst for 15 years before starting her teaching career six years ago, says teaching students about stocks provides great educational opportunities.

"They learn to look up the stocks in the newspaper and at the New York Stock Exchange website," Abrahams explains. "They learn to calculate the profits. They learn to use Excel. There are a lot of skills involved,"

Every student has a virtual $500 budget to buy stocks. They can choose three kinds of stocks and the number of shares for each stock. At their Friday computer class, they check up their stocks on the website and record their stocks' performance on an Excel spreadsheet.

Abrahams says she borrowed the idea from her sixth-grade teacher.

"We washed cars every Saturday afternoon, and my teacher helped us buy stocks with the money we made," Abrahams explains. "It was very interesting."

So when she taught at Kennedy Elementary School in Newark, she decided to conduct a similar project.

"It was right after Sept. 11," she says. "My students were upset and wanted to do something. Then I thought of the idea of raising money to buy stocks and donate the money to local charities."

Three of her classes made $340 by selling popcorn after school every day. They eventually made $400 and donated the money to Viola Blythe Community Service Center of Newark.

When Abrahams came to Lakewood School in 2002, she wanted her students to have the same rewarding experience.

In December 2002, her class made about 200 bags of popcorn every day and sold them for a quarter per bag. Normally all popcorn was sold in less than five minutes. They made about $150.

But when Abrahams informed the Sunnyvale Union School District of the project, the district said it was against the district's policy because buying stocks was considered gambling. So Abrahams' class donated the money to Sunnyvale Community Services.

Although her students were disappointed, Abrahams decided to have a virtual project. To encourage students, Abrahams will take anyone who makes the most profits at the end of the new semester to McDonald's for lunch.

Under Abrahams' instruction, the students have become smart investors. They diversify their portfolio and they don't rely on analysts in choosing their stocks. Many bought only stocks of the companies they are familiar with. Some of the students' portfolios include stock from McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

Lizette Mendoza, 10, bought two shares of Starbucks, two shares of Coca-Cola and five shares of Bank of America.

"I bought Starbucks because my dad goes there a lot in the morning," she explains. "I bought Coca-Cola because we drink a lot of Coke at home, and my mom takes money out of the Bank of America."

Although only her stocks of Bank of America are on the rise, Mendoza isn't too upset.

"I am OK with it because it isn't real money," she says. "And it's really fun. I will buy stocks in the future."

But some students are not so sure they want to invest their money in the stock market when they grow up.

Josh Moztezuma, 10, bought seven shares of Great American Bancorp Inc., 200 shares of AMD and four shares of Jack in the Box. All of his shares have gone down.

"I don't feel too bad because it is not real," Moztezuma says. "But I don't know if I'll buy stocks in the future. I'm afraid of losing money."

Abrahams, who doesn't invest in the stock market herself, says making money is not the point of the project.

"It's risky to buy stocks, but it's always good math," she says.