G.P.S

Class Description from Selectives Catalog:

What it takes to plan a trip completely:

Bike, hike, and bus-it to some great spots in the area. This class will put field trip choice, planning, and execution into the hands of the students as we explore the South Bay and beyond, including destinations downtown, urban multi-use trails, and local open space preserves. Students will become familiar with the layout of the Bay Area & mountain areas, as well as local roads, freeways, and bus and rail routes. Class fee will be minimal (if any), but money to cover fees at destinations & events may be involved. Students must be available to do outings that continue after school on some Fridays.

    1. A written overview of the trip

    2. A detailed itinerary (list of times and locations)

    3. A map showing bus and walking routes

    4. A budget that shows costs, per person costs, and instructions.

    5. A printed information/permission sheet for parents to see and sign

    6. Evidence of communication with destination location

    7. Destination-specific forms printed, filled in, and signed by parents

    8. An email from a parent chaperone confirming their attendance.

    9. DCS's Field Trip Request form filled out, submitted, and approved

    10. A plan for meals/food if applicable.

    11. A note or email to A-block teachers telling them who will be absent

    12. List of students, homeroom, and chaperone names and numbers

    13. A school field trip packet (student emergency info, etc)

GPS to Cold stone

Planning Document for Upcoming Trip(s)

GPS to Great America, May 2015
GPS Task Chart

Task Chart

Public Transit near DCS

Daily Schedules:

Day ? (4/24/15): Idea Lists and Feasibility Study

  1. Go to this doc and see if you can edit.

  2. Find your page

  3. Come up with an idea and put it onto your page

  4. Do some research about location, transportation, costs, duration and add it to your page

  5. Put a pin at your location on this group map and put some details into the description

  6. Repeat

  7. At 2:00 we will decide and one person fills in field trip request form and submits to office.

Day 5 (3/27/15)

  1. Is this the right class or you (or, "why are you here")

  2. What if we had gone today with the level of preparation that you provided?

  3. Responsibility, persistence, completion, communication

    1. Trips aren't easy to plan, yet we won't go unless it is well and completely planned

    2. The Pizza & Wheels trip still needs:

      1. Pizza leaders to create marked envelopes & collect money (call in on Thursday PM)

      2. All info-permission forms turned in

      3. Completed chart of wheel-type and helmet commitment

      4. Walking and bus routes and times written out

      5. A parent chaperone

      6. Letter to A-block teachers and math teachers

      7. A custom Google map (walking route, bus routes, trail route, PHM pin)

      8. Student emergency info sheets (email Diane Wiggins)

    3. Online maps still not done by Chelsey, Devan, Kiyani, Liam, Sean, Sebastian

Day 4 (3/19/15)

  1. Why aren't ALL of the travel plans done?

  2. Wheels & Pizza (planning day 2)

    1. DCS Trip Request form submitted and approved (Gabi)

    2. Doc started (Yorsabell)

    3. Pizza-type groups and leader (Aiden)

    4. Wheel and helmet list (Jared & Kiyani)

    5. Chaperone request email and follow up (Liam)

    6. Parent info sheet and permission tear-off (Devan & Theodor)

    7. Bus 82 and 25 locations and times (Maya & Oliver)

    8. A-block teacher and math teacher letter (Sean)

Day 3 (3/6/15)

  1. Status of your travel plan (paper and map)

  2. First trip is a practice process (see list)

  3. wheels, bus, pizza, creek trail, bus

    • neighborhood route

    • bus 82

    • pizza groups

    • recreation trail

    • bus 25

Day 2: (2/27/15)

    1. Public Transit: VTA, CalTrain, BART, other (SF Muni, SamTrans, Alameda Transit, SantaCruz, Amtrac/Capitol, Monterey-Salinas)

  1. Travel plan (instructions)

Day 1 (2/13/15)

    1. Review the description & purpose of the class.

    2. What travel and navigation experiences have you had?

  1. Map skills

Day 4: (11/7/14)

    1. What it takes to make a trip happen:

      1. Browsing the binder and spreadsheet

      2. The VTA routes closest to us (map)

    2. First trip possibilities:

      1. St Joseph's Hill OSP & Lexington Reservoir, Los Gatos (PT)

      2. Rancho San Antonio Perserve (Los Altos Hills) PD

      3. Pizza, Movie, Los Gatos Creek Trail (PTS)

      4. Downtown San Jose & Guadalupe River Trail (PTS)

    1. Movie: Camera 7 or Cupertino Square (PT) Planning Document

    2. PMS & Full Circle Farm (PT)

May 16, 2014:

-today we made a list of ideas for our final trip

-students researched the feasibility of many and we voted on Nickel City

-the group planning document is at www.tinyurl.com/dcs-nickel-city (you need to be signed into your mydiscoveryk8 account to edit)

Day 5 (3/28/14) Next trip.... Lasertag. Here is the link.

LG-Lex, SJ, Redwoods, Santa Cruz, SF, or Paintball, GoKart,

Day 4 (3/14/14) Scooter to AMC Saratoga 14, watch "Need for Speed"

Day 3: (3/7/14)

    1. First trip possibilities:

      1. St Joseph's Hill OSP & Lexington Reservoir, Los Gatos (PT)

      2. Rancho San Antonio Perserve (Los Altos Hills) PD

      3. Los Gatos Creek Trail (PTS)

      4. Downtown San Jose & Guadalupe River Trail (PTS)

    2. Movie: Camera 7 or Cupertino Square (PT) Planning Document

    3. PMS & Full Circle Farm (PT)

Day 2: (2/28/14)

    1. Veterans: plan a trip to a movie theatre for next Friday (3/7)

    2. Newbies: map skills with me

Semester 2, Day 1 (2/14/14)

    1. Review the description & purpose of the class.

    2. Roles of repeaters

    3. Map skills

    4. Bay Area geography

    5. Public Transit: VTA, CalTrain, BART

    6. Travel plan (instructions)

Sky High, February 24, 2014 (group doc)

Day 5:

1. GPS Navigation

2. Contour maps

3. Mid-Peninsula Open Space Preserves

4. Google maps

5. Google Earth

6. AllTrails.com, BayAreaHiker.com or similar

7. Tahoe trip options

Day 4: Trip to Pizza & Creek Trail

Day 3: Independent Trip Planning (assignment)

use map (online or paper) to write out non-driving directions to a place you currently get driven

1. starting and ending location (cross-streets or addresses)

2. public transit (VTA): route number(s), pick-up time and location, drop-off time and location OR....

3. biking/walking: street names, directions, and turns

4. total time, cost, and other info

5. on the back, draw a map of the route

Plan First Trip Using THIS Doc (mdk8)

Day 2: Bay Area Map and Public Transit

-find landmarks that you recognize on this map

-paper map of the bay area... orientation, bridges, major cities, roadways

Public Transit (from simple to complex)

-Caltrain, BART, VTA

To Movie @ Cupertino Square

Students with permission (from parents) to attend: Ashwin, Monika, Minh, Makenna, Jeffrey, Matin, Brittany

Details on this document (have to be signed in to a mydiscoveryk8 account)

Redwoods and Santa Cruz Trip:

Students: Log into your mydiscoveryk8 account and then click on this document to contribute to the planning process.

Parents who can help out: Archana FriSat (Ashwin), Pulkita Fri (Dhruval),

Students Attending: Josh, Brittany, Jeffrey, David, Monika, Marcos, Dhruval, Makenna, Alex, Jason, Ashwin, Minh

The most recent information is on the information sheet that it attached to this page (bottom of the page).

San Francisco Trip:

Dear Students in the GPS Classes and Their Parents:

As you (hopefully) know, the goal of the GPS@DCS class is to give students knowledge about the many interesting places around the Bay Area and experience at planning and executing field trips to various locations. The day trip to San Francisco that the class from first semester planned (here is their work) had to be postponed because I was sick that week and didn't feel in the tip-top shape that such a trip requires. The new date for that trip is Friday March 22. In addition to the 11 students from first semester, I'd also like to invite the students from the second semester class who want to go, can go, and have demonstrated the requisite responsibility in the class sessions we've had so far. All students would have to miss most of school that day (except first period) and wouldn't be back until 8:00 that night.

Please review the budget and itinerary below and let me know if this trip is ok with you.

Budget (student brings cash and pays for all of their own expenses -- part of the experience):

VTA day pass = $5

Caltrain = $9

Muni bus = $2

Cable car = $6

Lunch = $6

Dinner = $6

Misc = $2

Total = $36

Route:

  1. DCS to SJ Caltrain (82 and light rail)

  2. CalTrain SJ to SF (11:10 to 12:41)

  3. Yuerba Buena Gardens

  4. Union Square

  5. Grace Cathedral

  6. Cable Museum

  7. China Town

  8. North Beach

  9. Coit Tower

  10. Fisherman’s Wharf, Embarcadero

  11. SF Muni bus #?? to CalTrain

  12. Caltrain SF to SJ (arrive 7:30)

  13. Light rail from Diridon to Winchester station (7:42 to 7:55)

  14. Parents pick up at 8:00 at Winchester Light Rail station

Los Gatos Creek Trail

    1. Scooter to Hamilton & Phoenix

    2. Bus #82 to Hamilton @ Hwy 17

    3. Scooter to Pizza My Heart, Pruneyard

    4. Scooter to Creekside Road access to Los Gatos Creek Trail

    5. Scooter Creek Trail (downstream) to its end at Meridian

    6. Bus #25 to Williams & Orchid

    7. Scooter back to DCS

Sky High Sports

February 24, 2014 Planning on THIS document

Class Rosters:

Class Schedule:

November 30, 2012 (day 5)

-Justin, Noa, Jillian, Matin, Amy, Gale, Theo, Karen

-next trip... Sky High (?!). Need someone to fill out the VTA (use my contact info if you like)

-four groups of two... each learn about (and teach us about) one of the following (or other if you propose)

1. GPS Navigation

2. Contour maps

3. Mid-Peninsula Open Space Preserves

4. Google maps &/or Google Earth

5. AllTrails.com, BayAreaHiker.com or similar

6. Bike-Only paths w/in 30 minutes

7. Tahoe trip options

8. Northern California Youth Hostels (norcalhostels.org)

November 16, 2012 (day 4)

Trip to Pizza and Los Gatos Creek Trail

November 9, 2012 (day 3):

1. Finalizing plans for 11/16

-best route from here to Hamilton (Noa & Justin)

Teale, Topaz, Payne, Stockbridge, Gleason, Phoenix

-pick up and drop off times for 82 (J & Hagen)

12:59 (Hamilton & Phoenix)

-make pizza and price list (Jillian & Theo)

-get info on the Los Gatos Creek trail (Amy & Karen)

2.1 miles, all paved

-pick up and drop off times (and locations) for 25 (Matin & Andrew)

Trip 52, picks up at Meridian & Fruitdale at 2:35, drops off at 3:01

2. Biking and hiking options within 30 minutes drive

November 2, 2012 (day 2): Maps

1. Bay Area map... counties, bridges, open-space areas, coordinates.

2. South Bay... homes, schools, parks, coordinates

3. Find & mark VTA routes 57, 60, 25, 82

October 5, 2012 (day 1): Overview of the class and orientation to the area(s)

1. Make a map of what you know about California, Bay Area, San Jose areas

2. Find out about our public transit systems at the following three sites: www.vta.org, www.bart.gov, www.caltrain.com

The Tough-Guy Speech About the Class:

The GPS is in its infancy and will evolve over time. Much of the class structure, focus, and "intensity" is up to the kids as a collective group.

The basic idea is that kids learn a bit about geography, public transit. local resources (natural, cultural, entertainment) and visit/experience them. Each kid is responsible for a certain aspect of a trip (bus schedules, food, reservations, finances, forms, etc) and must be able to devise, execute, and assess action plans upon which the whole group depends.

This past semester all of the trips were on Fridays and some lasted beyond the school day. The upcoming trip (last one for semester one), for example is an overnight trip to & through San Francisco and perhaps parts of Marin (part on rented bikes, too). The other trips that the kids and i took included scootering and skating down the Los Gatos Creek trail, bus to SkyHigh, etc. We ride & walk in the rain or whatever weather greets us, and there is certainly some physical exertion without the option of not participating -- once we are out there, everyone in the group has to think quick, keep up, and keep with the plan -- no relief valve. When parents chaperone the trips, I keep it minimal and ask for as little interference as possible (think Age of Sail).

Websites:

1. VTA

2. CalTrain

3. BART

4. StrayBoots

5. MPOSP

6.

Resources:

1. Magan Mejushi has access to Bay Area Wilderness Training (they loan backpacking & outdoor gear).

2.