Post date: Apr 01, 2018 4:47:34 PM
Dear Room 25 Families
Happy Easter Sunday! I'm noticing that the list of calendar events at the bottom of the newsletter is getting shorter; there are ten weeks of school left before this group of great kids graduates and heads to their high schools and even greater adventures! Things are going well these days and I'm very appreciative of... well, everything.
The big event for this coming week is the San Francisco trip. The SF Trip page on my site has a bunch of information and I've pasted below the current version of our very full itinerary. You might want to also check out the packing list, and meal plan. Please remind your kid to pack their bag tonight and bring it (and scooter & helmet) to school tomorrow to load into the van.
DCS 8th Grade San Francisco Trip
Itinerary, May 8 to 11, 2017
Day 1
7:15 Drop off student at the Winchester Light Rail station.
7:20 to 7:40 Check in with teacher, board train (:28?)
7:45 to 7:57 Light rail train 902 to San Jose Diridon station (Chris has ClassPass)
7:57 to 8:04 Get to platform, find conductor, board south car of train (it will probably be crowded)
8:04 to 9:11 CalTrain bullet #329 to San Francisco (pre-ticketed for 2 adults & 26 kids)
9:15 to 9:30 Gather at SF depot patio (brick circle), bathroom break, tag game in brick wheel
Walk 4th Street to the bridge then left on the public walkway towards China Basin & waterway
Cross 3rd Street and go around the back side of AT&T Park along the SF Bay Trail & South Beach yachts
At Delancey cross Embarcadero and read information signs about Rincon Hill then cross back
At Beale cross Embarcadero again and go inland towards Bay Bridge abutment at Bryant
Delancy to Federal to Rincon to Bryant to 2nd to and through South Park (time ~ 10:00) to 3rd
Take 3rd Street to SF Museum of Modern Art and then to Yerba Buena Gardens (LavaLamp?)
Cross grass and Mission Street, visit St Patrick’s Church, then take Yerba Buena Lane to Market
Walk Market to Powell Street then up to Union Square
Powell up to California then, to Mark Hopkins, Pacific-Union Club, Huntington Park, and Grace Cathedral
(time ~ 12:30): Taylor to Washington to Mason; Cable Car Museum, then Mason to Jefferson
Stockton and/or Grant through Chinatown to Washington Square Park and St Peter & Paul Church
Up Filbert to Telegraph Hill, Pioneer Park, and Coit Tower then down the 425 stairs to Greenwich
(time ~ 2:00) Take Sansome 1 block to Levi History Museum then through Levi Plaza to Embarcadero
Cross Embarcadero at Battery or Lombard then walk to Alcatraz Cruises island model & info signs
Catch F-line trolley at Bay Street and exit at Jefferson & Taylor or 1 block earlier for Boudin
Walk along Fisherman’s Wharf to Hyde Street, Aquatic Park, then up to Fort Mason Hostel (time ~ 5:00)
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Day 2
From hostel front door go up Funston Road then left after The Plant, then down steps to tables
Take the trail by the canon then join the path where the binoculars are then stairs down to piers
Boat stern, firehouse, and 10,000 year clock, ending up at Marina and Laguna
Take bus 28 OR go along Marina Green to Palace of Fine Arts (time ~ 11:00)
Cross Richardson at Lyon and go into Presidio, go around pond and up creek to Letterman District
Walk along Letterman and Lincoln to Main Post and then up to Presidio Officer’s Club museum
Up stairs to chapel and then over wall to National Cemetary then to lower corner and cross wall again
Lincoln to Park to jct Scofield for PresidiGo bus (free) OR scoot the paved trail to Golden Gate Bridge
Take the bus 28 that is heading towards Daly City and get off at Fulton
Walk to Stow Lake and around to the boathouse; rent boats (time ~ 3:00)
Along lake then down to and cross MLK, entering Botanical Gardens; walk through to main entrance
Cross MLK and through field, baseball fields on your left, up stairs, along MLK to Koret Playground
Head east from playground through the tunnel under Kezar Drive, and out to Haight Street.
Walk Haight to Masonic and catch bus 43 to the end of the line at Marina & Lombard (by Safeway)
Walk the Great Meadow and stairs to hostel (arrive ~ 5:30)
Evening: walk to Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory (ice cream) then up Hyde to Larkin via stairs
Walk down Lombard’s curvy part then take Leavenworth back to Jefferson and back to hostel
Day 3
From hostel walk back to Aquatic Park, Maritime Museum, and Hyde Street Pier & Balcutha (tour 9:45)
Jefferson Street to Taylor to Musee de Mechanique & USS Pampanito
Dungeon at 11
Find best route to TransAmerica building (via Pacific & Montgomery) then Wells Fargo Museum
California Street to Ferry Building
Golden Gate Ferry to Sausalito (1:00 or 2:30 or 4:00) then walk through park and town & Bridgeway Rd
Bay Model then bus 30 at Bridgeway
Meet Golden Gate Transit bus 30 at Bridgeway & ElPortal (@ x:30) or at Richardson & 2nd
Bus 30 up Alexander Ave, over bridge, then along Lombard to Laguna, scooter to Safeway & hostel
Day 4:
Bus 49 from Van Ness & Northpoint to Civic Center then War Memorial, Opera House
City Hall, UN Plaza, SF Library, 9th Circuit Court Building, and other Market Street stuff
Take bus 14 along Mission from 7th to 16th
Clarion Alley and Taqueria Castillito (17th & Mission 415-621-6971)
Valencia to 16th to Dolores (Mission San Francisco de Asisi)
Walk to Dolores Park
3:21 to 3:37 J-LightRail: Dolores Park to Embarcadero
3:41 to 3:53 N-LightRail to 4th & King
4:12 to 5:11 Caltrain bullet #360 (pre-ticketed for 2 adults & 26 kids)
5:15 to 5:28 Light rail 902 from Diridon to Winchester
5:30 Parents pick up in Safeway parking lot at Winchester & Budd
Parent Schedule
Monday:
Thomas comes to DCS anytime and kids load gear into his van.
Tuesday:
Marie & Bruce drive to Thomas' house and leaves her car there.
Thomas (or Lori) drives Marie, Bruce, and Betina to Winchester.
Marie and Chris and the kids do LightRail and Caltrain to SF.
Thomas drives to SF Tuesday, leave car at hostel and join us on our route (bus or Uber).
Wednesday:
Thomas and Marie stay through the day.
Sherri and Pooja arrive Wednesday night in Pooja's car (or both).
Marie drives Thomas' van back on Wednesday night.
Thomas stays or returns (his choice).
Thursday:
Pooja and Sherri (and Thomas?) chaperone Thursday
Friday.
Pooja drives the gear back (anytime), meeting at Winchester at 5:30.
Sherri (and Thomas?) chaperone Friday and take train back.
Other things:
1. The next book club "genre" will be "books on high school's required freshman reading list" (I'm building a list)
2. Everyone should be making progress on their science (engineering) fair project
3. History book topic list and "pairs of words" vocabulary set.
Calendar:
April 3 to 6: Room 25's San Francisco Trip
April 9 to 13 (Monday to Friday): Spring Break & DC Trip
April 18 (Wednesday): Discovery Has Talent
April 25 (Wednesday): Middle School Science Fair DCSscience.com website.
April 27 (Friday): Bingo Night
April 30 to May 4 (Monday to Friday): Conferences
May 5 (Saturday): Spring Auction
May 11 (Friday): Middle School Dance
May 13 (Sunday): Mothers Day
May 14 to 17 (Monday to Thursday): CAASPP Testing
May 20 (Sunday): Deliver Goodwill items to DCS (9:00-3:00)
May 28 (Monday): Memorial Day
May 30 (Wednesday): Field Day & BBQ
June 1 (Friday): Final Middle School Dance
June 5 (Tuesday): School Musical
June 6 to 8 (Wednesday to Friday): 8th Grade River Rafting Trip Information is here
June 11 (Monday): DCS Maker Day
June 11 to 14 (Monday to Thursday): Early Dismissal
June 13: (Wednesday): Graduation! Practice at Westgate Church 9 to ~12, ceremony 5 to ~6:30, dance 7:30 to 10 .
June 14 (Thursday): Last Day of School
June 14 (Thursday evening): All 8th grade celebration at Saratoga Springs
June 16 (Saturday): Parent Work Day
July 8 (Sunday): DCS Alumni Boating and Barbecue at Vasona
Betina's student newsletter article on Gender and Fashion
Are Companies Ripping Off Their Customers Just Because of Their Gender?
Everyday thousands of clothing items are bought for a huge price variety. Some are as low as a couple of measly dollars to hundreds of well earned cash, but no matter what the price is consumers continue to buy. There is a nonstop desire to get a new item, whether it is a new pair of shoes or a designer handbag, like the compulsive buying disorder. “Sometimes it's so inexpensive that I have to buy it.” says Haerr, a NBC article interview. Later in the article she mentions that she rarely actually wears what she bought more than once.
In this era, gender equality seems to be a key focus. We are all about how everyone’s pay should be the same no matter what the person's gender/race is, or how everyone should be treated equal. Yet people don’t seem to pay attention to companies that could be ripping of their customers just because of their gender. But is each gender spending the same amount of money for the same value?
Business Insider did an extensive research article where they bought many different kinds if items. For each items they got 40 for each gender and looked at their price. The average price for a women's t-shirt was $29.23 and the menswear $25.51. Thats a 15% difference. Even the kids jeans were different prices. The girls was $22.83and the boys was $14.63 and that’s another big difference. The sad part was that the all clothes and majority of toiletry products cost more for women. Generally major companies raise the prices on womens products because they make the items more colorful and with more patterns. Also when a celebrity wears a certain item or style, a whole bunch of people start looking for that design. Companies like Target or Macys start producing those pieces and overpricing them. Since everyone wants that trendy item they start buying and buying them whilst companies take baths in money, says GQ in a clothing article. “I normally spend $15-20 on a plain t-shirt” says Bitanya, a 8th grade student “and I spend $40-80 on jeans.” A fellow student Alex says that he spends $10 on a plain t-shirt and a “maximum” of $20 on jeans.
Another possible explanation on why women's jeans are so much more expensive is that they are better quality. One high school student Anna, would disagree. A couple months ago she bought a pair of mens and womens jeans from Hollister. She described the men's jeans as stiffer and more comfortable in the waist. While the women's pair of jeans were tighter, softer, and would dig into her waist. After many washes, Anna reports that the women's jeans thread had started to fray, and the mens hadn’t.
Women may not be just paying more, but some women feel as if they are getting worse ups or extensions to their jeans, like pockets. Elizabeth, a 13 year old girl, also bought jeans from Hollister, one woman and the other mens. In the front pocket on the womens she couldn’t even put half of her phone in it, and in the men's she could fit her whole phone plus extra. Elizabeth says “what’s the point?! It’s not like they use much more fabric and there is no style reasoning to it!”
Most people don’t know this, but there is a historic reason to this pocket difference. In the past, mens pockets were used to hold items and womens just for decor. In the 1700’s, women had fairly large and hidden pockets within their poofy skirts. In the 1800’s, companies either put small pockets or none at all. The reason is that women couldn’t find their pockets or they wanted to slim down their poofy dresses. After a while women just used handbags for a more stylish and sleek look. After that it stuck throughout history leaving people with the expression that small pockets are feminine, but people are on the rise and they want larger pockets. People complain about the fact that their phone constantly fall out because the small capsule of a pocket doesn't do its job.
How exactly do companies gain consumers’ interest to buy these high priced and small pocketed products? When advertising products, companies try to make the ad appealing to the group of people they are selling for. For women, companies tend to use more floral, detail oriented, and softer colors. Also women tend pay attention to multi gendered ads, while men don’t focus on women's products. That's why when companies are selling perfume or cologne, they promote the product by using objects that aren’t related to the fragrance, to drag the attention in from all genders. For men they try to make the ads louder, more color, with more geometric shapes, and since people are buying things constantly that tells us that these add techniques are working.
“Men don’t necessarily get sucked into the clothing tornado, but they do fly around in the shoe one. Have you seen a highschool boy drool over a Adidas or Nike?” says Annalisa, a highschool student. Men also are entwined into the trends of the 21st century, just not the same ones.
The big question still is are companies ripping off their customers just because of their gender? Maybe they are, but that is a matter of opinion and who you are talking to or where you are. Some companies may not be doing things, but generally we are all victims.
We can prevent over buying or over spending by being aware of how companies are using special techniques and celebrities to try and convince people to buy their products. Women can also buy mens products or vice versa. We don’t have to buy $100 jeans, we could just go to Goodwill or other companies that sell second hand clothing. Women don’t have to live by the norm that companies are giving us where women don’t care or will spend whatever amount of money they need to to get that certain piece of clothing.