What happens at TREK?

Every day, students will attend 4 classes with a snack break in the middle of the morning. The classes include:

• Math (meets every day) - students will get the opportunity to complete their math summer work under the tutelage of 2 middle school math teacher and our high school volunteers.
• Reading (meets every day) - as a class, we will read the same summer reading book. After the class has finished reading the book together, students will have the opportunity to complete the writing piece that is required for their summer reading assignment with two of DMS's English teachers.
• STEM (meets every day) - students will have Science Technology Engineering Math (aka STEM) every day but will meet with two different teachers completing different STEM activities. Some past activities have included students designing and building bridges using popsicle sticks and masking tape, as well as designing a container to protect an egg being dropped from a certain height.
• TREKreation (meets every other day) - this class is a TREK favorite! Student will participate in team building activities and games to get to know their new classmates and hone their team skills.
• Google/Tech (meets every other day) - Dedham Middle School is 1:1 with Chromebooks (in other words, every students gets a Chromebook to use during the school year). Most teachers use this 21st century tool in their classrooms and this provides students with some experience using a lot of the various tools that students will use during their middle and high school careers.

What else do they do in TREK? One of our main goals in TREK is to reduce the anxiousness students may feel going from the smaller elementary schools to the bigger middle school. In order to alleviate some of these concerns, we will do the following during TREK:

• Lockers - students will work with teachers and, more importantly, the experienced high school volunteers to learn the ins and outs of opening lockers. Opening lockers can be nerve-wracking at first, but with help, is becomes second nature.
• Locker rooms - student will tour the locker rooms and talk to our high school volunteers so that they can get answers about any doubts they have using the locker rooms for gym class.
• Know the building - DMS can seem gigantic when students first arrive! By spending 3 weeks during the summer in the school, students will become quite familiar with the layout of the school before all the other students get here!
• Change classes - another aspect of middle school that's a change for our incoming 6th graders is having multiple teachers in one day. TREK's set-up allows for students become more comfortable with moving from class to class each day.
• Schedule - Students will get a glimpse of how the DMS schedule works. It's a big change from elementary school where students are generally with the same teacher all day to middle school where they will switch classes, teachers and the schedule rotates! The teachers and our high school volunteers will answer questions and help to ease any anxieties students may have about the schedule.