LMS Weekly Newsletter
June 16, 2024
Dear LMS Families,
Congratulations on a successful year! This past week was packed with celebrations, from field trips to field days to promotion, our building was bursting with energy and excitement.
Happy Father's Day to the dads, surrogate dads, guardians, uncles, older brothers, coaches, teachers, and caretakers in our community - if you pour love and care into young people, you deserve some gratitude today!
It's wild that this is our very last family newsletter of the school year. As soon as the year turns over, I'll send a welcome email to our new 6th grade families as well as our rising 7th and 8th grade families. That means our newly promoted 9th graders and their families should no longer receive emails and updates. If you do find that you are receiving an email or text here and there, please let me know as the transition can sometimes be a little messy.
Grades will be finalized in the coming days and report cards will be mailed home; as teachers will be on summer break please feel free to send an email and they will get back to you when they return. If it is a more urgent question or concern, you are welcome to call the office and leave a voicemail as our administrative team will be in and out of the office throughout July. The office is closed this Wednesday for the Juneteenth holiday, and then closed for the summer starting on Monday, June 24th.
Summer SUN will be starting up soon - please see the information below and make sure your student brings the completed paperwork with them. There is no transportation provided, but if your student can get there the program is so worth it! We are excited to welcome Chelsea Kimura as our new SUN Site Manager and thank Will Grebner from the bottom of our hearts for all he did to run programming and support students and staff this year. We also want to thank Hector Gonzalez from Latino Networks, Michael, Lizzie, and Erika from Campfire, and Hossaum from REAP; it truly takes a village to support our students and we are so grateful you are a part of ours!
A special note of thanks to Lucinda Peterson who leaves us for retirement life; we know she'll be back to sub and share tales of her adventures. It is so rare and beautiful to see an educator in the last days of their career with a full heart, a spring in their step, and nothing but joy and love for students and colleagues. She sets the bar high and I'm so grateful I was fortunate enough to experience a Lane Middle School with Ms. Peterson in the 8th grade hallway.
Another special note of thanks to all who brought in their cans and bottles to help us raise enough money to host Kona Ice for all of our students and staff last week. It was such a treat to see our students out on the playground enjoying a shaved ice and each other's company. We look forward to doing this again next year!
Thank you for all of your support this year as I navigated my first as principal of this amazing school community. I'm so grateful for the faith and trust you placed in me; your partnership means the world and I'm excited for what's to come.
Have a lovely summer!
Warmly,
Rosemarie El Youssef
LMS Principal
office: 503-916-6355, ext. 72700
cell: 971-706-3438
SUN SCHOOL
Hello Lane Families! We are very excited to announce that this summer we will have SUN at Lane! We will be offering a four week program, M-Th from July 8- August 1st, 9-3, with sports, art, games, and off campus adventures open to all rising 6th-9th graders in our area. We will offer a free breakfast and lunch for students, but please note there is NO SUN BUS. All programs are drop in, but do require either a signed ROI form or completion of online registration through the QR code by or on their first day. Please email wigrebner@pps.net with questions. We hope to see your student there!
SUMMER MEALS
Welcome to Summer Meals! PPS Nutrition Services department is very proud to partner with Portland Parks and Recreation to provide free lunches to all children in our community ages 1-18 at the 16 parks listed below. Portland Parks and Recreation's Free Lunch + Play is open to all and our team will be making lunches for parks, Monday through Friday, June 26 through August 9 (except July 4 and 5).
Here is a list of Park Sites:
- Alberta Park (NE 19th Ave and NE Jarrett St) 11:30-1:00pm
- Cathedral Gardens (8652 N Swift Way, Portland OR 97203) 12:00-1:00PM
- Columbia Park (N. Woolsey Ave and N Winchell St) 11:30-1:00pm
- Creston Park (SE 44th Ave and SE Powell Blvd) 11:30-1:00pm
- Essex Park (SE 76th Ave and Center St) 11:30-1:00pm
- Holly Farm Park (10819 SW Capitol Hwy) 11:30-1:00pm
- Irving Park (875 NE Fremont St) 11:30-1:00pm
- Kenton Park (N. Delaware Ave and N. Kilpatrick) 12:00-1:30pm
- K'hunamokwst Park (5200 NE Alberta St) 12:00-1:30pm
- Lents Park (SE 92nd Ave and SE Steele St) 11:30-1:00pm
- McCoy Park (N. Newman Ave and N. Newark St) 12:00-1:30pm
- Montavilla Park (NE 82nd Ave. and Glisan St) 12:00-1:30pm
- Mt Scott Park (SE 72nd Ave and SE Ramona St) 12:00-1:30pm
- Peninsula Park (700 N. Rosa Parks Way) 12:00-1:30pm
- St Johns Park (8427 N. Central St) 11:30-1:00pm
- Stephens Creek Crossing (6715 SW 26th Ave) 12:00-1:30pm
More information can be found on the PPS website HERE.
LANE FOOD PANTRY
Did you know our school has a pantry? The pantry is open to students, families, teachers and the general public. Come see us on Tuesdays between 2:30 and 4pm in room 186 (SUN hallway)! Need to catch a bus or hurry back to class? No problem! Our students get priority access, just see Melanie at the check-in desk.
No documentation is needed to get food. However, we do have an *optional* registration form that students can take home and bring back at another visit. We know that bureaucracy is annoying, but these forms greatly help us to keep our pantry running! How? Here are two examples: If we can show how many school-aged kids are visiting our pantry, we're eligible for certain grants that promote children's wellbeing. If we know the ethnicities of our clients, we can try and obtain culturally relevant food choices, such as rice, corn masa or coconut milk.
LIBRARY SUMMER READING PROGRAM
The Multnomah County Library summer reading program begins today, June 16th!
We are hoping that as many students as possible (including rising 6th graders) participate and we are looking forward to celebrating their achievement with pizza and cake when we return to the building in August. To progress through the game board, students read (listening to an audiobook counts!) or do another type of educational activity (Duolingo, practice an instrument, art, etc.) for 20 minutes a day for roughly 45 days of summer break.
Once students complete the game board, they turn it into their local Multcolib branch to be entered into a drawing for an Ipad package and receive a summer reading t-shirt. Wearing the 2024 t-shirt on 9/13/24 will be their ticket to pizza and cake in the library!
More information on the program is available here, you can find your closest Multnomah County Library location here, and send any questions you may have to our librarian, Ms. Raspone (sraspone@pps.net).
LMS 8th grade DC/NY 2024 Travel update
We are sending 17 students, with teacher and parent chaperones, to DC and NY for the optional 8th-grade field trip. We are so excited that our students will represent LMS at our Nation's Capital and will have the chance to tour New York City.
A big shout out and thank you to the LMS PTA, Lande Middle School Alumni, OHSU, Brentwood Darlington Neighborhood Association, families, staff, and LMS teachers for contributing $5,100 in scholarship and equity funding for the 2024 DC/NY 8th grade trip. Thank you for bridging the gap!
Through their travel opportunity, students will receive a 0.5-semester high school credit. They will create an Essential Question and produce a 5-7-minute video from their tour to show their knowledge.
We look forward to sharing our their stories with you!
PTA CORNER
PTA NEWS
NOTE FROM LANE PTA PRESIDENT Anna Cox:
I would like to say a sincere thank you to everyone who helped us get through our first year as a PTA chapter!
Thank you especially to our Board members:
Vice President Michelle Jasso, who set up dine outs, helped with OBOB, served as Lane Representative on PPS’s FACE committee, and was a great listener whenever I needed a second opinion.
Secretary Becky Love, who along with her husband helped plan and sponsor Lane PTA’s carnival at Woodstock Gives Back, created weekly news blurbs, sent countless invitations and signup forms, and took stellar notes that kept us focused and organized.
Treasurer Sarah Stevens, who tracked our bank account, kept meticulous and organized financial records, wrote and kept track of countless checks, and gave monthly financial reports.
Cora Schleicher, who created countless flyers and graphics for dine outs and LMS events, maintained our Facebook and Instagram social media accounts, helped maintain the LMS staff room, brightened the lobby with decorations for countless heritage months, and helped decorate for countless events.
Thank you also to Cheryl Paddock who sponsored, created, and maintained our website! And thank you to EY for supporting us, keeping us updated by attending our PTA meetings and for meeting with us throughout the year.
Thank you to Mindy Peabody who helped make the Kona Ice Truck happen and who helped us raise over $450 through our Lane PTA Bottledrop and her own personal Bottledrop account.
Thank you to all the teachers, parents, administrators, staff, and students who came to our meetings and proposed projects. We didn’t get to do everything we wanted to do this year, but I am confident we are building the systems for Lane PTA to support even more projects and strengthen our school community even more next year. The list of thank yous could go on and on, so I’ll just say one final thank you for letting me lead the Lane PTA for the past year and that I’m looking forward to an even better year next year at LMS!
LANE PTA SURVEY
We’d love your feedback. Please take a moment to fill out this survey to help guide us as we grow and look for ways to best help the LMS community:
THANK YOU FOR A GREAT YEAR!!
Thank you everyone in supporting LMS and our Lane PTA this year! It’s been a busy year. We wanted to share all the things we have been able to accomplish this year. Thank you to the community for your volunteer time, donations, & participation in Dine-Outs! We couldn’t have done any of this on our own without help from teachers, families, and admin at LMS.
What have we accomplished?
- PTA tables at Lane Resource Fair, Back to School BBQ, Curriculum Night
- Planned and created two new annual LMS events: Woodstock Gives Back Carnival, Pi Night
- Supported admin with new events at Lane: Hispanic Heritage Celebration, Incoming Sixth Graders Pancake Breakfast, Multicultural Night
- Decorated front lobby for Latino History Month, Black History Month, Women’s History Month, AAPI History Month
- Teacher Appreciation (First catered lunch from Senstraro Orthodontics, soup potluck, Multiple stock the staff Rooms, gifts for teachers)
- Dine outs (IHOP, Cloud City Ice Cream, Papa Murphy’s, Otto’s Pizzeria, Dick’s Primal Burger, Por Que No, Ate-Oh-Ate)
- 100$ teacher grants to 28 teachers/staff gave more than $2400 to buy supplies like classroom posters, decor, supplies, electric pencil sharpeners, fidgets, prizes, snacks, beanbags for counselor’s room,
- Gave $200 for LMS Dance Tshirts
- Supported PPS PTA Clothing Closet (and served as liaison for students and staff to get items)
- Set up and organized (and reorganized…) LMS Clothing Closet
- Purchased grill for admin that has been used at multiple student and staff events
- Hosted Family Game Night
- Helped coordinate Sixth Grade Goldenball team
- Attained Unit in Good Standing from State PTA and gold award for membership increase!
- Neighborhood Cleanup event at Harney Park
- Gave $900 to DC/NY students and helped publicize
- Raised more than $400 through Bottledrop Account for Kona Ice Truck celebration
- Purchased rights for Peter Pan Musical Next year
- Created partnerships with local businesses with donations from: Mehri’s Bakery and Cafe, Lauretta Jean’s, Senestraro Orthodontics, John L Scott, Safeway on Woodstock, Grocery Outlet, and Shop Halo Halo
- Created partnerships with: Woodstock Business Association, Brentwood Darlington Neighborhood Association
- Helped start OBOB
- Supported Craftganza and ran a really successful table of bath salts
OPEN POSITIONS ON THE PTA BOARD FOR NEXT YEAR
We have open positions for the PTA board next year. The volunteer and donations coordinator positions are both open. Elections will be coming in October of this coming year. If you are interested in learning more or filling one of these positions, please reach out at lanemspta@gmail.com.
WANT TO GET MORE INVOLVED AT LMS NEXT YEAR??
We need parent support to plan and support events. We are actively recruiting for the following committees: the Peter Pan musical planned for next fall, the DC/NY trip eligible to all 8th graders, and a Landscape/Gardening committee. Contact us at lanemspta@gmail.com to sign up or to learn more about getting involved with any of these committees!
PTA LINKS -
Join our email list or contact us at lanemspta@gmail.com
IMPORTANT DATES AHEAD
PRIDE Month
National Caribbean American Heritage Month
June 17 and 18 - Teacher Planning Days
Juneteenth, ALL PPS facilities are closed - 6/19
June 24 - Office closes for summer
July 8-11 - SUN Session Week 1
July 15-18 - SUN Session Week 2
July 22-25 - SUN Session Week 3
July 29-Aug 1 - SUN Session Week 4