Lane Middle School

This past month, Lane’s band students journeyed to Jackson Middle School to participate in the "All District Middle School Band Festival.” Attended by every middle school band in Portland Public Schools, each band performed three pieces for two adjudicators in front of an audience of other middle school band students. According to Lane’s Band Director, Ronald LaGrone, “band festivals like these are staples in the music community. Our young musicians get the opportunity to get feedback from professional musicians. Students challenge themselves by performing in new surroundings in front of unfamiliar audiences.”

In April, several students from Lane Middle School were chosen  to participate in the All-City Honor Band. The students were  selected from every middle school in the district and spent one day rehearsing together, before performing a concert for their families and friends. This was an amazing opportunity for these students to perform with other great musicians from schools all over the Portland area. 

On Monday, March 14th (3/14), students in Ms. Truhlar's 7th grade math classes celebrated Pi Day by using glow sticks to demonstrate that circumference divided by diameter is 3.14!

In Mrs. Sullivan’s 6th grade science class, students were challenged to create a roller coaster that would allow for a marble to travel smoothly from start to finish. Afterwards, students participated in a verbal quiz and used their roller coaster to demonstrate how potential and kinetic energy changed throughout the marble’s journey. 

In February, Lane celebrated Black History Month by highlighting the vision, power, innovations and liberation of the Black and African American community throughout history and in current events.  During Advisory (a sample of Advisory slides are available here), students discussed topics such as, “What is Black History?” and “Why is Black History celebrated?” At the end of the month, students came together in an assembly to share what they had learned and to honor Black leaders/icons and their achievements. 

In April, Lane’s Campfire group played host to the cutest baby goats! Portland Goat Party set up a temporary pen behind the science wing and students were able to enjoy the sunny weather while being nibbled on by a group of energetic and agile “kids”. 

Reading Lab and a section of 6th Grade AVID practiced marking the text and making signs using the Kami application and styluses. By investigating the settings feature, students were able to turn their screen to the sides so Chromebooks could be used more as notebooks if a student desired. Students then practiced zooming in to draw pictures and annotate text. Inserting graphics found from the web and manipulating them was also a lot of fun. Drawing and handwriting on a computer seemed daunting at first, but the students really honed in their skills.