Check It Out: Student Edition

The sun sets early these days, but have no fear: we're working late, cuz we're librarians, and our house keeps bumpin' when the school day draws to a close. Yes, here at WOHS LMC Corporate Headquarters, we're back at it like some snack addicts, back-crackin' chiropractic no static rockin' basement-to-the-attic with another fresh-off-the-press edition of Check It Out, every Mountaineer's favorite school-appropriate, award-adjacent, patent-pending bimonthly newsletter!

Right now, though? We're steppin' to ya for a lil family talk, pookie. Tell us, if you please: how ya doin'? Does the new marking period hit different? Are you slurping eight hours of snooze juice daily? Flossing incisor-to-molar every night (your teeth, not your hips, silly goose)? Gradebook on bling-blaow, social life on blizzard, bae?

You are?!? YAAAAAAAS, MONARCH. We're so happy to hear it. Let's keep the good vibes going, let's stave off autumnal brain rot, let's see what's new in the LMC and adjust our academic life accordingly!

As the year winds down and seasonal gifts wrap up, your stunning librarians write to extend our sincerest well-wishes to the entire Mountaineer family.

Wherever you find yourself, however you celebrate, we hope the forthcoming break proves restful, restorative, and rewarding to all in our orbit!

What's a little sticky and a little yellow and available in copious quantities in any educational environment? Post-It Notes, that's what!

Put superfluous Post-Its to good use by creating a flipbook, composing some pixel art, folding mini-origami, and otherwise exercising slightly adhesive agency!

Pipe cleaners ain't just for cleanin' pipes, y'know. Turns out you can twist 'em into any configuration your little heart desires!

Join us for a week of pipe cleaner crafts. We're partial to trees, it being stick season and all, but we're happy to help you contort your chenille stem into whatever form best suits your function.

Calling all Mandelbros and scissor fiends: it's about to get real fractal in the Makerspace!

Though no mere mortal can truly imitate the feats ice crystals accomplish with minimal effort, we can certainly ape their style! Come slice and dice your way to a truly unique representation of these subtle winter wonders!

Oh! And while real snowflakes look white because they refracting light diffusely, ours are proudly multicolored, resplendent and undeterred by the constraints of the human ocular system.

As the year draws to a close, we're drawing fabulous greeting cards for festive occasions and capricious whims alike!

Whether you engage in formal celebration or not, put a bow on this December by making someone's day with a heartfelt expression of affinity, affection, and boundless support!

The West Orange High School Library Media Center is always seeking recruits for our Volunteer Program! This program offers students the opportunity to assist their learning community through the LMC; earn hours to satisfy volunteer requirements; serve as leaders among their peers; regularly visit and make use of countless library resources; and foster a love of active citizenship and lifelong learning in themselves and others.

Volunteer opportunities remain open to students enrolled for the 2024-2025 school year. The packet linked below contains everything you need to know about volunteering.

Do you love reading? Are you interested in books? Perhaps you enjoy the occasional snack?

Whether you read like a porcupine playing leapfrog (slowly and carefully) or regard literature as you would a balding porcupine (struggling to see the point), the Mountaineer Book Club welcomes you to its November and December meetings!

The team's assembling in the LMC Computer Lab on November 20th, December 4th, and December 18th—quill you join them? Literacy preferred but not mandatory; see Ms. Binns for more details!

The West Orange Public Library (WOPL) is a welcoming and lively center for lifelong learning and literacy, personal enrichment, and community interaction as well as a major contributor to the prosperity and growth of our town. The dedicated and knowledgeable staff serves all patrons, promotes the love of reading and self-expression, and through a dynamic global network of resources, provides a physical and virtual gateway to information literacy.

Nah, bruh. Don't be so silly.

Awww, it's alright! The WOPL is actually visiting us this Friday, 11/22, during lunch! Stop by and get to know the amazing youth services staff that call 10 Rooney Circle (you know, by the Shoprite) home!

To serve you, of course! Check your public library status, sign up for a public library card, learn all about WOPL's events, programs, and materials, and chat with some truly delightful information professionals!

Now fully updated with a fresh, new look and feel, the critically acclaimed, award-winning resource Teen Health & Wellness provides middle and high school students with nonjudgmental, straightforward, curricular and self-help support, aligned to state, national, and provincial standards. Topics include diseases, drugs and alcohol, nutrition, mental health, suicide and bullying, green living, LGBTQ issues, and more.

All content in Teen Health & Wellness is created for teens with their unique concerns and perspective in mind. Information throughout is presented using a sensitive, respectful, and age-appropriate approach. Teen-friendly articles makes complex topics understandable.

• New look: redesigned throughout
• More relevant than ever: New articles on FGC, gender identity, human trafficking, and stalking
• For teens, by teens: Digital storytelling opportunities for teens including personal stories and video PSAs
• All learners read and succeed: With text-to-speech, readers can select: male/female voice, 3 speeds, highlighting by word/sentence/both, text color, enhanced text visibility, and download articles as audio files!
• Instant translation into 100 languages, including Spanish, French, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Korean, and more
• FREE Teen Hotlines mobile app for 24/7 access to teen hotlines, helplines, and websites on iOS devices and Android tablets
• Calculators for personalized tips and information on Body Mass Index, Blood Alcohol Content, Budgets, and more
• Take us with you: Consistent user experience across computers, tablets, and mobile devices. Our free, newly designed Teen Hotlines app is available for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

Would-be poet and Video Hut employee, Nicholas Reid, and his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Nakota, are the apathetic loners of a society indifferent to their artistic aspirations. Nick wastes his time in the role of assistant manager, longing for the day when his haikus can generate a payday. And Nakota serves as a barmaid at Club 22, doling out drinks to career alcoholics. Not exactly Ozzie and Harriet. But that would all change when they discover a secret hidden within Nick’s rundown apartment building.

Tucked away in the second-floor storage room is a hole that confounds and fascinates their creative acumen. How it functions is another matter. Could it be a black hole, an orifice, a fissure, or maybe even a portal? It has many names but only one sticks: The Funhole.

They test its boundaries, tossing in various objects: a jar of insects, a mouse, a severed hand, a camcorder. Each time the hole spits them back out, augmented in ways neither is prepared to see or understand. However, the thrill of the unknown excites them, growing their new hobby into something akin to praying at the altar of a roadside funhouse. It also offers more than what their faltering lives could ever hope to achieve: artistic satisfaction.

But when others see what their camcorder documents, Nick becomes the reluctant ringleader, the dungeon master, the barker holding the keys to this circus sideshow. And then it becomes a movement bigger than either of them could ever wish to handle.

You need to work to live.

That's the truth for most people, and plenty of people in power have been abusing that truth for centuries.

Long before the first labor unions were formed, workers still knew what exploitation looked like. It looked like the enslavement of Black people. It looked like generations of children dying in dangerous jobs. It looked like wealthy people hiring private militaries to attack their employees.

But workers have always found a way to fight back. Lokono tribespeople resisted Columbus and his colonizers. Enslaved people led walkouts and rebellions. Textile workers demanded a wage that would let them have fun, not just survive. Miners died for the right to unionize. From 30,000 young seamstresses striking in the early 1900s to Uber drivers organizing for change today, people have learned we're stronger when we are united.

Shift Happens is a smart, funny, and engaging look at the history of the worker actions that brought us weekends, pay equality, desegregation, an end to child labor, and so much more.