Laing Times Online NewsInside this issue:❏ Laing Student Council Elections❏ The Fab Lab❏ Events Coming up at Laing❏ What we are seeing in the hallway❏ Laing’s good boy, the fake coyote❏ Middle School Life- Fall at Starbucks❏ Possible new vaccine for kids❏ Goodbye Moon!❏ China limits screen time❏ Fright Night is back!❏ Black Widow sues Disney❏ Book recommendations❏ Potty Training cows!❏ How to eat a banana❏ How Halloween started

Introducing...Blobby from the Laing News!Artist: Payton Walker

October, 2021, Issue 1.0

Laing News Vote to Make your Voice Heard!Anyone feeling…. A little democracy coming on? That's because the Student Council elections are coming up! Students love Laing, but would like to see some changes- so candidates pay attention! First up is a 6th grader with concerns about the bathroom situation. Reasonably, she thinks that the “graffiti” in the stalls need to be eliminated.But what about 8th grader Charlotte Davies and the lack of seats in the recess field? A lot of people choose to sit on the sidewalk, but what about muddy days? Or dirty floors?? Charlotte thinks that benches ought to be added.! Another great idea is a suggestion box! Students can give feedback or ideas anonymously to the Student Council. That way, the public has a fair say in the way the school runs. Student Council is a great way to get involved in your school. Don't forget to vote October 5th & 6th! To everyone running, good luck!By Macie Correia

The Fab Lab

Ready for Halloween? Come down to the “Fab-Lab” this October to make any craft your heart desires! Laing Middle School of Tech. has equipped us with an amazing array of technological advances including a Shop-Bot, Laser Cutter, soldering station, and an incredible 3D printer. These devices can do amazing things. For example, many students are making LED nameplates with the 3D Printer and keeping them as home decorations. For more cool ideas, go to the Fab-Lab to meet Dr Mel. He would be happy to help you explore!

By Elena Deutsch

What’s Happening at Laing?10/4 Wear GREEN for mental health awareness10/4-10/8 Mental Health Awareness10/5-6 Laing Student Council Elections10/8 Kona Ice Truck is here at Lunch/Recess!10/11-10/16 Kindness Week!10/11 Kindness to self10/12 Kindness to friends 10/13 Stomp out bullying- wear blue10/14 Kindness- staff10/15 Kindness to neighbors, Sock Drive 10/20 Unity Day Wear Orange10/20 End of Q1 Grading period10/20 Makeup PIcture day10/21 Q1 Dodgeball Celebration!10/21 Breast Cancer Awareness wear Pink!10/22 E-Learning Day10/25-10/29 Red Ribbon Week10/25- Wear jeans and red10/26 Wear Team Jersey/Colors10/27 Wear Camo10/28 Wear Neon10/29 Wear Black and Orange

Happy Fall Y’all!

Artwork By: Katelyn

Middle School Life: What Laing kids are wearing on their feet!

Crocs!

Photos By: Cameron Frost

Middle School LifeWhy is there a Plastic Coyote on our Recess Field?

Everybody knows about the coyote on the field. But what not many people know is how it got there. If you’re one of those people, this is an article for you! Some years ago, there was a problem with geese on the recess fields. A HUGE problem with geese on the field, and not with just Laing. Solution? Get a coyote-looking figure and place it on the field! It worked, and the geese went away. However, the coyote was placed in the middle of the field but there have been some geese on the corners…

By Pressley Weiss

Photo Addison Turok

For a lot of us, It is a part of Middle Schooler’s Life to look forward to fall at Starbucks!When you walk into Starbucks during Autumn, it's always comforting;, a sense of refreshment when you see the workers busy making pumpkin bread and lattes. A burst of excitement gets its way into the customer's brain. Starbucks is well known for their fall themed drinks and food, but when did it all start? Well, we know that Starbucks first opened 29 years ago in Seattle and that they start their fall drinks on August 24! In 2003, they came out with the one and only pumpkin spice latte and soon after they released pumpkin bread. When they first opened it wasn’t the talk of the town, but now? Oh boy, is it a big hustle to get them before things run out! Some things that are at Starbucks that we haven’t mentioned is the Fox cake pop, which is amazing! Although not much different than the normal vanilla cake pop, it’s still wonderful. If you want to enjoy this season even more than now, go on ahead and visit your local starbucks to make the season even more joyful!!!

By Claire Sieverdes and Charlotte Davies

Middle School Life

Photos: Lyla Zimmerman

Medical, Science, and TechnologyPossible new COVID vaccine for children 5-11?

Despite 2021 almost being over, COVID is still running rampant! However, for children 5-11 years old, a savior might come and help them! By this, I’m referring to Pfizer confirming this weekend that a vaccine test was proven successful, and that it may be approved sometime in the upcoming weeks. Pfizer also confirmed that there are no signs of the vaccine causing heart diseases like myocarditis. FDA’s center team stated that they will try to find a safe vaccine for younger children while also taking in the urgency of the situation and trying to approve one as quickly as possible. “Likely in a matter of weeks, rather than months.”With COVID being on the rise and getting much worse ever since July 2021, some see this vaccine as hope that things will go back to normal for at least some children who feel unsafe. Although some find that FDA attempting to move things forward is irresponsible, and that they should spend as much time making sure it's safe as possible. By Eleanor Chamberlain

Goodbye Moon!

Recent breakthroughs in astronomy and selenography have led many scientists to believe that our moon is slowly drifting away from us! In fact, the moon used to be almost TEN times closer to Earth than it is now! Sorry surfers, but the waves you’re shredding are nothing compared to the dinosaurs’ ones. In about 600 million years, (I know that sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t that long in the scheme of things) We will see our final solar eclipse, before the moon is barely bigger than a star on the horizon. Make sure to savor those eclipses, folks, because they won’t be around forever!

By Henry Serano

Local/National/International News

China Limits Kids Screen Time

China limits A few weeks ago, China started limiting screen time for children to just 3 hours a week: 1 hour a day between 8PM and 9PM on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with exceptions for public holidays. How? Well, each child owns an ID, and they have to have their device scan it, then view their face to confirm it’s really them. After the hour of screen time is up, the children get kicked out of their games. Since there is facial recognition, children are not able to pass for their parents. This is because China has decided that children are too addicted to their electronics. It is unsure if this is temporary or permanent. We’ll just have to wait to find out, but let’s just hope our parents don’t get any ideas!

By Pressley Weiss

Artwork by Cody Nutter

Do we have too much screen time? On average, children ages 8-12 in the United States spend 4-6 hours a day watching or using screens, and teens spend up to 9 hours!

Local/National/International News Fright NightWalking through the narrow hallways.. Suddenly BANG! A

clown jumps at you. Fright Night is back for its 30th year! Fright night is definitely a scary but fun place! Every year has been a hit, and this year will be no exception. If you love horror and want to feel like your in a horror movie , this place is for you! So what is this years theme? This year’s theme is a scary terrifying motel (the Fallen Oaks Motel), a Terrifying toy store (Tiny’s Toy Factory), and a haunted hayride! (Sinister Cinema Haunted Hayride). All of these 3 attractions will be at fright night this year! There will also include fun other little things such as games, places to get food, and other fun things to do. This year some say will be the scariest year yet! Fright Night is on october 30th, If you want to go and get scared and have fun with your friends you can go buy tickets, each of the 3 attractions The Fallen Oaks Hotel, Tiny’s Toy Factory, and Sinister Cinema Haunted Hayride are each 18$. Hope your ready to have a scream or two, because be prepared to be scared!

By Madi Woody

Clowns are not funny and bunnies are not cute at Fright Night!

Trending…..in entertainment, books, and media

Actor Scarlett Johansson sues DisneyScarlett Johansson sue’s Disney, more specifically Marvel Cinematic universe, over the new release of Black Widow. But, the question remaining is, why? Well, am I here to inform you on the why and the details on the situation.

The movie Black Widow was released on Disney+ and in movie theaters through the box office. Now, that sound pretty normal taking in consideration that Covid 19 took place while the filming of the movie was going on and coming out. But, with how the contract was written by Disney and the agreement made between the lead actors, there wasn’t anything involving Disney+. It wasn’t a thing. Sure, Disney had to have known that a streaming service was bound to happen, they should have said something about it with the actors! And even after the creation of Disney+ and the release of the movie on the app, Scarlett Johansson only got 0.5% of the overall cut of the movie! Compared to what she got in the box office, thats horrible. By Charlotte Davies Artwork by Lucy Kane

Look out Disney! The Black Widow wants her money!

Books that will keep you wanting more every pageDivergent the (series)-

Veronica Roth

They both die at the end- Adam Silvera

Keepers Of the Lost City- Shannon Messenger

Ready player one- Ernest Cline

Restart- Gordon Korman

Wings of Fire- Tui T. Sutherland

Out of My Mind- Sharon M. Draper

A Very Large Expanse of Sea- Tahereh Mafi

You Have A Match- Emma Lord

Warriors-Erin Hunter

One Of Us Is LyingMolly White

One Of Us Is Lying is a young adult fiction book written by Karen M. Mcmanus. This book is a mystery novel; it is about a group of 5 high schoolers: the brain, the criminal, the princess, the jock, and the ominous narrator of his blog, who were sent to detention, but only 4 made it out alive. It’ll surely keep you on the edge of the seat for every page, making you question what secrets were these unsuspecting students trying to hide? And what measures would they take to keep these secrets hidden?

The Tv show of this book is coming out on Peacock and on October 7th!

QuarantineElla Foss

Quarantine is a book series that will make you keep flipping the pages until you finish this amazing book. It’s a suspenseful young adult novel and the author is Lex Thomas. It started off as a normal day for these high schoolers, but there was a rapid turn of events that soon was revealed to be a virus that has spread throughout this school. And the government is not letting them out until they have outgrown this virus. These books are suspenseful and full of changing tides.

Read this book to find out who survives in this thriller. And what some teenagers would do to survive.

Book Recommendations!

Just interesting and for fun….Potty Training CowsChildren are potty-trained, so why can’t cows be? A group of scientists in Germany are doing just that, potty training cows as a test to see if they can find a solution to environmental damages caused by animals. The team of scientists started training calves in a process they call “MooLoo Training”. For phase one the cattle were put into in-closed grassed areas, and whenever they urinated they were rewarded, but when they were let outside to use the bathroom for a reward they soon released they would only get one if they urinated. The cows were trained 45 minutes a day and after only 10 days of training 11 out of the 16 cattle that were in the experiment were successfully trained. By Lillie Pate Anderson

How do YOU peel your bananas?Google says the right way to peel bananas is to pinch the bottom of the banana (not the stem) and use your fingernails to pinch a slit on it. Seemingly few of the people we interviewed actually peel bananas this way however, we found that monkeys do in a way peel their bananas in a way that is similar to this. They flip the banana upside down, pinch the bottom until the peel splits, and then they peel the bananas.

Credits: Kathryn Whichard, Claire Davis, Madison Reichert

Just interesting and for fun….Where Halloween Originated Getting on scary costumes, scaring your friends and siblings, Going around knocking on doors and ringing doorbells saying ‘trick or treat!’ and getting that delicious candy! Halloween is one of the best Holidays! But the real question is... Where did Halloween originate? The first Halloween wasn’t actually what we know today! In fact Halloween used to be a festival (Ancient Celtic Festival of Samhain) that just happened to take place on October 31st. The Festival was the thought that the dead returned to earth. People made bonfires, payed homage for the dead, and even offered sacrifices. Though soon people dressed up in costumes to scare away phantom’s and bad spirits. In later centuries of the festival people dressed up as demons, devils, ghosts, and more! Eventually this Festival adapted into what halloween today is. Though where ‘trick or treat!’ comes from is still a mystery, people have speculated that the first time the phrase ‘trick or treat’ was used is in a very old famous comic strip. The comic strip was based off fishing.

Fishing? That’s what made the famous Halloween line that everybody says to get that sweet candy? Yup! I know, It sounds weird that fishing and Halloween are related. The fisherman in the comic was trying to get a fish, but he wasn’t getting a bite. So he said “trick or treat” to the fish and got a ton of fish circling him (the fish turned out to be a shark). Another big part of Halloween is of course the best part.. Candy! Do you like candy? If you said no then you haven’t had the right candy. But for the main majority who said yes, you might be wondering what was the first ever original Halloween candy? The original first ever Halloween candy was candy corn! The savory sweet yellow, orange, and white candy was the main candy passed out in the first Halloween. That’s why candy corn to this day is the most popular Halloween seasonal treat! The festival, a old fishing comic strip, and candy corn all started one of the best holidays and especially a personal favorite holiday! By Madi Woody

Claire Davis Laugh Out Loud Time!Everyone likes a good laugh right? Well here’s your chance to give friends and family a laugh without thinking of a joke on your own! I hope you like these jokes, and that they make your day just a little bit better! (And yes a few or maybe all of them are cheesy!)

1. Why couldn’t the bike stand up on it’s own? It was two tired!

2. Whiteboards are remarkable!

3. I, for one, like roman numerals!

4. A joke becomes a dad joke when the punchline is a-parent!

5. Eating clocks is time consuming!

6. What do pampered cows produce? Spoiled milk!

7. I told my doctor that I broke my arm in two places. He said to stop going to those places.

8. What did one ocean say to the other ocean? Nothing they just waved.

9. Working in a mirror factory is definitely something I could see myself doing!

10. I never wanted to believe that my dad was stealing from his job as a road worker but when I got home the signs were there.

12. Where can you find a grandma in a hurry? Insta-gram!

12. What did the teacher shout when she opened the door on the first day of school? Supplies!

13. Why was the torch lit? It was happy!

14. Did you hear about the mathematician who’s afraid of negative numbers? He’ll stop at nothing to avoid them!

Laing Online News brought to you by the Laing News Team!

Editors: Julia Goldman Alexis Kassab Sophia Lee

Amazing Writing Team

Unbelievable Photography Team

Wildly Talented Artist Team

Teacher Sponsors- Mrs. Greco and Mr. Graham

Artwork by Juliet Rodriguez, Aiden Byrd, Katlyn German,