Welcome to this month's issue of ProQuest Teachable Moments. This issue focuses on National Poetry Month, Earth Day, Appreciate Diversity Month, National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and more.
Our monthly enewsletter delivers a set of hands-on learning activities that encourage students to conduct quality research and produce meaningful results to increase their knowledge and understanding of everything from basic math to literature to history and beyond. Keep in mind that these activities are not duplicated in our other monthly newsletters, which also contain ready-made lessons.
Librarians, take note! Let the staff of the American Library Association (ALA) help you spread the word about the value of libraries during this special observance. You'll find colorful posters, audio PSAs, press releases, letters to the editor, and more.
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Abuse takes many forms besides child abuse. Using this theme, teachers can create a variety of mini-debates to help students learn about abuse and how to prevent it.
Activity: Leading Issues provides teachers and students with the resources to better understand the issues that surround abuse.
Child abuse
Child labor
Family violence
Hate crimes
Human rights
School violence
Terrorism
Violence in mass media
Select one of these issues for each student to research. Organize students in such a way that all issues and each side of the issues are covered. Use oral reports of two to three minutes for each student to present their reasoned opinion on each issue. Oral reports are an excellent way for students to develop standards-based essential skills. Or teachers may want to create mini-debates using the models provided by SIRS.
Leading Issues provides students and teachers with unique and specially prepared research guides for four types of reports/presentations:
Formal Research Paper
Mini-Research Report (student and teacher guides)
PowerPoint Presentation
Mini-Debate (student and teacher guides)
Each of these resources is written in a template designed to specifically correlate to the Leading Issues format. In addition, two teacher guides support the Mini-Research and the Mini-Debate student guides. This makes it easy for teachers and students to work together to manage their analysis, synthesis, and reporting in the mini-research process. Generally, these are the least understood processes in conducting student research activities.
Activity: Researcher also provides complete information on Child Abuse through its traditional resources--type "child abuse" in the Subject Heading Search box. Here are some examples of the variety of subjects that are available:
Adult child abuse victims
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act
Child abuse victims
Child abuse, Investigation
Child abuse, Law and legislation
Child abuse, Prevention
Child abuse, Reporting
Child abuse, Services
Child abuse, Sexual
Child emotional abuse
Child sexual abuse victims, Adult
Child sexual abuse, Law and legislation
National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect Psychological child abuse
Trials (Child sexual abuse)
Find out more about SIRS Researcher and SIRS Leading Issues at our K-12 website.
Earth Day is celebrated in April. This would be an excellent time to connect students to key concepts that relate to their understanding of the Earth and how to protect its resources.
Activity: ExploreLearning Gizmos provide a way for students to understand more about protecting and preserving its resources from pollution and exploitation.
Each Gizmo has a learning activity designed to help students understand the science concept presented.
National Poetry Month is celebrated in April. RAZ has a great collection of poetry books to help students enjoy reading and writing poetry!
POETRY BOOKS & LESSONS
Bird Children
Christmas in Animal Land
Flower Children
I Had a Great Day
Just the Wind
Lotsa Pasta
Making Spaghetti
Mother Earth's Children
Peter Pumpkin Picker
Poetry Anthology
Snow
Summer's a Bummer
Susan
Trading for Lunch Money
Tread Softly
Trick or Treat: A Holiday Rhyme
Wildflower Children
NURSERY RHYMES
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Doctor Foster
Hey, Diddle Diddle
Humpty Dumpty
I Had a Little Hen
Jack and Jill
Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat
Ladybug, Ladybug
Little Boy Blue
Little Jack Horner
Little Miss Muffet
Mary Had a Little Lamb
The Itsy Bitsy Spider
The Lion and the Unicorn
There Was a Crooked Man
This Little Piggy
To Market
Two Blackbirds
Wee Willie Winkie
English Language Arts teachers have a great opportunity to help students increase their creativity, reading, and writing skills in April. National Poetry Month provides the theme and motivation for a variety of activities that focus on poetry.
Activity: ProQuest has created a Bookcart of learning resources for students to use in researching information in celebration of National Poetry Month. You can copy this Bookcart to your local site (and 400 other models) using the following procedure:
Click the Select box to the right of the Titles, then click Copy.
Click the Back to Bookcarts link at the top.
The new Bookcarts will be part of your collection and ready for student to use.
The new Bookcarts will contain Essential Questions as well as a learning standard. These samples can be edited to include your state standards and your Essential Questions to guide student use of the Bookcart resources and ensure critical thinking. Bookcarts also integrate QuizCarts. This tool helps teachers to create short quizzes to assess student understanding of facts and concepts of poetry.
Now that you have copied these Bookcarts, you may want to explore and have your librarian copy additional Bookcarts to your local site. All the Bookcarts on this list can be copied to the local library site in less than 10 minutes. Librarians can get teachers started on mini-research activities immediately. Teachers will be impressed by the wealth of curriculum and technology integration support provided by Bookcarts.
To view a Flash demo outlining the copying process, click here.
April is Appreciate Diversity Month. CultureGrams has the resources to help students appreciate diversity among more than 100 countries.
Sierra Leone’s real GDP per capita is $470, while Luxembourg’s is $53,780. Ten per 1,000 infants die yearly in American Samoa compared to 77 in Pakistan. Statistics, though they don’t tell the whole story about a country, offer helpful tools for tracking demographic and economic trends while comparing countries and regions.
Choose a pair of statistics such as population and Real GDP per capita or literacy and life expectancy. Using the CultureGrams World Edition, look up these statistics for five countries in some of the world’s major regions (Europe, Africa, North America, Caribbean, South America, Asia, Oceania, etc.).
Create averages from the statistics found in the five CultureGrams for each region.
Have students draw three histograms. The first should be a comparison of, for example, regional literacy averages; the second, regional life expectancy rates; and the third, a combination of both statistical averages.
Compare and contrast the first two histograms. Do they share a similar pattern?
Discuss the third histogram. Does there seem to be any correlation between the two statistics you analyzed? If so, what might be the cause of such a relationship? Might it be mostly coincidental, and if so, what other factors might affect the statistics you chose?
For a more in-depth comparison, students could create a scatterplot, identify and eliminate countries that are extreme outliers, and recalculate the regional averages.
Did you know that eLibrary has more than 400 model Bookcarts created for teachers? Using these Bookcarts can make life easier for teachers and students and save valuable classroom time. These Bookcarts all contain more than 30 digital articles, graphics, websites, and relevant publications so students can search with confidence that all resources support the same standards-based topics and issues that they study in their textbooks.
Another great feature of these Bookcarts is that they all contain examples of Essential Questions (EQs) for Critical Thinking. The examples help teachers to create even more EQs to direct students to solve a different problem or address a different issue inherent in the topic of study. This means that each student will need to find and use multiple resources in the Bookcart for their research, thus reducing plagiarism. Another new feature in each Bookcart is the multiple-choice Quiz Template for teachers to use to create short quizzes that direct and help assess student reading assignments for content knowledge.
National Poetry Month offers an opportunity for English Language Arts teachers and curriculum to gain recognition. Writing has again gained attention as being critical to student success in higher education and in careers. The College Board has taken a radical step in revising the SAT to provide incentives for teachers to create more writing assignments for their students. Listed below are some examples of ProQuest model Bookcart that English Language Arts teachers will want to copy and use in their schools.
These Bookcarts provide professionally selected resources to save students valuable time in searching and evaluating relevancy and authority of their results list. They also save teachers time in supervising surfing as they would have to do when student surf for Internet or print resources with Google and other search engines.
Teacher Resources for Professional Development
Digital Storytelling Resources
Author: PQ BookCart
Graphic Novels, Comic Books, and Reading Skills
Author: PQ BookCart
Librarian Information Literacy Resources
Author: PQ BookCart
Book and Audiovisual Review Resources
Author: PQ BookCart
Dr. Seuss Celebration: Elementary
Fairy Tales, Fables and Folklore: Elementary
Writing Poetry for Fun: Middle
African-American Literature: Middle
Censorship and Banned Books: High School
Elements and Uses of Propaganda: High School
English Language -- Historical Roots: High School
Wikipedia for Student Research? (High School)
All these Bookcarts can be copied to the local library site in less than 10 minutes. Librarians can get teachers started on mini-research activities immediately. Teachers will be impressed by the wealth of curriculum and technology integration support provided by Bookcarts.
To view a Flash demo outlining the copying process, click here.
Students in elementary schools enjoy reading and writing poetry. April is National Poetry Month so this is a great time for teachers to use this literature genre to help build essential reading and writing skills for their students.
Activity: Copy the Bookcart designed for Elementary Student reading and writing:
April is Appreciate Diversity Month. ProQuest Historical Newspapers provides students with an opportunity to study the most famous immigration period in our history--the era of Ellis Island. Of course, today we continue to be the melting pot of the world with a new wave of immigrants who facing challenges and opportunities that are similar to the Ellis Island era.
Activity: Assign students to research a different immigrant group who came through Ellis Island during the period 1890-1910. Use the following Essential Questions to ensure students use critical thinking in their mini-research reports:
Why did most of the immigrants from the assigned country come to the U.S.?
Why was Ellis Island selected?
What happened to Ellis Island as an immigration center?
Who were some of the other racial and ethnic groups included in this immigration?
Why were some immigrants rejected? Was this fair?
What similarities and differences exist between yesterday’s wave of immigrants and the current immigration wave?
To locate the information to use in the research process, use these steps:
Type "Ellis Island Immigration" in the Search box
Type "Ellis Island" in the Document Title box of Advanced Search
Select and click Before and type the date "12/31/1910" in the Date box
The reading and writing of poetry are integrated into state standard at all levels of the English Language Arts curriculum. Since April is National Poetry Month, this would be an excellent time for teachers to assign research activities that emphasize poets and poetry.
AP Courses in Literature
ProQuest Learning: Literature is a particularly valuable resource for studying about and reading poetry. Teachers can click Study Units on the main page to explore the richness of resources available to help create focused mini-research assignments. Explore the alphabetical listing of links to information on hundreds of authors and poets that would support current courses. Or, click Thematic Pages to get a listing of literary themes that include: Romantic Poetry, Tudor Poetry, Metaphysical Poets, and Elizabethan Poetry.
Courses in English Language Arts
Editor’s Choice websites provide a variety of information about poets and poetry from around the world. Teachers can click Topics tab to access a topic tree of 20 curriculum-focused topics. Click Literature and then Poetry, then Poetic Forms. Teachers will now have access to websites and relevant documents (a bonus with eLibrary CE) for poetic forms such as Haiku, Ballad, Epic, Ode, Sonnet, and Nursery Rhymes. Teachers can explore resources that connect best with what they are teaching and build a custom BookCart that focuses their students on the best resources for studying poetry.
History Study Center
Poetry is associated with many eras in both U.S. history and world history. Poets have had an impact on historical events by providing a focus for people on issues of their day.
Type "poets and poetry" in the eLibrary CE Search page.
Note the robust collection of resources in the General Search Results list.
Note the Common topics for Search Results.
Click the History tab located at the top near the General.
Common Topics for the Search Results
Poetry > Reference > Collections
Poetic Forms > Sonnet > Collections
Literature > Poetry > World Poetry
History Study Center Reference Library
Arts of Poetry
Poetry
Sonnet, Shakespearean
Teachers should strongly consider integrating critical thinking skills into all research assignments. Despite the power of the resources in History Study Center, students will generally look for and use information that is mostly encyclopedic. This type of mini-research activity usually is a summary and is noted for using the techniques of copy, paste, and then replace a few words or sentences to create the final report. At best there is little real learning and very little development of critical thinking skills.
The best way to ensure student focus and critical thinking is for teachers to create engaging and Essential Questions. These questions require students to analyze and synthesize multiple resources to answer with an expression of original thought. The original thought may be expressed through written, oral, or multimedia reports.
Don’t know a limerick from a sonnet? April is National Poetry Month and an opportunity for English teachers to have some fun with this genre. English Language Arts teachers are always looking for resources and ideas to engage students in the reading and writing of poetry.
Scientific research indicates that writing helps students "connect the dots" between their world and the ideas and concepts that are presented in school. This writing initiative in schools will be further accelerated by the new SAT test which includes a major writing component for the first time.
Writing poetry has and will continue to be powerful means of personal expression. It integrates higher-order thinking and develops language arts skills. And maybe most of all, writing poetry in various forms can be fun whether students are in elementary, middle, or high school.
ProQuest Platinum has a collection of many magazines and journals that support teachers as they strive to enrich their lessons and research assignments so that students learn essential language arts skills and also develop digital information literacy skills.
Open Platinum and click the Topic Guide tab.
Type "Writing" in the Search box then click Search Term button.
Click Narrow by related topic under the heading Writing.
Scroll down to Poetry.
Click View articles.
Explore the articles for ideas about how to structure your assignment on poetry.
Assign students to select two styles of poetry and write original poems in this style.
The celebration of Earth Day occurs each year in April. Earth Day activities remind people of how fragile our environment is and how we must take steps to create a balance between human activities and what’s best for the environment. The 1970s was the decade when many significant steps were taken to preserve the environment including the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Students will want to learn more about the events of the 1970s and how they contributed to a greater respect for our Earth.
Activity: Locate great information on the environmental decisions of the 1970s:
Click the 1970 icon.
Click Energy, Economy and the Environment.
Scroll down to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Click the link to learn more about the EPA.
Click the link for Love Canal and then Three Mile Island accident.
Teachers should assign a variety of Essential Questions to challenge students to think about the importance of preserving the environment. These questions will guide students to research and then summarize the events of the 1970s and how they are connected to the present world of the student. Here are some examples of the Essential Questions that teachers may assign to students for these oral reports:
Why was the EPA created and what was its responsibility?
What events provided the motivation for the creation of the EPA?
What responsibilities does the EPA have and are these sufficient to stop pollution?
What are the main sources of pollution and why do people and companies continue to pollute?
April is National Poetry Month. What a perfect time for students to increase their essential skills in reading, writing/presentation, and critical thinking by reading and writing poems. The following subjects provide student and teachers with a variety of information about poets and poetry, and also with poems. Click the Subject search option and type poetry in the Search box to get the list of links to the subjects below.
Notice that some of the subjects provide themes for writing poetry. After reading poems about different themes, students should be able to compose simple poems that reflect one these themes.
Classical epic poetry
History and poetry
Humorous poetry
Lyric poetry
Narrative poetry
Nature in poetry
Poetry and children
Poetry and history
Poetry and music
Poetry and science
Poetry for children
Poetry slams
Poetry, Authorship
Poetry, Black authors
Poetry, Explication
Poetry, History and criticism
Poetry, Modern
Poetry, Philosophy
Poetry, Technique
Poetry, Themes, motives
Poetry, Therapeutic use
Political poetry
Reading poetry aloud
An alternative way for teachers to provide classroom examples of poems for students to read and study is to print selected poems and make copies for classroom use.
Click the Fiction link on the right side of the Search page.
Click the Poetry link.
Click the Sort by Lexiles link on the results page to get poems with appropriate reading levels for your students.
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ProQuest offers a growing family of K-12 classroom-focused,
subscription-based online research tools. Many of these education solutions offer reading level-linked
(lexile) content, support
21st-century information
literacy skills, and help schools differentiate instruction across all curriculum areas.
Learn more about all of our tools here, tap into our training resources and videos, and don't miss our new eLibrary research tool (more). We also have a pair of special resource pages just for teachers (with lesson plans) and librarians.
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Abuse takes many forms besides child abuse. Using this theme, teachers can create a variety of mini-debates to help students learn about abuse and how to prevent it.
Earth Day is celebrated in April. This would be an excellent time to connect students to key concepts that relate to their understanding of the Earth and how to protect its resources.
National Poetry Month is celebrated in April. RAZ has a great collection of poetry books to help students enjoy reading and writing poetry!
English Language Arts teachers have a great opportunity to help students increase their creativity, reading, and writing skills in April. National Poetry Month provides the theme and motivation for a variety of activities that focus on poetry.
April is Appreciate Diversity Month. CultureGrams has the resources to help students appreciate diversity among more than 100 countries.
Did you know that eLibrary has more than 
Students in elementary schools enjoy reading and writing poetry. April is National Poetry Month so this is a great time for teachers to use this literature genre to help build essential reading and writing skills for their students.
April is Appreciate Diversity Month. ProQuest Historical Newspapers provides students with an opportunity to study the most famous immigration period in our history--the era of Ellis Island. Of course, today we continue to be the melting pot of the world with a new wave of immigrants who facing challenges and opportunities that are similar to the Ellis Island era.
Don’t know a limerick from a sonnet? April is National Poetry Month and an opportunity for English teachers to have some fun with this genre. English Language Arts teachers are always looking for resources and ideas to engage students in the reading and writing of poetry.
The celebration of Earth Day occurs each year in April. Earth Day activities remind people of how fragile our environment is and how we must take steps to create a balance between human activities and what’s best for the environment. The 1970s was the decade when many significant steps were taken to preserve the environment including the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Students will want to learn more about the events of the 1970s and how they contributed to a greater respect for our Earth.
April is National Poetry Month. What a perfect time for students to increase their essential skills in reading, writing/presentation, and critical thinking by reading and writing poems. The following subjects provide student and teachers with a variety of information about poets and poetry, and also with poems. Click the Subject search option and type poetry in the Search box to get the list of links to the subjects below.
