eLibrary Canada & Curriculum Edition Newsletter contents:
|
| ||
|
|
Welcome to the October/November issue of our K-12 newsletter. This newsletter is designed to help teachers, librarians and administrators stay informed about the latest changes to your subscription, while providing classroom resources and giving tips for using your subscription in a variety of settings. Don't miss our online archive (now available on proquestk12.com) for access to past issues, and to make changes to your newsletter options.
Our product development team is constantly reviewing customer feedback and making changes to our learning resources to meet your needs. Several updates or content additions were recently completed, and we wanted to bring them to your attention.
eLibrary Canada FamilyFull Training: Podcast via iTunes As you know, we offer large, Flash-authored training files for all of our K-12 solutions. The eLibrary Elementary and SIRS Discoverer training courses are now available as a series of video podcasts –- all playable inside a free copy of iTunes. Download your copy of iTunes today, and subscribe to our free podcasts with a click of your mouse. Don’t Miss a Single Teachable Moment: Free Curriculum & Lesson Plans On the first of each month, our curriculum specialists deliver a powerful tool to thousands of K-12 teachers worldwide. And best of all, you can sign up to get this free, hands-on and classroom-ready content today at ProQuest.  Our monthly Teachable Moments email newsletter (November issue here) offers a treasure trove of innovative student activities that take full advantage of our complete line of K-12 learning solutions. Most can be easily augmented to fit into any classroom curriculum. Sign up for Teachable Moments today using the box below, then browse our inventory of back issues. Consider it your own personal teachable moment with a professional development theme! New ProQuest K-12 Catalog Available Don’t miss the latest information about ProQuest’s full line of popular K-12 learning solutions. From eLibrary to SIRS to CultureGrams and beyond, you’re sure to find a new solution that will help students at all grade levels learn at their own pace--online. Get your copy of the PDF version today. History Study Center Upgrades Complete 
History Study Center, available inside of your eLibrary Canada CE subscription, has been given a complete interface upgrade in accordance with principles of usability and feedback fromour users. The new design provides simplified, more intuitive navigation while the searching has also been adjusted to return fewer, more relevant results. The nine content libraries from the previous version of History Study Center have been consolidated into five: Study Units, Historical Documents, Maps & Reference, Multimedia, and Journals. All of the material previously offered by History Study Center remains available. It’s still possible to limit searches to a more specific content type, such as maps or video clips, using the Advanced Search or the individual search screens. Searching and navigationVocabulary A-Z Wins Coveted Award of Excellence 
Technology & Learning's Awards of Excellence (AOE) program has been recognizing outstanding ed-tech curriculum products for 24 years.
We’re proud to announce that ProQuest LearningPage’s new Vocabulary A-Z learning solution has won a 2006 AOE! Take a moment to explore how Vocabulary A-Z can help you and your school generate thousands of custom vocabulary lessons, each with enough materials for weeks worth of instruction. Try a free sample and subscribe today. With a solid reputation in the industry as a longstanding, high-quality program, the AOE recognizes both "best of breed" and creative new offerings that help educators in the business of teaching, training, and managing with technology. All entries are given a rigorous test-driving by qualified educators in several rounds of judging, which takes place over several weeks at various computer labs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Join us in congratulating the ProQuest LearningPage team for their hard work in bringing Vocabulary A-Z to life. ProQuest has created custom BookCarts to help you to help your students find out more about Canada. To browse and copy this BookCart collection to your local school collection:
Bonus BookCart Activity: Many teachers and librarians who create BookCarts overlook the Publications Search tool. This tool is designed to allow students to search for additional resources from within a BookCart. This is necessary when a topic is prone to change such as a science or current events topic. For example, if your students are doing research on the Solar System using one of your BookCarts, how do they address the recent demotion of Pluto to a non-planet status? Simple! They do a Publications search while inside the BookCart. This gives students freedom to search for additional resources, but only from within the collection of publications selected by the teacher. This increases relevance and saves time while preserving the value of the other resources in the BookCart. Because most teachers (and ProQuest with its collection of 500 models) don’t have time to constantly update BookCart collections, Publications Search comes to the rescue for teachers and for their students. The problem is that teachers are not familiar enough with the range of 2000 eLibrary publications, organized alphabetically, to be able to easily select those that would benefit their students. What's more, you are guiding your students through the research process, while easing their frustration. Training Our trainer, Tasha Maddison, is standing by to help you get the most out of your subscription--and learn more about our other digital learning resources! She offers a wide variety of online training sessions (check our calendar of events) each month. The training sessions cover after-school hours within several time zones. Best of all, there's no cost to participate. All you need is a computer with Internet access, a phone and one hour. Click the button to sign up:
CultureGrams can help you broaden your students' understanding of the world and its peoples. Our World Edition includes 190+ country profiles, written for junior high students and older. CultureGrams also has a Kids Edition and a States Edition, geared for upper elementary students. These editions include kid-friendly profiles of 70+ countries and all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. CultureGrams goes beyond mere facts and figures to deliver an insider's perspective on daily life and culture, including the history, customs, and lifestyles of the world's people. 
Country:South Africa
Of the numerous greetings used in South Africa, the English phrases Hello and Good morning are understood by most people. Afrikaans speakers say Goeie môre (Good morning). Young English speakers say Howzit (slang for “How are you?”) to friends. A more formal Good morning or Good afternoon is common among adults. The Zulu and Swazis greet each other with Sawubona (literally, “I see you,” meaning “Hello”) or Kunjani (How are you?). An acceptable response to either is Yebo (Yes). The Xhosa greeting, Molo, and the Sotho phrase, Dumela, have similar meanings to Sawubona. On parting, most South Africans use a phrase that assumes a future meeting. In other words, people rarely say good-bye. Rather, one says See you in English, Tot siens (Till we see each other again) in Afrikaans, or something like the Sotho Sala gashi (Go well in peace). The Arts South Africa boasts a diversity of musical styles. Choirs are common, and traditional folk songs have been integrated into choral music. The popular mbaqanga dance music originated in apartheid-era townships. Kwaito music, a favorite of young South Africans, mixes African melodies and lyrics with hip-hop and reggae. Kwela incorporates the distinctive penny whistle. South Africans are also devoted to the fine arts, and major cities host performances of the symphony, ballet, and opera. Gumboot dancing, developed by African gold miners, has become a popular performance art. Economy More than half of all of South Africa’s export earnings come from minerals and metals. South Africa is one of the world's largest producers of platinum and gold, and it also exports diamonds, chrome, and coal. Low gold prices on world markets have sometimes slowed that sector's growth. Wine and tourism are fast-growing industries. The industrial base is large and diversified, and new investment is allowing for growth. The government has privatized (in whole or in part) some of the largest state enterprises to improve market conditions and raise capital. Strong growth and investment will be necessary to reduce high unemployment and poverty. Education As in other areas of South African life, apartheid-era segregation in public education has been dismantled. However, it will take some time before all children receive the same opportunities within a uniform system. Many schools are without adequate texts or supplies. Schooling is compulsory to age 15. Africans receive instruction in their native language until the seventh grade, and then they usually are taught in English after that. Afrikaans is also offered as a language of instruction. In urban areas, an increasing number of primary schools teach in English. There are 19 universities in South Africa. To find out more about CultureGrams, connect to our website today. Explore our World with CultureGrams As world events increasingly affect all our lives, it’s more important than ever to educate students about the world around them. CultureGrams and World Conflicts Today show students how the world’s peoples live... and what’s behind the major conflicts they face.CultureGrams concise, reliable, and up-to-date information delivers a true insider’s perspective on daily life and culture of the world’s people. Explore 190 country reports that include 25 cultural categories, maps, images, bios, glossaries, statistics, and five local recipes per country. World Conflicts Today provides new ways to understand the high-profile conflicts currently engulfing many of the world’s nations. Unbiased overviews of the history, background, obstacles, and implications analyze each conflict, alongside primary and secondary sources, interactive maps, slide shows, and other multimedia. Conflicts include Afghanistan, Basque Country, Chechnya, Colombia, Darfur, Iraq, Jammu & Kashmir, Korean Peninsula, Northern Ireland, and the Palestinian Territories. Together you get more than facts and figures; you give students unbiased cultural and social insights they won’t find in any textbook, website, or encyclopedia. Try both today, free for 30 days. You can save 20% off World Conflicts with purchase of both* by 12/31/06.You’ll see why School Library Journal recommends CultureGrams for, “History, geography, foreign language, ESL, and current events teachers…[for] discussions, debates, presentations, research papers, reports, and reading and writing exercises.” For more information, contact ProQuest toll-free at 1.800.521.0600, or by email at PQSales@il.proquest.com. SIRS Decades: Primary Sources in Your Classroom 
The use of source documents offers students a direct glimpse into the past. But without context, these sources can confuse as often as illuminate. SIRS Decades places these resources into a relevant framework for understanding that enriches both the content and student understanding of the material. SIRS Decades features more than 5,000 hand-selected primary and secondary source articles highlighting key events, movements, people, and places in 20th-century America.
Below are links to several primary source documents. To access the material, sign up for a free trial, login, and then click on each link. Primary source types include: Advertisements, Editorial Cartoons, Letters, Memos, Messages, Maps and Charts, Original Documents, Original Works of Art, Photographs, Poems and Literary Works, Posters, Published Articles, Speeches and Addresses. Users will be able to save time by exploring thousands of primary sources in one integrated, user-friendly resource. Students will also be able to use these primary source documents to understand how historical events affected politics, popular culture, and the media.
Published Article: If You Drink Scotch, Smoke & Read, Maybe You're 'Deep Throat' Map: Map Showing Range of Soviet Missiles in Cuba Original Document: Income Tax Form 1040 Original Work of Art: Sailor Loading Fixed Ammunition Photograph: Ku Klux Klan Initiation Ceremony Advertisement: Advertisement for 1955 Buick Special Club Sedan Each month, our SIRS® WebSelect and SIRS® Discoverer WebFind editorial teams scour the Internet for top-quality sites that help teachers teach and students learn. Although no Internet site can supplant a quality research database, these vetted resources offer unique resources that are sure to be of interest. Becoming Human:
20 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario M5C 2N8 |
|
