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Enclosed is this month's free newsletter for SIRS Knowledge Source® subscribers. This newsletter is designed to help teachers, librarians, and administrators stay informed about the latest changes to their subscriptions, while providing classroom resources and giving tips for using their ProQuest solutions in a variety of settings.
Check out our online archive to read past issues.
In this issue:
- What's New @ SIRS
- Professional Development Program
- Building Young Readers
- Applied Learning
- CultureGrams in Focus
- Top 3 Websites
- Free Online Training
- Call for User Testimonials
- Email Service Information
WHAT'S NEW @ SIRS
Our product development team is constantly reviewing customer feedback and making changes to our learning resources to meet your needs. Several updates to our SIRS family of products were recently completed and we wanted to bring them to your
attention.
SIRS® Government Reporter: U.S. Supreme Court
We are pleased to provide the latest information on the changes in the U.S. Supreme Court, including the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito. Alito was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 31st and becomes the 110th Supreme Court justice, replacing retiring Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
On the Government Reporter main page under Database Features, click U.S. Supreme Court to view biographies of all justices.
You can also access articles and websites on this topic by viewing subject headings such as Alito, Samuel A., Jr. and U.S. Supreme Court.
New Training Demonstration
Whether you’ve been using SIRS Knowledge Source for a week or a year, you and your students are sure to learn something new about this popular tool via our latest online training demonstration.
Sit back, relax, and watch a complete 90-minute demonstration (click to start) of SKS. This new offering was created by a member of our professional training team.
Don’t miss our complete collection of training modules for our full line of ProQuest K-12 solutions.
SIRS® Renaissance's Literary Corner
Don’t miss SIRS Renaissance's Literary Corner! You’ll find a curricular study of prominent authors in every major literary period and region, along with fresh author profiles, including Robert Pinsky, Mitch Albom, and Charles Perrault.
To connect, click the link to SIRS Renaissance on the main search page, and you’ll see a large Literary Corner link on the right side under Database Features.
Vocabulary Lesson Generator
ProQuest® LearningPage, home of Reading A-Z™, will be launching a new website in early 2006!
Vocabulary A-Z™ is an online vocabulary lesson builder that allows you to customize your vocabulary word lists and vocabulary exercises by dozens of topics and categories. Topics include English, math, science, and social studies; categories include word functions such as adjectives, verbs, and antonyms. Each lesson provides materials for a full week of learning.
The new site solidly supports the vocabulary pillar of No Child Left Behind and recommendations by the National Reading Panel. The vocabulary word lists are correlated to state curriculum standards. At last, educators can teach vocabulary through context and meaning and make vocabulary lessons match classroom topics!
It's easy to build customized vocabulary lessons--just:
- Pick a topic.
- Choose your vocabulary words.
- Generate lessons, worksheets, and games automatically.
- Download, save, and print!
Try out a free sample today, and purchase early at a discounted rate.
Newest Articles & Graphics
Our editorial team updates SKS every day with new articles and resources. Here’s a short list of the timeliest and most topical articles added to your product this month. Publication dates may vary due to the editorial selection process.
SIRS Leading Issues: This Month's Top 10
Our popular SIRS Leading Issues feature is dynamically updated daily with new content! New topics are added monthly along with "Your Top 10 Choices"--a list solely driven by end-user searches. Here's a list of some of the more commonly accessed topics by our subscribers:
- Same-sex marriage
- Marijuana
- Capital punishment
- Cloning
- Abortion
- Eating disorders
- Child abuse
- Teenage pregnancy
- Gangs
- Nuclear weapons
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PROQUEST PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: SIRS & ELIBRARY
Our professional development training program is a complete package that delivers the key processes to ensure successful program implementation, and the content to support ongoing use and customization across the entire curriculum.
The CEU-eligible program provides educators with research-based technology integration strategies and tools for customizing instruction and assessment using our SIRS and eLibrary online learning solutions. Schools receive the materials they need to build professional development and instructional models that can maximize teacher efficiency and effectiveness, and improve student achievement.
Educators receive rubrics, assessments, activities, and content designed to spur students' information literacy skills, critical thinking, and reading and writing abilities, while increasing their own technology usage. Plus, our flexible model ensures that all instructional staff in a school or system will benefit from the lessons learned.
Our fresh support for our line of SIRS solutions will train your teachers to fuse four types of literacy using SIRS resources with state and national learning standards. Find out more about this new program today--just in time for your spring training dates!
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PROQUEST LEARNING PAGE: BUILDING YOUNG READERS
Learning Page salutes Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) who was responsible for the recognition that black history has attained. Born to former slaves, he worked in Kentucky coal mines and did not attend high school until the age of 20. He later earned a Ph.D. from Harvard and noticed in his studies that African Americans were mostly ignored in history books.
Dr. Woodson founded several organizations and publications to promote education about black history. In 1926, he began promoting Negro History Week to call attention to the contributions of African Americans in U.S. history. In the 1960s the commemoration became Black History Month.
Reading A-Z has these titles for Black History Month:
Riding with Rosa Parks
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jazz Greats
Up from Slavery
These books are just a fraction of Reading A-Z's nearly 1,600 printable books. The subscription website also offers lesson plans, worksheets, assessments, flashcards, and reader's theater scripts
--everything you need to teach reading at a very affordable price. Guided reading, phonics, alphabet, and so much more, all with just the click of a mouse and for only a few pennies per book!
Visit Reading A-Z to try 30 free books and subscribe today.
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APPLIED LEARNING
February is American Heart Month. We are reminded by this theme that many other health issues for Americans are also celebrated in monthly themes.
This month, Leading Issues will focus on the need for education and research in preventing and curing many of the diseases that both lower the quality of life and eventually bring premature death to millions of Americans. Mini-research activities with Leading Issues are an excellent way for students to learn based on scientific research of the learning process.
Mini-research activities are also included in all state standards and help to increase student achievement in essential skills that are a major part of the state assessments.
Activity: Health issues affect every American. American Heart Month provides the thematic motivation to learn more about these health issues and see how public perception brings more than one side to each of these issues. Listed below are some of the health issues that could be selected by teachers to integrate into their assignments in February.
- AIDS (Disease)
- Depression, Mental
- Eating disorders
- Euthanasia
- Food, Safety measures
- Genetic engineering
- Health Care Reform
- Medical ethics
- Obesity
- Stem cells
Leading Issues is the only learning resource to provide four unique models to help teachers and students get the most out of the mini-research process. Click the Educators’ Resources link at the top of the page and you will be connected to the following guides for students and teachers:
- Writing a Research Paper: Student
- Writing a Mini-Research Paper: Student and Teacher
- Creating a PowerPoint Presentation: Student
- Creating a Mini-Debate: Student and Teacher
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CULTUREGRAMS™ IN FOCUS
CultureGrams can help you broaden your students' understanding of the world and its peoples. Our World Edition includes 187 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 68 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:
Spain
- Capital City: Madrid
- Population: 40,280,780
- Area: 194,897 square miles (504,782 sq km)
- Real GDP per capita: $ 21,460
- Adult literacy rate: 99% (male), 97% (female)
- Infant mortality: 4 per 1,000 births
- Life expectancy: 76 (male), 83 (female)
Did You Know?
- A tortilla española isn’t a flat type of bread; it’s an omelette with potatoes and onions.
- Muslim Moors from North Africa invaded Spain in AD 711 and ruled there for hundreds of years.
- If Spaniards invite someone to visit their home “sometime,” they are just being polite and don't really expect a visit. A guest accepts the offer but only goes if the host has insisted or given a specific time.
Population
The population of Spain is around 40.2 million and is growing annually at 0.16 percent. The Spanish are a composite of Mediterranean and Nordic ancestry but are considered a homogeneous ethnic group. A small portion of the population is composed of immigrants from Latin American nations, other European countries, Africa, and Asia. More than three-fourths of the population lives in urban areas. Most Spaniards live near the coast. Low birthrates stem in part from high unemployment and steep housing costs, which make it impossible for most people to buy houses large enough for more than two children.
Language
Spain has four official languages. Castilian Spanish is the main language of business and government. The other official languages include Catalan (spoken by 17 percent of the population), Galician (7 percent), and Basque (2 percent). Catalan is spoken mostly in the northeast corner, down the coast to Valencia, and on the Balearic Islands; Galician is spoken in the northwest; and Basque is common in the Basque provinces in the north (near the border with France). Spanish is the language of instruction throughout the country, except in Catalonia and the Basque region. English is the most common foreign language, followed by French.
Personal Appearance
Style and quality of clothing are important indicators of a person's status and respectability. Men usually dress conservatively, avoiding flashy or bright colors. Women like to be stylish, and children are dressed as nicely as possible. Spaniards tend to dress up when going out in public. Colorful regional costumes are sometimes worn for festivities.
Commerce
Businesses are traditionally open six days a week from about 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 5 to 8 p.m. Banks are open from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. From May to October, banks do not open on Saturdays. The midday break traditionally allowed families to be together for the main meal and take a siesta (afternoon rest). However, this practice is disappearing, particularly in urban areas. Many businesses stay open all day or have a shorter meal break. Business is not conducted as usual during July and August because many people are away on vacation. Supermarkets and malls are gradually replacing many traditional markets and small family shops. Laws intended to protect small businesses prevent large stores from opening on Sundays.
To find out more about CultureGrams, connect to our website today.
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TOP 3 WEBSITES
Each month, our SKS WebSelect™ and 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.
LifeWorks
Organization: Office of Science Education (OSE), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
"LifeWorks™ is an interactive career exploration Web site for middle and high school students. Users can browse for information on more than 100 medical science and health careers by title, education required, interest area, or median salary. Alternatively, the 'Career Finder' can be used to generate a customized list of careers especially suited for users' skills and interests. LifeWorks promotes awareness of the wide variety of occupations in health and medical sciences and the range of opportunities at different education levels. The site complements its factual career data by highlighting true stories of successful people. They illustrate the variety of real-life career pathways, from the carefully planned to the unpredictable." (OSE)
Legendary Coins & Currency
Organization: National Museum of American History
"History, at times, gives some coins or notes special significance, and this money becomes legendary. Unlike money that changes hands daily, legendary coins and currency are larger than life. The Legendary Coins & Currency Web site provides details about the 50+ coins in the exhibition." (NMAH) Explore coins that are first in their kind, legendary in their beauty and design, contrived for profit, represent the quest for gold, and signify human struggle and triumph.
Intelligent Designs on Evolution
Organization: American Public Media
"Questions about our origins as a species have been plaguing us as humans, prodding us as scientists and dividing us as Americans for more than a hundred years, if not for all time. Gallup polls show that nearly half of Americans believe God created man 10,000 years ago, as the Bible says, and another third believe man evolved, but God had a hand in it. At the same time, only a third of the American public believe Darwin's theory of evolution is supported by evidence. Yet nearly all scientists and science teachers do believe in the evolutionary process. So when it comes to how we teach this topic in public schools, the controversy gets even more heated." (AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA) Go to Dover, PA, where the school board endorsed intelligent design over evolution, examine the controversy over the teaching of intelligent design in the classroom, and learn how the Blount County School Board passed a resolution to teach a "variety of scientific theories about origins."
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FREE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Our ProQuest product trainers are standing by to help you get the most out of your subscription--and learn more about our other digital learning resources! We offer a wide variety of online training sessions each month.
You can download three ready-to-print versions of forthcoming training dates and times in PDF format.
Our 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.
Register for a course!
You may also sign up for a timely enewsletter to receive training dates each month via email as soon as they're available.
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CALL FOR USER TESTIMONIALS
What features of your SIRS subscription do you and your students find the most useful? Have you recently used or are you planning to use SIRS as part of an assignment or student research project? How do you and other curriculum leaders in your institution use your ProQuest educational resources?
Share your experiences with peers working in schools across the country and around the world--through an upcoming Product News Bulletin! We're waiting to hear from you. Please send your ideas and stories to: tim.mclain@il.proquest.com
If we choose your submission, we'll contact you for additional information and permission to use your story in a future issue.
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FORWARD TO A COLLEAGUE + EMAIL SERVICE INFORMATION
Increase the usage of your digital learning resources! Our forward to a friend service makes it easy to instantly send this product bulletin--and all the great ideas and information it contains--to others in your subscribing institution with a click of your mouse.
Also, be sure to encourage them to sign up for our SIRS, CultureGrams, ProQuest, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, eLibrary, eLibrary Curriculum Edition, and additional enewsletters as appropriate.
To change your email address, sign up for additional newsletter titles, or modify your subscription settings, click here.
Cordially,
Your ProQuest K-12 Team
Your SIRS license agreement gives us permission to send you email about product upgrades, special offers, and new services. If you'd like to discontinue receiving these messages, you may unsubscribe. If you have any questions or are having difficulty, please send email to Tim McLain. Thanks for your interest in SIRS and ProQuest!
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