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Enclosed is this month's free newsletter for SIRS Discoverer® subscribers. This newsletter is designed to help teachers, librarians, and administrators stay informed about the latest changes to their subscription(s), while providing classroom resources and giving tips for using their ProQuest solutions in a variety of settings.
Check out our online archive for access to past issues.
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 Discoverer Adds 9,000+ Websites
Late last month, SIRS Discoverer was relaunched with SIRS Discoverer WebFind as a new content set.
This collection of more than 9,000 educational weblinks delivers high-interest Web content, with guaranteed reliability and online safety.
Every day, our editorial team evaluates dozens of new websites spanning the globe. Following SIRS' time-tested techniques for vetting and organizing information, each site is carefully selected for its relevance, credibility, appropriateness, and reliability before it's added to our collections.
How reliable are the links? In a word, very. Special software monitors website content changes throughout the day. When a change is detected, the site is removed until it's personally reviewed by our staff to ensure compliance to our rigorous standards. Plus, our editorial process ensures that sites are educational in nature, non-commercial, and free from overt advertising.
Organization by SIRS Discoverer topics, keyword search, standards correlations, reading levels, and website summaries make Discoverer the safe and easy choice for kids online. Find out more about this new addition to your subscription at our K-12 website.
To see the integration in action, view a multimedia demonstration (Flash), or subscribe to our free monthly SIRS podcast via iTunes and retrieve the February podcast file.
Charts & Graphs Feature
Did you know that Discoverer offers charts and graph activities, geared for the younger researcher?
Students can learn how to read and decipher charts and graphs. Visit our new Activities category in the Database Features, “charts & graphs.”
Political Cartoons in Discoverer
Discoverer now offers political cartoons geared for the younger researcher, from noteworthy sources including Junior Scholastic, Scholastic News, New York Times Upfront and Current Events.
Students can learn how to read and decipher political cartoons, as well as understand the writing devices employed in them (satire, irony, metaphor, etc.). In a hurry? The quickest route to all of our political cartoons is Database Features, Activities, Editorial Cartoons.
Here's just a few timely examples to get you started:
Map Activities in Discoverer
Travel -- with Discoverer! We provide map activities geared for the younger researcher, from noteworthy sources including Scholastic News, Junior Scholastic, and Current Events.
With these new resources, your young students will learn how to read and decipher varied types of maps, and answer discussion
questions based on their observations.
Visit a sampling of the following articles to learn more:
Current Events
Our editorial team updates our SIRS products 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® Enduring Issues 2007
For years, middle and senior high schools have relied on SIRS Enduring Issues to provide instant access to print versions of the best articles of year linked to dozens of research topics.
Our new 2007 edition is on its way to subscribers; previous versions are also available for purchase. Due to popular demand, this year's release has eight comprehensive indexes instead of the one comprehensive offered in Enduring Issues 2006. To order, call 1-800-521-0600, Ext. 3344, or send email to pqsales@il.proquest.com.
Keep in mind that our 2007 edition will be the last for Enduring Issues.
SIRS Training Demos: Menus & More
Our entire collection of training demonstrations are now sporting easy-to-use menus, as well as updated content!
To tap into our Flash demos and learn more about all of our ProQuest solutions anytime, anywhere, just access the Training & Support section of our K-12 website, and click on Recorded Training. You'll be learning and exploring your subscriptions in no time.
Suggested Research Topics
Tens of thousands of students mine SIRS resources for the latest information on the leading issues of the day. To provide the most pertinent and safe content, SIRS Editors carefully research topics and issues each day to find age-appropriate materials that bring students to a better understanding of the topics taught in schools and classrooms across the U.S. and Canada.
Be sure to take a peek at some of SIRS Discoverer’s most searched topics and issues over the past 60 days, including:
Dogs
Global Warming
Martin Luther King
Cats
Penguins
School Uniforms
Comets
Animals
Holocaust
Titanic
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DISCOVERER CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
Groundhog Day, always celebrated on February 2nd, is based on a jocular tradition. Supposedly, if a hibernating groundhog surfaces, and sees his shadow, he'll be frightened underground -- thus marking six more weeks of winter. If it's cloudy, the groundhog won't be frightened by his shadow and will stay above ground to bring on spring. (Turns out that several U.S. groundhogs saw their shadow this year; just as many did not.)
Of course, there's no real truth to this tradition. Taken from an ancient European tradition, the first Groundhog Day celebration in North America was held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, over 100 years ago. It's still celebrated there today where they use a groundhog known as Punxsutawney Phil, who was featured in the movie "Groundhog Day," starring Bill Murray.
Activity: Let's learn more about groundhogs to celebrate Groundhog Day this year. Type "Groundhogs" in the Keyword/Natural Language Search box for your search. Summarize from at least two articles that provide information on groundhogs. Here are some sample questions for teachers to use for the mini-research summary:
- What are some other animals that tunnel and why?
- What are some other animals that hibernate and why?
- Where do groundhogs mostly live?
- What do groundhogs eat?
- What are some threats to groundhogs?
- Would groundhogs make good pets -- why or why not?
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CULTUREGRAMS ADDS PROVINCES
Looking for a fresh, up-to-date solution to power your social sciences, geography, or cultural studies curriculum? As always, our CultureGrams line is here to help.
And last week, our editors were proud to launch a new product -- Provinces Edition -- with reports on all 13 of Canada's provinces and territories.
Provinces Edition is ideal for upper elementary and middle school students studying Canada. Each province's report contains fascinating information on categories such as Geography; Wildlife; Environmental Issues; History; Population; Cultural Notes; and First Nations, Métis, and Aboriginal Peoples.
Each report includes maps, charts, a history timeline, and useful images, such as photos of the province's official emblems. Plus, statistical tables allow students to compare basic information on all of the provinces.
Find out more about CultureGrams at our K-12 website, or sign up for a free trial today.
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CULTUREGRAMS™ IN FOCUS
CultureGrams can help you broaden your students' understanding of the world and its peoples. The World Edition includes 190+ country profiles, written for junior high students and older. CultureGrams also has a Kids Edition, Provinces Edition, and a States Edition, geared for upper elementary students. These editions include kid-friendly profiles of 70+ countries, all 50 states (including Washington, D.C.), and the Canadian provinces.
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.
Did You Know?
- Ethiopia, the oldest independent nation in Africa, was known anciently as Abyssinia.
- Ethiopians claim that the real Ark of the Covenant mentioned in the Bible resides in the St. Mary's of Zion Church in Axum, where it is guarded and cannot be seen.
- Elderly people are highly respected in Ethiopia. Adult children are responsible for taking care of their parents.
An Ancient Land
Ethiopia is one of the oldest independent countries in the world. Legend has it that the Queen of Sheba, from Ethiopia, married King Solomon of Israel around 1000 B.C. They had a son called Menelik, who later became the first king of Ethiopia. About A.D. 200 Ethiopia became a powerful trading nation under the Kingdom of Axum. The Axumites built great stone cities and monuments. One of the kings, Ezana, helped create the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Axum prospered for almost one thousand years.
Games & Sports
Ethiopians' favorite sport is soccer, but at Christmas they play a game called gana chawata (Christmas game), which is like hockey. Players make their own small bats, and each team tries to hit a wooden ball into a goal. Girls love playing hopscotch, which they call sanyo mak sanyo, meaning "Monday Tuesday." Young boys and girls play "bride and groom." Boys make and realistically dress a little figure of a man; girls do the same for the bride. Competitive marble-shooting matches cause excitement among village children. Checkers, cards, and a board game called gebeta are popular, too.
A Different Calendar
Ethiopia's calendar is different than yours. It has thirteen months: twelve months of thirty days each and one month of five or six days. New Year's Day falls on September 11. The Ethiopic calendar is eight years and eight days behind yours (except from September 11 to December 31, when the calendar runs seven years and eight days behind). This means that the date March 15, 2006 for us is March 7, 1998 for Ethiopia!
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.
CIA Kids
Organization: The Culinary Institute of America (CIA)
"The mission of Culinary Institute of America is to inspire and nurture in young people a love of the culinary and baking and pastry arts in a fun and informative environment." (CIA) Discover the cuisine of the world, learn culinary math and terms, and find out what it's like to be a professional chef.
The Renaissance Connection
Organization: Allentown Art Museum
"Welcome to The Renaissance Connection, the Allentown Art Museum's interactive educational web site. With the simple click of a mouse button, travel 500 years into the past to discover many Renaissance innovations revealed through the Allentown Art Museum's Samuel H. Kress Collection of European art. Be a patron of the arts. Design your own innovation. Investigate Renaissance artworks in depth. Discover how past innovations inform life today. And more, all enhanced with quirky visuals, irreverent humor, and engaging interactivity that reveal the ways that Renaissance life and culture resemble our own." (ALLENTOWN ART MUSEUM)
Virtual Instrument Museum
Organization: Music Department, Wesleyan University
Search hundreds of musical instruments in this online instrument museum. A map shows the geographic distribution of instruments. Each instrument page may include photographs, videos, audiofiles and QTVR movies.
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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.
Plus, all attendees can easily obtain a Certificate of Attendance (right) for any of our online courses! The certificate documents the course name, amount of class time, date, and verifies attendance. You can use the certificate to document attendance in the class and submit it along with the additional documentation your school district requires to award you with continuing education credits.
Be sure to tell your trainer that you would like to receive a certificate via email at the start of each class. They’ll be glad to help!
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 SIRS or additional ProQuest solution course today!
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 CSA 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 CSA!
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