Enclosed is this month's free newsletter for eLibrary® Curriculum Edition 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.
Don't miss our online archive 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.
New Training & Support Resources
As you may know, ProQuest is home to a group of dedicated road warriors (also known as trainers) who are constantly on the move, bringing hands-on information about our popular solutions to schools across the U.S., Canada, and beyond.
At every stop, the team collects feedback about our K-12 website. What do staffers like about the site? Is ProQuest offering the right mix of training documents and presentations? What could we change to make it more useful and effective?
Recently, the volumes of feedback we've received since September has resulted in the launch of an all-new Training & Support page. The page now fits in most browsers without the need to scroll down, and contains all the links you've come to rely on, presented in a clearer, multi-button format. Check it out today--and thanks for helping us make our website more useful for schools around the world!
We also recently launched new versions of existing training and product information resources, including:
We're proud to announce that ExploreLearning.com is a finalist in the Software and Information Industry Association's (SIIA) 21st annual Codie Awards!
ExploreLearning is a Finalist in three categories, including:
Best Instructional Solution: Online
Best Instructional Solution: Science
Best Instructional Solution: Mathematics
"ProQuest is honored to be selected as a finalist for these three Codie awards," said John Campbell, Senior Vice President of K-12, ProQuest Information and Learning. "This honor reflects our commitment to providing quality materials that support math and science curricula. We are proud that our peers have recognized ExploreLearning as a product that consistently supports student achievement in these critical areas."
With the objective of helping learners make sense of complex scientific and mathematical principles, ExploreLearning offers interactive online simulations that drive conceptual understanding of math and science in grades 6-12. ExploreLearning helps students build lasting knowledge of mathematical and scientific principles through hands-on exploration. Its growing base of inquiry-based learning materials provides a powerful enhancement to the way teachers teach and students learn.
“G’day mates!” “So this is eLibrary, eh?” Whether you’re using international versions of eLibrary at a school Down Under or points north, you’ll find a fresh collection of primary and secondary school resources to help students make the grade at www.proquestk12.com.
Connect to our revised Product Information page and seek out the maple leaf and Australian flag to learn more about these localized editions of our popular general reference solution, plus tap into a growing set of specialized training resources.
You + eLibrary Survey = Win CultureGrams!
We’re interested in providing you and your school with the best solutions to increase student achievement and teacher effectiveness. We want to ensure that all students and teachers across the curriculum are using the content and unique features of eLibrary. Many librarians tell us that when students and teachers know more about the power of eLibrary, time-intensive and fruitless Googling for school research decreases dramatically.
Help us find out more about how students and teachers use eLibrary in your school by participating in our brief survey. Your answers and an option to request additional customer support and free training will ensure that your investment in eLibrary is a sound one and supports information literacy in your school.
Take a few minutes to respond, and you could win a print copy of CultureGrams™! The survey will close to new responses on March 31, so be sure to participate today.
Let’s face it--no matter how many times we visit our favorite online learning resources, we’re bound to miss a feature or two. This month, we present one of the least-known, but most useful features of your eLibrary subscription: highlight and lookup.
It’s as easy (and hidden) as it sounds. Here’s how it works--login to eLibrary and conduct a search. Click on an article, and start reading.
Don’t understand a word? No problem! Highlight any word (or words) in the article with your mouse, then click the reference tab at the top. eLibrary will grab your word(s) and conduct a new search for the words’ definition, listing in the thesaurus, appearances in almanacs, encyclopedias, atlases, and more.
The same method works for isolating one or more words and conducting a comprehensive search for related information. Highlight any word (or words) in any article, then click the search tab at the top. Bingo--fresh results appear for the highlighted word(s).
Now you’re in-the-know! We hope this month’s tip and trick bring you closer to being a true eLibrary power user.
eLibrary CE features all the content of eLibrary and access to the special collections of History Study Center™ and ProQuest® Learning: Literature. Each of these learning resources offer primary source documents and study units that support AP courses in Social Studies and English Language Arts/Literature.
History Study Center
Eighty years ago, in March of 1926, the first liquid-fuel rocket flight took place. It was launched by Dr. Robert H. Goddard in a Massachusetts cabbage patch. The rocket flew less than 3 seconds and reached an altitude of 41 feet. This was the start that made the space age possible. Previous rockets used black powder that required the oxygen of the atmosphere for them to burn. How would such rockets fly beyond the stratosphere where they would have no oxygen? Liquid fuels provided the answer because they would contain their own oxygen source within the fuel.
Dr. Goddard moved to New Mexico and its open spaces to continue to develop and test his rockets. Over the next nine years his rockets grew from 12 ft. to 16 ft. to 18 ft., and their altitude climbed from 2,000 ft. to 7,500 ft. to 9,000 ft. He built a rocket that exceeded the speed of sound and another with fin-stabilized steering, and he filed dozens of patents for everything from gyroscopic guidance systems to multistage rockets. Goddard’s pioneering work led to the development of the rockets that launched the Space Age with Sputnik, the First Moon Landing, and now the exploration of Mars and our solar system.
Activity: Space became an area of intense competition during the Cold War as the United States and Soviet Union attempted to compete with one another in their space programs. Both countries worked on developing rocket and satellite technologies which might give them the military edge or provide a propaganda boost.
Students will learn more about this tense time in history, with rocket technology developed through the work of Dr. Goddard providing both positive and negative possibilities for the world. Teachers should assign Essential Questions to ensure that students use critical thinking in developing their research report. Here are some examples for teachers to use:
How did the Soviet Union gain an advantage in the launching of Sputnik?
How did Sputnik change U. S. actions regarding the exploration of space?
What strategies did the U. S. implement to gain the advantage over the Soviet Union after Sputnik?
To access a study unit on the race to space:
Click Browse Topic Tree
Click American History > The United States of America, 1945-
Click the Space Race
ProQuest Learning: Literature
Both St. Patrick’s Day and Women’s History Month are celebrated in March. Let’s combine these two notable celebrations and research Irish Women Authors!
Activity: Each student will research one of the 26 Irish women authors provided through the search terms Irish women authors. Teachers will assign Essential Questions to answer for each author.
Here are some examples of EQs for educators to employ:
How does the author’s nationality affect their works?
What is the major theme of the authors works and why?
What criticism of the author’s works is most notable?
PROQUEST® PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: ELIBRARY & SIRS
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 eLibrary and SIRS 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!
Finally, educators can generate customized vocabulary lessons with VocabularyA-Z.com, a new website from ProQuest LearningPage. Now you can meet all your classroom vocabulary needs with one great resource!
Build thousands of customized vocabulary lessons
Match the subjects you're teaching--science, social studies, arts, health, language, sports, music, and more
Build lessons to provide materials for a full week of learning
Get vocabulary lesson plans, assessments, graphic organizers, worksheets, activities, games, and assessments.
Access the materials from any computer, anytime
All for an introductory price of less than $30 a year per teacher
Try out Vocabulary A-Z for free, and take advantage of great introductory pricing!
Learning Page is celebrating March with special activities in honor of this month's events--St. Patrick's Day, National Nutrition Month, and the beginning of spring. You won't want to miss:
Clover counting
Themed sorting activities
The ABCs of spring
A St. Patrick's Day word search
A creative writing exercise
And more!
You'll also find three great printable books in this month's Spring-Fun activities:
It Is Spring, a celebration of things that come with springtime
Foods Around the World, a culinary trip around the world
Tommy Goes to Ireland, an adventurous tale of rainbows, leprechauns, and missing treasure
Next month, Learning Page will celebrate "Amazing April" with an assortment of activities related to National Poetry Month, life cycles, baby animals, Earth Day, and Arbor Day.
All of the thousands of resources at Learning Page are free! If you aren't already a member, register today for access to all the materials at Learning Page. It's quick and easy!
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:
France
Capital City: Paris
Population: 60,424,213
Area: 211,208 square miles (547,030 sq km)
Real GDP per capita: $26,920
Adult literacy rate: 99% (male), 99% (female)
Infant mortality: 4 per 1,000 births
Life expectancy: 75 (male), 83 (female)
Did You Know?
Pets outnumber children in France.
When eating a meal in France, it is impolite to put your hands in your lap.
The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the French Revolution. It is 1,063 feet (324 m) high and is painted about every seven years. It takes a team of 25 painters 60 tons of paint and more than a year to complete the task.
Language
French is an important international language. It's an official language of the United Nations and is second only to English in use between nations for communication, business, and diplomacy. The French government has stressed the language so much that almost everyone in France speaks French, despite the different nationalities represented. Even regional dialects have lost their importance in recent years.
Greetings
Shaking hands upon greeting and parting is customary in France. An aggressive handshake is considered impolite. The French handshake is a light grip and a single, quick shake. Generally, a woman does not offer her hand to a man but waits for him to initiate the greeting. Coworkers shake hands upon arriving and departing from work each day. Women customarily are kissed on both cheeks by male and female friends. Men only kiss the cheeks of males who are relatives or close friends. When people give kisses, they generally just touch cheeks and "kiss the air." The number of kisses given varies by region and ranges from two to four.
Diet
The French consider cooking an art, and French cuisine is famous worldwide. The first French cookbooks date back to the Middle Ages, and French standards were the early gauge of fine cooking. Regional traditions are strong. There are several types of cooking, ranging from hearty, inexpensive fare to sophisticated dishes with costly ingredients. Nouvelle cuisine, created in the 1960s, was a reaction to heavy cooking. While still made of expensive ingredients, it is much lighter, portions are smaller, and the presentation is more artistic.
Recreation
The French are enthusiastic spectators, but fewer participate in team sports than might be expected. Soccer and rugby are popular spectator sports. Participation is highest in individual sports: cycling, fishing, tennis, hiking, skiing, and sailing. The annual Tour de France cycling race and the French Open tennis tournament are popular national events. Most people take five weeks of paid vacation each year--four weeks in the summer and one week at Christmas. During August, when many people travel, some shops and factories close.
To find out more about CultureGrams, connect to our website today.
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.
Career Voyages
Organization: U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) & U.S. Department of Education (DOE)
This site "is designed to provide information on high-growth, high-demand occupations along with the skills and education needed to attain those jobs... Start exploring career options--whether you are in high school, have graduated, have a vocational certificate, have a 2-year or 4-year college degree, or have knowledge and skills acquired through training centers, on-the-job training, or work experience. Be in demand by knowing about high growth jobs with better wages and a brighter future." (DOL) Learn about occupations in a variety of industries. Tips and tools for career planning are included.
"Discover the themes and works that emerged when creative and intellectual voices intersected during the Harlem Renaissance." (JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS) Explore the people, places, and themes of the Harlem Renaissance and how they intersected through this multimedia site. Watch Earl Tucker dance, listen to Langston Hughes read a piece of poetry, listen to Fats Waller perform, and more.
"Inventing Modern America: From the Microwave to the Mouse celebrates the best of American ingenuity and inventiveness. In-depth profiles of...inventors tell the often surprising stories of the creation of everyday objects, from Kevlar and the personal computer to the pacemaker. This site explores the life and work of five of these intriguing innovators." (MIT)
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.
What features of eLibrary CE do you and your students find the most useful? Have you recently used or are planning to use eLibrary 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.
FORWARD TO A COLLEAGUE + EMAIL SERVICE INFORMATION
Increase the usage of your digital learning solutions! 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.
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.
We're proud to announce that 
Let’s face it--no matter how many times we visit our favorite online learning resources, we’re bound to miss a feature or two. This month, we present one of the least-known, but most useful features of your eLibrary subscription: highlight and lookup.
Country:
