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Enclosed is this month's free newsletter for SIRS Discoverer® and SIRS® Discoverer WebFind 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 for access to past issues.
In this issue:
- What's New @ SIRS
- Classroom Activities
- Vocabulary Lesson Generator
- Reading A-Z: Building Young Readers
- CultureGrams in Focus
- Top 3 Websites
- Free Online Training Courses
- 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.
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:
ExploreLearning.com: Codie Finalist X 3
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: Web-based or 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.
Read the full press release online.
Political Cartoons in Discoverer
Discoverer provides 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:
Subject Tree Updates
At SIRS, we're continually reviewing the Discoverer and WebFind Subject Trees to provide a more comprehensive search function that reflects the carefully selected content available in the database. Visit ACTIVITIES in the Database Features to access new articles and activities relating to Editorial Cartoons, Pro/Con discussions, and Maps.
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.
Suggested Research Topics
Tens of thousands of students mine SIRS resources for the latest information on the leading issues of the day. To help maximize their research time, our Suggested Research Topics feature offers instant access to relevant articles and resources on many of the most popular research subjects.
Here's this month's list of hot topics and timely issues in Discoverer:
Caffeine
Cloning Animals
Global Warming
Iraq
Ocelots
Phillis Wheatley
Stepfamilies
Synesthesia
Tennis
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
March signals the beginning of Spring. As the newly reborn sun races across the sky, the days become longer, the air warmer and, once again, life begins to return to the land. Twice a year, day and night become equal in length.
To the ancient elders, these times, equinoxes, were markers in which seeds would be planted and then harvested. The first of these, the Spring or Vernal Equinox occurs on or about March 21st.
Activity: Students will be enthusiastic about learning more about the approaching Spring season. Teachers should assign Essential Questions for this research activity to ensure that students use critical thinking skills. Some examples are listed below. Students should type vernal equinox in the Keyword/Natural Language Search box.
- What special things happen in the Spring and at no other time?
- Why does Spring happen each year at the same time?
- What special celebrations do people have in the Spring and why?
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PROQUEST LEARNING PAGE: BUILDING YOUNG READERS
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!
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VOCABULARY LESSON GENERATOR
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!
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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:
Colombia
Did You Know?
- Colombia is named after Christopher Columbus.
- People in Santander eat hormiga culona, a dish made with fried ants.
- One of the wettest spots in the world is Tutunendo. It gets about 460 inches (1,168 cm) of rain every year!
Games and Sports
Colombians are crazy about soccer, or fútbol as it is known in Spanish. They play whenever possible. When they're not playing, they're watching, especially the World Cup (the world's most popular sporting event). The Colombian team has done extremely well in the last decade. Many Colombians also enjoy bullfighting. Most big cities have bullfighting rings, and thousands attend the games. But the tickets are expensive so not everyone can afford to go. Bicycling, swimming, volleyball, basketball, and baseball are other favorites.
The Liberator
Simón Bolívar is known as the Liberator. He's a hero throughout most of South America. He led the fight to make Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Panama independent from Spain. Colombia gained independence after winning the Battle of Boyacá in 1819 against the Spanish. At first, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama were joined with Colombia in the Gran Colombia republic. Bolívar was the first president. Eventually, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama left the Gran Colombia, which was renamed the Republic of Colombia.
Life as a Kid
Colombian kids usually have at least one brother or sister. Often, kids in cities live in an apartment. Some kids are homeless and live on the streets. After school, boys run home to play soccer or basketball with their friends. Girls help around the house and then get together with their friends to chat and play. Children from wealthier families play video or computer games after school. Of course, kids have homework to do, too. But many kids don't have free time because they're hard at work on the farm or in the store. When their parents are working, young children are taken care of by relatives or sent to day care.
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.
Science Lab
Organization: Schlumberger Limited
The Science Lab offers virtual experiments and science projects to help students aged 10 and up learn about the Doppler Effect, viscosity, friction, buoyancy and more! This site is divided into the following categories: Earth Science, Air & Space, Electricity & Magnetism, Properties of Liquids, Math Puzzle of the Month, and Engineering Challenge.
Conservation Investigation: Seahorses
Organization: Shedd Aquarium
"You are a reporter for an international newspaper assigned to investigate the sea horse situation. You can travel to the Philippines and see seahorses and their habitat, interview local people, scientists, fishermen, traders, medicine users, and do library research for documents and statistics. Then write a balanced editorial that takes a point of view, but respectfully and accurately represents the opposing or alternative attitudes." (SHEDD AQUARIUM)
Going Down the Crooked Road
Organization: The Roanoke Times
"Come along for a ride exploring the sights and sounds of Virginia's Heritage Music Trail." (THE ROANOKE TIMES) This site documents the mountain music along the Crooked Road, a winding corridor of highways and backroads in Southwest Virginia. Visitors can learn about bluegrass music, view photographs, watch videos, and listen to music. The site also includes a recipe and a map.
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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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