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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 SIRS subscription(s), 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.
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.
Vocabulary 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.
Free Podcast Training via iTunes
Don’t miss this month’s SIRS podcast, focusing on Student Bibliographies:
A How-To Guide.
Whether student researchers use print or online resources to gather data, it’s important to properly cite each reference on a bibliography or works cited page.
This month, we’ll show you how to easily generate references to SIRS resources that can be copied and pasted into student research of all kinds. Welcome to this month’s SIRS podcast from ProQuest!
First, access your SIRS subscription and conduct a fresh search.
On the results page, note that each resource link starts with a check box. Be sure to check this box if you’re planning to use the resource as a reference in your research.
Once you’ve checked the boxes next to each resource you’re going to use, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Update Tagged List button.
The resources will be added to a fresh Tagged List. To access the list, at the top drag your mouse over the words My Research, then click Tagged List on the submenu that appears.
To generate citation information, click the boxes next to each resource again, then click the Create/Print Bibliography icon near the top.
Complete information is provided to create citations in both MLA and APA formats.
Download your free copy of iTunes today, and subscribe to our free podcasts with a click of your mouse.
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.
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. 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.
SIRS Leading Issues: This Month’s Top Picks
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 our subscribers’ more commonly accessed topics:
- Child Abuse
- School violence
- Gangs
- Marijuana legalization
- Teenage pregnancy
- Abortion
- Global warming
- Immigration
- Eating disorders
- Same-sex marriage
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LESSON PLANS
October is National Book Month. SIRS Renaissance has the resources to help English teachers motivate students to understand more about Literature and books.
Activity: In Researcher, click Topic Browse > SIRS Renaissance > Literature. View the list of subtopics that include a variety of genres of literature. Assign a different genre from the list to each student.
Students should be able to answer the following examples of essential questions from their research (teachers can add others):
- What are the essential elements that define this genre?
- Who are the major current authors and their works in this genre?
- Who are the major historic authors and their works in this genre?
- Who is your favorite author/work in this genre and why?
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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.
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.
Here are links to several primary source documents. To access the material, sign up for a free trial, login, and then click on each link:
Find out more about SIRS Decades at our K-12 website.
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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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CULTUREGRAMS™ IN FOCUS
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.
State:
Missouri
Did You Know?
- The tallest man in history was St. Louis's Robert Wadlow. He was 8 feet 11 inches (2.7 m) tall.
- Missouri was the starting point for the Pony Express. Riders carried mail all the way to California in just a few days. They changed horses every 10 to 15 miles (16-24 km).
- In 1927, Charles Lindbergh, a Missouri pilot, completed the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic in a plane called the Spirit of St. Louis.
Climate
Missouri is right in the center of the United States. This means that Missouri's weather is moderate -- sometimes it has the cold weather of the northern states and sometimes it has the warm weather of the southern states. During the winter, the average temperature in northern Missouri is 36°F (2°C). It snows, but the snow is usually not very heavy. In summer, warm air from the south brings temperatures above 90°F (32°C). Summer rainstorms can cause serious flooding when Missouri's rivers overflow. Missouri also lies in the middle of a region known as Tornado Alley. Missouri usually gets around 27 major tornadoes per year. In 1925, a tornado hit Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois. It was called the Tri-State Tornado, and it killed almost seven hundred people. The Tri-State Tornado was the deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
Gateway to the West
In 1965, an incredible monument was completed in St. Louis. The Gateway Arch is 630 feet (192 m) tall and is the tallest monument in the nation. In fact, if the presidents on Mount Rushmore also had bodies to the scale of their giant heads, they could easily walk under the Gateway Arch -- with 100 feet (30 m) to spare! You can ride a tram up to the top of the Arch and see for 30 miles (48 km). The Gateway Arch honors the role that St. Louis played as the Gateway to the West. Lewis and Clark began their famous expedition at St. Louis, and thousands of early settlers passed through St. Louis on their journey westward.
Cultural Note
Few Missourians have achieved greater fame than writer Mark Twain. He grew up in Hannibal on the banks of the Mississippi River during the 1800s. His real name was Samuel Clemens, but he changed it to Mark Twain, which is a riverboat term. As a boy, he dreamed of becoming a captain of a riverboat traveling up and down the Mississippi. Twain finally got his chance when he met a riverboat pilot who promised to teach him the job. For almost four years, Mark Twain worked on the river and met many different characters. Mark Twain's childhood in Hannibal and his adventures as a riverboat pilot were the inspiration for his great books, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. These books describe what it was like to grow up in Missouri. Today, Missourians still celebrate Mark Twain's life with events like Hannibal's Tom Sawyer Days festival. People there compete in fence-painting and frog-jumping contests.
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.
Cuba Transition Project
Organization: University of Miami (UM)
"The Cuba Transition Project, at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS), University of Miami, is an important and timely project to study and make recommendations for the reconstruction of Cuba once the post-Castro transition begins in earnest. The project started in January 2002 and is funded by a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development." (UM) This site includes full-text articles and original research, information on foreign investments in Cuba, a listing of Cuban political prisoners, organizational charts of the Cuban political structure, issues of the Latell Report, a collection of treaties and accords, and much more. Information is available in English or Spanish. This site requires a Flash Plug-in.
Middle East Maps
Organization: Perry-Castaneda Library (PCL) Map Collection
The Perry-Castaneda Library online site provides all types of maps including reference, general & special interest, political, historical, physical, shaded reliefs, and more. This page features maps of the Middle East.
A Special Report: U.S. South Pole Station
Organization: The National Science Foundation (NSF)
"The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds and manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, which coordinates almost all U.S. science on the continent, including research carried out by other federal agencies. In early 2007, NSF plans to complete construction on a new station at the Pole, the third since 1956." (NSF) Visitors to this site can view video, photos, and related resources of the new Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.
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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!
(Interested in Reading A-Z programs? Click here.)
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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