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Enclosed is this month's free newsletter for ProQuest® Platinum 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.
PROQUEST EDUCATION SOLUTION UPDATES
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.
Free Podcast Training via iTunes
As you know, we offer large, Flash-authored training files (see below) for all of our K-12 solutions. Beginning this year, we’re proud to roll out a series of monthly video podcasts, along with smaller versions of our larger training files – all playable inside a free copy of iTunes.
Download your copy of iTunes today, and subscribe to our free podcasts with a click of your mouse. (No iPod necessary!)
Free Online Training Modules: Updated
Have 20-30 minutes to spare? Interested in learning more about your ProQuest subscriptions, integrating content into your classroom or library, or just honing your searching skills?
Our Flash-produced multimedia training modules make it easy to brush up on every aspect of our tools at your own pace. And best of all, our trainers spent the summer updating more than 90% of our modules to match new interfaces, content, user flows, and more.
Tap into our rich collection of free online training modules at our K-12 website today. You’ll be glad you did!
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PLATINUM CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
Congress has mandated that teachers in all schools should create lessons and activities to celebrate National Constitution Day on September 17. This year the celebration date is Monday, September 18. This is the second year of this annual celebration.
Students are living in an era of unprecedented challenges to the meaning of the Constitution from the abridgment of civil liberties caused by the War on Terror, the Patriot Act, and the rights or lack of rights of increasing number of illegal immigrants. This creates a need for students and all citizens to know more about our Constitutional rights than ever before in our history.
Activity: This is a great time to get students motivated to do mini-research on the Constitution and related topics. When making assignments, be sure that you create a variety of engaging questions that require students to use critical thinking skills and motivate them as well. Here are some examples:
- Why is the Constitution called the “Great Compromise”?
- How were the Articles of Confederation different from the Constitution and therefore not the basis for a revision?
- What were the basic principles integrated in the Constitution and why?
- What is the purpose of the Bill of Rights?
- Who were the American statesmen who favored or opposed ratification by the states and why?
- How does our Constitution resemble or differ from those of other countries such as Canada, or the proposed EU Constitution, etc.?
- What constitutional rights issues are prevalent in today’s society and why?
- How does the new Iraqi Constitution resemble or not resemble ours?
Complete the following sequence in Platinum to access articles that will help answer these or other questions that you may design:
Click the Topics tab > Type Constitution in the Search box > Click Constitutions and History > Narrow by related topics > Essays > View documents.
Other topic areas listed will also provide more resources depending on the engaging questions that you create for your students.
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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.
"So What?" is a unique SIRS Decades feature. This content is often found in Topic Essays, and helps students relate a historical topic to modern-day issues, encouraging critical thinking and the continued study of history with a “past meets the present” perspective.
Scientific research shows that students learn best when they can relate what they are learning in school with similar issues and problems in their current world. Without this teacher support tool, many lesson plans are focused on memorizing dates, people, and events of history that have limited interest and provide only temporary learning for most students.
Linking to the best of SIRS articles provides the “So What?” feature with engaging and relevant current information to make history come alive, resulting in more interest and an increase in permanent learning and understanding. Don’t miss out on over 100 “So What’s” available within SIRS Decades!
Here are links to several examples. To access the material, sign up for a free trial, login, and then click on each link:
The 1920s: Crime
The 1940s: World War II--Returning Soldiers
The 1960s: Civil Rights
The 1970s: Watergate--Break-In and Cover-Up
The 1990s: The Age of the Internet
Find out more about SIRS Decades at our K-12 website.
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PROQUEST LEARNING PAGE RESOURCES
ProQuest LearningPage can make your life easier with a great selection of educational resources for the coming school year. Now is the perfect time to be sure you have everything you need to help make successful learners out of all the young people in your life.
A subscription to any of the ProQuest LearningPage websites will bring thousands of developmentally appropriate resources to your desktop, 24/7, 365 days a year. Our online store of resources is full of books, lessons, worksheets, and other valuable materials. ProQuest LearningPage has quality materials for every reading need and level at very low prices, available at the click of a mouse.
Reading A-Z: Get instant access to thousands of developmentally appropriate books, lesson plans, worksheets, and activities. Print as many copies as you need at any time, all for one low annual price! The website also offers Spanish, French, and U.K. versions of various books.
Vocabulary A-Z: Build hundreds of customized vocabulary lessons to match the subjects you’re teaching. The categorized word bank has approximately 4,000 words to choose from, with more added regularly. Topics include science, social studies, math, health, language arts, music, physical education, and everyday words.
Raz-Kids: Combine kids' love of cartoons with effective reading instruction. Raz-Kids offers interactive books at 17 levels to motivate students and help them learn to read. The website also provides online quizzes, printable worksheets, and an online management system for teachers.
Reading-Tutors: Print hundreds of lessons and materials for use by tutors, parents, or teachers to provide students with extra support in key reading areas, helping them to improve their reading skills.
Download free samples to try out any of these great low-priced products. We've made it easy for you by placing all the samples in one convenient location.
For information on any of the ProQuest LearningPage websites, please call 866.889.3729 or email razsupport@readinga-z.com.
We have everything you need for back to school--quality, affordable educational resources at your fingertips, anytime, anywhere!
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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.
Country:
East Timor (New!)
- Capital: Dili
- Population: 947,000 (rank=156)
- Area, sq. mi.: 5,794 (rank=153)
- Area, sq. km.: 15,007
- Real GDP per capita: $400
- Adult literacy rate: 59%
- Infant mortality rate: 87 per 1,000 births
- Life expectancy: 55 (male); 57 (female)
Did You Know?
- After a long independence struggle, East Timor achieved nationhood in 2002.
- East Timorese families are generally large, with seven children on average.
- A prospective groom's family usually pays a bride-price of money, alcohol, and livestock to the bride's family.
- A major spectator activity is cockfighting, in which opposing roosters are agitated into fighting to the death.
Religion
About 90 percent of East Timorese practice Roman Catholicism. The remainder of the population consists of Protestants (5 percent), Muslims (3 percent), Buddhists, Hindus, and animists. East Timorese of all religions continue to perform animist ceremonies that honor their ancestors. In rural areas, members of a community pool a large portion of their assets to construct an uma-lulik, a traditional sacred house in which artifacts belonging to their ancestors are kept. When a person dies, family members hold a series of ceremonies to honor the deceased: the ai-funan moruk (held seven days after a funeral), ai-funan midar (held fourteen days after the funeral), and kore-metan (held on the first anniversary of the person's death, ending the mourning period).
Personal Appearance
Urban men and women generally wear Western-style clothing. For formal occasions, such as a church service, men wear pants and short-sleeved shirts; women wear blouses, skirts or dresses, and high-heeled shoes. Otherwise, people wear jeans and T-shirts. Ties are uncommon; a man usually wears a tie only on his wedding day. People in rural areas are more likely to wear traditional clothing. For men, this consists of a shirt with a lipa (a type of sarong). In some areas, men might also wear a cloth headwrap. Women wear a lipa and a kabaia, a long-sleeved blouse pinned together in the front.
Diet
Rice is the main staple in East Timor. Other staples are cassava, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, yams, taro, sago, and breadfruit. Urban people might eat bread for breakfast, but cassava and sweet potatoes are common breakfast foods in rural areas. For lunch and dinner, a typical meal consists of rice with modo-fila (stir-fried vegetables) and salad. Another common dish is feijoada (also called koto-da'an), a soup made of red kidney beans. Rural people often eat batar-da'an (stewed sweet corn with vegetables).
Recreation
Cockfighting is a major spectator activity. Opposing roosters, each with a razor-sharp blade tied to one leg, are pushed against one another to agitate them into fighting to the death. Betting is a critical component of the event. The owner of the winning rooster receives his betting winnings as well as the body of the losing rooster. Cockfighting is considered a man's game, so women do not participate. Fighting roosters are beloved pets for many men, particularly the elderly.
To find out more about CultureGrams, connect to our website today.
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TOP 3 WEBSITES
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.
Learning About Allergies
Organization: The Nemours Foundation
"Achoo! Every time you go near your best friend's cat, your eyes water and you start sneezing up a storm. And every spring and fall, your dad gets a runny nose when he takes you for hikes in the woods. What's going on? Well, you and your dad may have allergies." (NEMOURS FOUNDATION)
How Earthquakes Happen
Organization: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
"Earthquakes are among the most destructive natural events. Use this animated guide to see how they happen." (BBC)
Brain Geography
Organization: Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
"What about your brain? It's with you everyday. It regulates your breathing, tells your feet when to walk or run, and allows you to be happy and sad. But where exactly inside your head does all that stuff happen? With a little help from your hands, a friend, a small ball, and a pencil, you can become your own brain geographer, and find out." (PBS) Click on the link to "brain geography" to learn the structure of the brain, using your hands as a model.
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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 an ProQuest Platform (Platinum+) 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 Platinum do you and your students find the most useful? Have you recently used or are planning to use it 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
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