Grades K-5 Resources

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Fact-filled, interest-driven research tool for information on the states, noted Americans, and U.S. history.  Includes maps, atlas, dictionary
 

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Ideal for both group and one-on-one settings for grades 4-8 students, BrainPOP is used in numerous ways, from introducing a new lesson or topic to illustrating complex subject matter to reviewing before a test. Content is aligned to state standards and easily searchable with our online State Standards Tool. Uniquely suited for 21st-century learning, all products are fully compatible with interactive whiteboards, learner response systems, projectors, Macs, and PCs.  

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Ideal for both group and one-on-one settings for grades K-3 students, BrainPOP is used in numerous ways, from introducing a new lesson or topic to illustrating complex subject matter to reviewing before a test. Content is aligned to state standards and easily searchable with our online State Standards Tool. Uniquely suited for 21st-century learning, all products are fully compatible with interactive whiteboards, learner response systems, projectors, Macs, and PCs.  

Tutorials, Tips, Help, Teacher Tools, and Much More!

Reference Book Tools

Each of netTrekker’s 300,000 Internet digital resources is reviewed by expert educators for safety, academic integrity, and age appropriateness, aligned with YOUR state standards, and organized by grade and reading level.  Unique differentiated instruction tools and universal design for learning are make it easy to find the right resources to meet the unique learning needs of every student in a safe, relevant, and affordable way.

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SIRS Discoverer is an award-winning database designed with the young researcher in mind. This interactive tool strengthens research, reading, writing and computer skills. Articles and graphics from more than 1,600 U.S. and international magazines, newspapers and U.S. government documents are carefully selected for their educational content, interest and level of readability. Because it includes middle and elementary curriculum topics, Discoverer can be easily integrated into classroom activities.

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Tutorial  |  Help, Curriculum Connections, and Tips

The premier online reference source. With thousands of articles, state-of-the art multimedia, editor-reviewed Web sites, periodical content, and more!   Also, check out the Spanish language edition!

Grades 6-12 Resources

Guided Tour | Tips/Searching

What you'll find in Literature Resources from Gale:  Literature criticism, biographies, work and topic overviews, reviews, and full text of many literary works—all searchable at the same time and returned in lists organized according to the type of research needs they serve.

Literature Resources from Gale is a search environment in which you can search several of your library's literature databases at the same time, in a single interface designed specifically for Literature research.

Make a search box widget on your wiki.

  It is easy as 1,2,3 with these directions: 

1. Add a table where you want the widgets on your wiki. (Currently BCPS subscribes to 5 databases—SCR Gold, Science RC, Literature RC, Opposing Viewpoints, Gale Reference Library-- that have widgets.)
2. Go to http://access.gale.com/widgets/  and find the widget you want. Click create.
3. Enter bcps where it asks for location. Enter.
4. Click Create at the bottom of the page if it is the correct widget.
5. Choose iFrame (the first option). JavaScript causes odd spacing issues.
6. Copy the code.
7. Go back to your wiki. Enter edit mode.
8. Choose Insert Plug-in. Follow the directions.
9. Check box to allow JavaScript. If you don’t do this, the widget will not appear!!

Each of netTrekker’s 300,000 Internet digital resources is reviewed by expert educators for safety, academic integrity, and age appropriateness, aligned with YOUR state standards, and organized by grade and reading level.  Unique differentiated instruction tools and universal design for learning are make it easy to find the right resources to meet the unique learning needs of every student in a safe, relevant, and affordable way.

Product Overview | Search Tips

Offers students stellar content:

• Nearly 7,000 viewpoint articles
• 41 complete titles from the Information Plus reference program
• More than 275 primary documents
• 300 biographies of social activists and reformers
• Nearly 5,000 statistical tables, charts and graphs
• Nearly 4,600 topic overviews that provide context for the issues
• More than 775 court-case overviews
• 334 profiles of federal agencies and special interest groups
• 2,000 links to reviewed and subject-indexed Web sites
• More than 1,300 images, all hand-selected to support the topics covered
• More than 135 full-text periodicals and newspapers
• Podcasts from the Weekly Presidential Radio Address

Make a search box widget on your wiki for Gale/Cengage databases.  It is easy as 1,2,3.   See directions in the Literature Resource Center section on this page.

Product Overview |  Tips/Searching
 

Library Information Services purchased the Critical Thinking add-on module, where you will be able to locate a collection of the most conversation-sparking and thought-provoking current events issues, as related to this database.

Here's how it works:

1. Begin your search by clicking on the Critical Thinking link in the search path bar.
2. A selection of broad category areas will be displayed that match what you are studying (such as Science or World Affairs). Depending on the collection you are using, the list of Critical Thinking categories may vary. Select a category to view the available topics.
3. After selecting a category, the system displays a list of topics, arranged in alphabetical order.  

Make a search box widget on your wiki for Gale/Cengage databases.  It is easy as 1,2,3.   See directions in the Literature Resource Center section on this page.

Product Overview | Tips and Searching 

Gale Virtual Reference Library delivers a wealth of eBook reference content in science, math, and education in a database format, allowing libraries to choose exactly which titles to make available to their patrons. The sources that Gale Virtual Reference Library offers in eBook format include multi-volume encyclopedias, biographical collections, business plan handbooks, company history compilations, consumer health references, and specialized reference sources.

Help/Searching/Tips
 

Gale's award-winning Science Resource Center brings key elements to the research process: speed, power, flexibility, depth, reliability and answers. When students, educators and researchers tap into this resource's data from an Internet-connected computer, they have instant access to more than 2.5 million full-text articles on hundreds of topics, the power to share them and the tools they need to help interpret and analyze the answers.

Make a search box widget on your wiki for Gale/Cengage databases.  It is easy as 1,2,3.   See directions in the Literature Resource Center section on this page.

Educator Resources/Tips/Tutorials/Professional Development and Much More! 

SIRS Knowledge Source� (SKS) is a database portal for SIRS highly-acclaimed databases SIRS Researcher�, SIRS Government Reporter�, SIRS Renaissance�, SKS WebSelect" and SIRS Interactive Citizenship�. Updated daily, SKS provides valuable information on social issues, economics, business, politics, global issues, scientific developments, health, history, government, culture, the arts and humanities. Full-text articles, primary source documents and Internet resources are selected from thousands of reputable domestic and international publications and respected organizations. A variety of search methods help users effectively fine-tune their searches. Results provide access to source information, summaries and descriptors derived from Library of Congress subject headings. System administrator features allow interface customization. Users benefit from personalized search history, tagging, saving, sending e-mail, printing, incremental searching and creating bibliographies for easy citations. Context-sensitive help, a comprehensive tutorial, research strategies worksheets, search tips, citation guidelines, educational resources and an interactive dictionary and thesaurus are integrated to complete this reference package.

Tips/Searching/Help

Offers easy access to award-winning content based on national curriculum standards. Covering all core curriculum areas, including history, literature, science, social studies, and more, SRC - Gold provides a premium selection of reference material, more than 1,100 full-text periodicals and newspapers, primary sources, creative works, and multimedia, including hours of video and audio clips and podcasts. Premier reference content includes the American Journey Series, American Decades, Career Information Center and the SRC Health Module. New to the database are Lexile reading levels for periodicals, an integrated national and state curriculum standards search with content correlated to the standards, and popular topic picklists.

Make a search box widget on your wiki for Gale/Cengage databases.  It is easy as 1,2,3.   See directions in the Literature Resource Center section on this page.

Using Visual Thesaurus in the Classroom Videos  | Teachers Page 

Find the right word and explore. The Visual Thesaurus has over 145,000 words and 115,000 meanings. Students can search for the word they're looking for and then follow a trail of related concepts.  Improve grasp of the English language. The Visual Thesaurus's intuitive interface helps students find words through their semantic relationship with other words and meanings.  Hear words pronounced correctly. The Visual Thesaurus offers a choice between a British and an American English accent.
See the relationships between English words and meanings. In addition to synonyms, the Visual Thesaurus shows 16 kinds of semantic relationships.  Expand search to the Internet. From any word, your students can initiate an Internet search for either web pages or images. Check spelling. The Visual Thesaurus suggests alternatives so students can find the right word even when they're not sure of the spelling.

How to Use VocabGrabber

 

VocabGrabber analyzes any text you're interested in, generating lists of the most useful vocabulary words and showing you how those words are used in context. Just copy text from a document and paste it into the box, and then click on the "Grab Vocabulary!" button. VocabGrabber will automatically create a list of vocabulary from your text, which you can then sort, filter, and save.

Tutorial  |  Help, Curriculum Connections, and Tips

The premier online reference source. With thousands of articles, state-of-the art multimedia, editor-reviewed Web sites, periodical content, and more!   Also, check out the Spanish language edition!