Now that the school year is in full swing we hope you are having a great year.  At the high school we are getting ready for our move to the new building.

    This newsletter will provide you with updates on programs we already have and information about some new things.  The newsletter will also be  posted on the media center page of the high school web site.  Special attention should be given to the last page.  It contains web sites and links to all of the things Mr. Franke discussed in the inservice on October 12.

    Any of you who teach science may be familiar with the New Book of Popular Science.  It has traditionally been a very good general science reference book set.  It is now available online.  This will be added to our list of Grolier Online programs which we already subscribe to.  To access this click on the Grolier Online icon on our Intranet page (last icon on the reference column) and then select New Book of Popular Science.  For the time being you will need to enter "track" as your username and "meet" as the password.  When our account is set up properly you won't have to do this anymore.  Included  is sciclopedia, skywatch, sci zone, newsbytes, ask popular sci, sci file, web links, and a teachers guide.

    Remember to click on the INFOhio icon at our Intranet page for these programs or  go to www.infohio.org. Home access is now available for the following programs and the login instructions are listed below.  When you are here be sure and look at some of the other valuable things available from INFOhio.

    ANB contains all of the more than 17,000 articles in the print edition, as well as thousands of illustrations and more than 80,000 hyperlinked cross references.  ANB also contains links to selected web sites.  Home access for ANB to Ohio students and teachers requires a user name and password.
Login: scoca                                                                      Password: scoca

    Since first using State of Ohio funding for a modest database of periodical subscriptions in 1998, the collection has grown each year as state funding has increased.  More than 50 titles have been added for the 2000 - 2001 school year, bringing the total to more than 200.  Best of all INFOhio continues to provide  this service at no charge to all K-12 schools in Ohio.

    The list of titles has been organized in four sections, one for each of the following collections: elementary, high school /middle school, newspapers, and professional.  New titles have been added to each section, so check out the list.  Home use by teachers and students is encouraged.
Login: SKB6CP8BQJ                                                           Password: welcome

    ProQuest Site Builder links articles from the INFOhio ProQuest Collection to assignment pages and web pages.  Home access to Ohio students and teachers requires a username and password.  I have more info if interested.
SiteBuilder Login: MFPTB9C9HX
Password: welcome

    This collection of articles from more than 1,200 sources has been selected for students in grades 1-9.  Several types of searches can be performed, and articles and pictures can be viewed at the desktop, printed locally, or e-mailed.  The articles are categorized by grade level also.  Also included: World Almanac for Kids and Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia.
Home access to Ohio students and teachers requires the URL -  http://ars.sirs.com and :
Login: SCOCAH                                                                    Password:  disco

    Encyclopedia Britannica Intermediate was added late last year and now has its own separate icon.  EBI is geared for students at a lower reading level than Encyclopedia Britannica.

    A new feature of EB this year is Britannica School, a new site designed for K-12 students and teachers, with the main focus on 8-12.  Britannica School draws on easy to use on-line resources for completing assignments and enhancing learning.  Students and teachers will have at their fingertips over 250 state standard and aligned study guides for use in class or at home.  BS is still under construction and you can only see a sneak preview at this time.  The response thus far across the state has been very positive.  Home access has been added this year.
Login: !@#SCOCA                                                                 Password: Ktwelve

    If you or your students have public library cards many of the INFOhio programs and other programs can be used any time or place with an individual account.  If you haven't checked out the things you can do from their web site it might be worth looking at.  From our Intranet page click on the OPLIN icon.  You might even want to encourage your students to get a library card.

    This is the collection of Minford Local Schools subscribes to.  Most of the titles in this collection are different than the ones in the INFOhio collection.  When you access this collection (from the ProQuest icon on our Intranet page) both programs, ours and INFOhio are combined.  This allows for a broader search.  With the availability of so many titles you can view magazines or newspapers we normally couldn't afford to subscribe to.  Remember, we pay for this subscription and have the rights to print.  If you go to the original source you often have to pay to subscription covers these charges.

    I have noticed on the monthly reports we receive that many of you are using home access.  In case you have misplaced your home access login it is www.umi.com/proquest
Account ID#: MFNTPMSVSH
Password: WELCOME

    Middle school teachers can ask Joyce Kemper about it.  She thought we were nuts when we told her this.  Many of the high school teachers and students are using it also.  WEB FEET is a new Internet resource we have subscribed to.  A team of librarians, educators, and subject area specialists recommend and describe the best web sites in all subject areas and grade levels, from the Civil War and Dinosaurs to Chess and Science Experiments.  Thousands of sites are included, and the content is reviewed, updated, and expanded monthly.  In addition to the subjects a calendar connection is included of observances for each month.

    Stop by anytime if you want to look at it or check it out for a few days. Don't have time to do that?  Let me know what you are interested in and I can copy the pages and send them to you.  There are also many subjects that you or your students might be interested in for personal enjoyment.  If you would like a copy of the index we could send you one of those also.

    Have you checked out their web site at www.Teachword.com.  There is an icon on our Intranet page too.  Many different supplemental materials and ideas that can be used in coordination with the broadcasts can be found here.

    This was introduced last spring by the ProQuest people.  It has just about anything you can imagine from state standards to arranging your classroom furniture.  There is an icon on our Intranet page or go to www.bigchalk.com.

    INFOhio has published notebooks from three information literacy skills workshops which we have purchased.  Please feel free to come and look at them or even borrow them if you need to.  There is a disk included with each notebook that has all of the web sites bookmarked.  We could make copies of these disks for you.  The three titles are:

Information Literacy Skills Notebook - This notebook was originally produced in the Spring of 1998 and has been revised and is current as of March 1, 2000.  Many of you got disks from the original notebook.  The notebook has been revised to include materials from Information Power, including the AASL Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning.  Over 225 web sites are identified.

Social Studies, Electronic Information, & Literacy Skills Notebook - Designed for both social studies teachers and school library media specialists, this notebook provides an overview of social studies, electronic information, and information literacy skills in grades 4-12.  It directly relates to Social Studies: Ohio's Compentency-Based Model (produced by ODE).  History, geography, sociology, government, and economics are included.  Over 160 web sites are included in this revised edition which is current as of March 2000.

Scientific Literacy, Electronic Information, & Literacy Skills Notebook - New this spring, this notebook covers the three domains of science: Earth/Space Systems, Physical Systems, and Living Systems.  Some sites for mathematics and health are also included. The National Science Education Standards, as well as Ohio's Science: Ohio's Model CompentencyBased Program, are covered in this noteboook.

 Looking for information and help for proficiency test preparation?  We have created a proficiency web page with links to available materials.  Select media center from the high school site.  The click on media center proficiency links.  The information at these links is for all grade levels of the test and the links are to Ohio SchoolNet Outcomes Database, Ohio Department of Education, Partners for Proficiency, and Edutest.

 This was created to provide educators with outstanding web sites that support the specific Ohio Learning Outcomes.  Web sites have been investigated, analyzed, and evaluated to help teachers prepare students for the Ohio Proficiency in grades 4th, 6th, 9th, and 12th in Mathematics, Science, Reading, Writing, and Social Studies.

    We have  a print copy of this available in the high school library, you may either borrow it or we could copy the appropriate sections for you.

    This is also available in a database at www.itsco.com. A link has been created at the media center proficiency link section also.  Click on the Ohio Schooled Outcomes Database from this page.

    Remember we have access to encyclopedias through INFOhio and three encyclopedias from Grolier Online.  If you haven't had time to look at them you might be surprised to see that there is more here than traditional encyclopedia articles.  Also included are many interesting and creative things that are of interest to both teachers and students.

    Our hats go off to them.  They work hard and do an excellent job creating and maintaining our web page.  Miss Lavender's students take a great deal of pride in their work and we think they have created one of the best web sites around.