Welcome to 2012-13! Plug in to these useful, no cost tools from INFOhio to support the Common Core, College & Career Readiness, the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, and more!

1) Learning Express Library. College and career readiness tools are available for students to practice for standardized tests, including the SAT, ACT, GMAT, GRE, ASVAB, and the PRAXIS series. The Job & Career Accelerator lets students explore careers, create a resume, and develop interview strategies. Add to that skill building help for grades 3-12, and you have a resource you don't want to miss. 

2) IMatrix. What looks like a Rubix cube and helps you find Common Core classroom resources? INFOhio's IMatrix. The IMatrix  helps you design inquiry-based instruction that aligns to content standards of the four core curriculum areas: ELA, math, science, and social studies. By searching the matrix by standard or by subject area and grade, you can see how skills are scaffolded for students, link to resources to teach those skills, and find interdisciplinary connections. Grades 6-8 are available now, while remaining grade levels will be added over the next year. 

3) GO! Ask, Act, Achieve. Helps 6th -10th graders work through a research project by breaking up a large project into smaller, more manageable steps.

Each step links to useful resources, and a comprehensive Teacher's Guide helps you present research skills.

4) eBook Collection. More than 1,200 public domain titles in multiple formats. More titles on Ohio school recommended reading lists are added every week. You will find Shakespeare, Dickens, Twain, Austen, Bronte, Lewis Carroll, key nonfiction, as well as primary sources such as all the State of the Union Addresses of all the presidents.

5) Discovery Portal. Accessible through the INFOhio CAT and CAT Jr. library catalogs, the Discovery Portal gives students one-stop access to age-appropriate websites that support Ohio standards, to the Digital Video Collection, and to many INFOhio databases. And it's all searchable through one simple box.

6) Digital Video Collection. Offers free access to more than 1,800 high-quality educational videos, 80 of which feature closed captioning. Titles support the standards in science, geography, Ohio history, and more. You can stream the videos, download them to view later, or embed them in your own web pages. 

7) Searchasaurus, World Book Kids, and Early World of Learning. Designed for pre-K through 3rd grade students, these tools offer narrated stories, interactive reading games, easy-to-read articles, leveled reading practice, Lexile searching, and teacher resources. They give children a great head start on the Third Grade Reading Guarantee.

8) Research 4 Success (R4S). This online course prepares juniors and seniors for the rigorous research skills they need in college and careers. It also helps you deliver blended learning. It is still being developed. Look for it in late October.

9) Lexiles. Text complexity is a key concept in the Common Core, and Lexile ratings are the starting point for analyzing text complexity. The INFOhio CAT and CAT Jr. catalogs both offer Lexile searching as do many of the online databases, including EBSCO and World Book products. 

10) Professional Development. You do a lot for your students. Take some time to recharge your own batteries with these online training tools you can use any time. INFOhio offers many  webinars throughout the year and archives them all. The  KBC is a free online community for Ohio educators that lets you share ideas with like-minded professionals around the state. The 21 Essential Things is an online study program that helps you learn to use many of the tools listed here. For example, Thing 5 addresses RSS feeds while Thing 21 gives you tips for using INFOhio's KBC and social media sites. You can work through as many of The 21 Essential things as you want for your own knowledge or for college credit.

If you need to earn a CEU or just want to learn something new, log in to one of INFOhio's upcoming webinars in September.