The document provides information about content resources available to teachers through the Soda Creek Library, including how to use the OPAC online catalog to find and request materials, the interlibrary loan system to obtain items not available in their collection, and several subscription databases like NetTrekker, Grolier Encyclopedia, and CultureGrams that provide online reference materials.

1. Soda Creek Library
Teacher Resource Handbook
Content Support
Kate Sunderland
Librarian

2. Table of Contents
Content Resources Page
OPAC—Online Patron Access Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Using InterLibrary Loan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Steamboat Subscription Databases 5
NetTrekker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Grolier Encyclopedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
CultureGrams (World) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CultureGrams (States) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Free Online Content Resources
Great Websites for Kids (Association of Library Services for Children) . . . . . 9
FactMonster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Wordsmyth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3. OPAC (Online Patron Access Catalog) Your key to libraries throughout Colorado.
How you search the catalog depends on What you are looking for.
USE THIS SCREEN to start your search:
How: 1. Select Soda Creek
2. Select the field(s) & enter your
search criteria.
NARROW YOUR SEARCH for:
What: A bookset.
A specific format.
A subject in a specific form (fiction
or non-fiction).
A language other than English.
How: Select the category (ies) you want in
the Narrow Search column on the left.
1. Bookset (select Professional or
Classroom)
2. Format
3. Form
4. Language
IF YOU DON’T FIND IT or one of your
search criteria can’t be met:
How: 1. Change Soda Creek to Steamboat
Springs Schools.
2. Select the category you want in
the Narrow Search column.
3. Select Request This Title
4. Fill out the form.
IF YOU STILL DON’T FIND IT, change the
search box to Steamboat Springs Juvenile
Collection. (This will search Bud Werner’s
catalog.) When you fill out the Request form,
designate Soda Creek Elementary as the pick-
up site.
IF YOU STILL DON’T FIND IT, change the
search box to Marmot Catalog. (This will
search all Colorado libraries in the Marmot
system.)
How: 1. Select Request This Title
2. Fill out the form.
Materials from other Steamboat schools or
Bud Werner are delivered to the Soda
Creek Library in 1-2 days, and you will be
notified to pick them up when they arrive.
Libraries outside of Steamboat may take 1-2
weeks to deliver the materials.

4. Using the InterLibrary Loan System
The InterLibrary Loan system of Colorado libraries allows you to access materials from any participating
library in the entire state. Even though Soda Creek’s collection is pretty extensive, we have neither the
space nor the financial resources to acquire all the books available for any learning project in all reading
levels.
Advantages:
You can have available to your students many more resources on a particular subject than are currently
present in the Soda Creek library.
You can have multiple copies of the same title.
The Soda Creek library may own some copies that fit the subject matter you are interested in, but not in
the appropriate reading level or enough for a whole class. Drawing from other libraries can eliminate
those handicaps.
Procedure:
1. Plan Ahead! While being able to gather in materials for your use that our own library doesn’t have
in its collection is a great resource, it doesn’t happen overnight. Allow 2 weeks for the process!
2. Use the OPAC subject or title search (see page 3) to find the materials you want and request those
copies.
3. When your materials come in, they will be placed in your pick-up tubs.
4. BE AWARE!! At Soda Creek, we waive all overdue charges for teachers. This may not be true for
materials that you request from other libraries. Be sure to keep track of the dates your interlibrary
loans are due to avoid any charges.

5. Steamboat Subscription Online Resources
netTrekker: For Elementary School and higher
Award-winning leader in digital educational content.
User ID: steamboat Search by word or phrase, or browse by content.
Password: home1 Sortable by Evaluator, Readability level, Rating, Student or
Teacher Recommendation, & Title
Search by word or phrase: try a variety
of terms for the widest range of results.
Search by category and subject content.
Use special Tools to create unusual
collections of information. The
Famous Person Search Tool allows
you to select specific search
criteria.
A screen appears containing names of
famous people who match the chosen
criteria. Each of these names is a link
to multiple websites containing infor-
mation about the person.
All search results can be sorted by
evaluator, readability level, rating,
student & teacher recommendations.
Refine your search by
selecting filters.

6. Steamboat Subscription Online Resources
Grolier Encyclopedia:
go-elem.grolier.com
User ID: steamboat
Password: home
Search by word or phrase:
Search by Resource:
New Book of Knowledge:
Reference and current events
America the Beautiful:
State history, people, places and events
La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre:
Spanish speakers
The New Book of Knowledge will display
links to articles that relate to your search
terms, along with an indicator for the reading
level of each article.
Additional fun & useful features are found in
the NEWScoops articles, the Question of the
Day and Scholastic News.
You can browse past publications in the NBK
Archive.

7. Steamboat Subscription Online Resources
CultureGrams:
User ID: soda
Password: go
Kids Edition:
Kid friendly access to a wide variety of information
about the countries of the world. Click anywhere on
the map to link to a continent or country.
Browse by categories of
photos, videos, slideshows,
interviews, famous people,
recipes, flags, graphs &
tables.
Map in pdf form
Miscellaneous Fact List
Links to subjects:
People & Places
History
Lifestyle
Society
Culture Facts
Country Name &
Anthem in audio format
80 Pdf Teaching Activities
for using CultureGrams in
the classroom

8. Steamboat Subscription Online Resources
CultureGrams:
User ID: soda
Password: go
States Edition:
Kid friendly access to a wide variety of information
about states in the U.S. Click anywhere on the map to
link to a state.
Browse by categories of flags,
recipes, graphs & tables.
Miscellaneous
Fact List
Links to subjects:
Map in pdf form
The Place
History
The People
State flag
Cultural Notes
State mottos
Fun Facts
pdf Teaching Activities
for using CultureGrams in
the classroom

9. The Best Free Online Resources
There is so much on the web and it changes so fast, it can be a time-consuming and frustrating process to find and
evaluate sites for educational use. This website, sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children—a
division of the American Library Association, makes it almost easy. New sites are added three times a year, and
they review their listed sites twice a year to guarantee that they are still relevant, appropriate, and accessible.
Useful background information on how the GWS committee evaluates the sites they recommend can be found at
http://gws.alahost.org/about/selection-criteria
Great Websites for Kids:
gws.ala.org
Search box
General subject categories menu bar help
you narrow it down when you are browsing.
Highly-rated categories menu bar help you
start with the best of the best.
Links to individual websites for further
exploration.
Brief description of what you’ll find on the
site.
Takes you to the site.
Links to lists of sites with topics that are
similar to what you will find on this site.
Link to list of sites for elementary age.
Includes all sites, not sorted by subject mat-
ter.

10. The Best Free Online Resources
Fact Monster
www.factmonster.com
Search by keyword
Browse by subject
Roll your mouse over a category, and
a menu list of subjects appears with
links to relevant articles.
Reference Tools—Almanac, Atlas,
Dictionary, Encyclopedia, Timelines
Encyclopedia Search: access to over
57,000 articles.
Browse by Subject:
Browse by Places:
Browse by People:
World Atlas & Map Library
Click on the area for more detail
World Stats and Facts
U.S. States and Cities
Distance Calculator, latitude-longitude
Geography Guide to related subjects
Geography Puzzles & Quizzes

11. The Best Free Online Resources
Wordsmyth
www.wordsmyth.net
Three levels of dictionaries—Beginner’s,
Children’s, and Advanced give students
the opportunity to compare wording
and complexity of definitions.
Definitions include a spoken pronuncia-
tion, part of speech with definitions,
related words, and origin.
Quiz Makers is a neat feature—you can
create online quizzes with vocabulary
words used in sentences.
You can assure the contextual meaning is
correct with “custom select the
definitions”
The finished quiz can be printed, or the
students can complete it online. Drop-
down menus allow for selection of words.
Online Quiz format
includes a timer and in-
stant feedback on answers.