JANUARY 2025

CONTENT SPOTLIGHT

• Help highlight your Gale In Context suite with this brand-new, customizable Student Handout! Librarians or teachers can edit the document to show only information related to their collection and then share it out with their students.
• In honor of Universal Human Rights Month (December) and Human Rights Day (December 10), be sure to highlight the Human Rights topic page in Gale In Context: High School in your classes.
• Are you preparing to train your staff on how to use Gale In Context: For Educators? Make professional development fun with these Bingo and Tic-Tac-Toe activities.
• Administrators and instructional coaches: here are 5 Ways to Keep Teachers Invested in PD This School Year, plus help your new teachers to Lean on Those Digital Resources.

Featured Gale In Context: For Educators Folder of the Month:

Gale In Context: For Educators —here is your free folder of the month! In it, you will find a variety of content types including lesson plans, activities, videos, etc. that were handpicked by Gale staff to help support you and your students on the subject areas below.

To view, open Gale In Context: For Educators first and then click on this link. Note – This folder is available only to current Gale In Context: For Educators subscribers.

If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES

• Did you know that Gale In Context: Elementary and Gale In Context: High School both have state topic pages? These topic pages contain LOTS of goodies that are unique to individual states and provide great supplemental coverage for social studies units about the home state. State flags, seals, maps, and current census numbers are all covered, in addition to information on geography, economics, Native American tribes in the state, and more.
• Coming soon! In December, Gale In Context: US History will have sixty new and updated Asian American and Pacific Islanders entries loaded. Then, in the early part of 2025, the Gale In Context: For Educators Asian American and Pacific Islanders subject topic tree is slated for release.
• Support Ethnic Studies using Gale In Context: Biography! Use the Person Search to highlight marginalized voices in your lesson plans or encourage students to find “windows and mirrors.”
• Help your students personalize history by embracing individualized pathways and oral or local history projects. Read this blog post that was originally published by eSchool News.

ELA UPDATES

• Did you know that Gale In Context: Literature includes an Indigenous literature genre? This is a great go-to for supporting Native American Heritage Month year-round!
• Honor Mark Twain’s birthday (Nov. 30) by bringing Twain to life with Gale. Read how to Invite Mark Twain to Your Classroom.
• Learn how to keep your ELA students engaged with informational texts, media, and other sources with Teaching ELA Beyond the Novel, an article originally published by The Learning Counsel.
• This December, Celebrate the Timeless Tales of Jane Austen in honor of her birthday on December 16. This article highlights how you can use Gale In Context: Literature to make meaningful connections to the classic literature of Austen.

STEAM UPDATES

• Did you know that Gale In Context: For Educators lesson plans are aligned to Next Generation Science Standards? For an example, use the lesson plan search in FE, search on Heredity, and look at the lesson plan “How Are Traits Passed Down in Families?” Click on Standards at the right to see which standards the lesson aligns to.
• Weather: In the aftermath of Helene and Milton, help your students understand Extreme Hurricanes with resources like Gale In Context: Science. Additionally, students can learn more about weather, weather patterns, or changing weather with Gale In Context: Environmental Studies topic pages that include Weather, Extreme Weather, Hurricanes, Climate and Weather, Tornadoes, Floods, Wildfire, and Global Warming. You can also use this Weather and Climate 5E Lesson Plan.
• Universal Health Care continues to be at the forefront, particularly during a presidential election year. Read how students can Research All Sides of the Universal Healthcare Debate using Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, and find some key critical-thinking questions to spark their research.

ELEMENTARY UPDATES

• Have you checked out the Art and Artists subtopics in Gale In Context: Elementary lately? They include a fairly new and extensive set of content, which can sometimes be hard to find at the elementary level.
• Whether it’s a news article or one of your eBooks, help support reading efforts by using the Listen feature in Gale In Context: Elementary. Just click the purple icon to hear the content read aloud.
• Do you want to introduce Gale In Context: Elementary to parents or teachers? Use these short tutorial videos: Welcome to Gale In Context: Elementary and Explore the World Around You with Gale In Context: Elementary. There is also this Gale In Context: Elementary Student Handout.
• With winter holidays approaching, be sure to check out the Social Studies subtopic World Holidays in Gale In Context: Elementary.

CONTENT SPOTLIGHT

• Looking for curriculum support for the 2024 Election? Check out your Gale resources!
  • Read about 4 Ways to Use the Election to Teach Durable Skills, an article published in District Administration magazine and contributed to from Gale’s own Cynda Wood. Cynda discusses techniques teachers can use to avoid opinion, encourage civil debate, and inspire social responsibility when teaching students about the U.S. election in the classroom. She gives four ways teachers can use it as an opportunity to teach students essential durable skills such as critical thinking, research, and digital literacy.
  • Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints has a new topic page titled “Presidential Election of 2024.”
• Support Dia De Los Muertos with these activities that are available in both English AND Spanish!
• Digital accessibility is a necessity in every classroom. Learn how to Empower Every Learner With Accessibility and your Gale resources.

Featured Gale In Context: For Educators Folder of the Month:

Gale In Context: For Educators —here is your free folder of the month! In it, you will find a variety of content types including lesson plans, activities, videos, etc. that were handpicked by Gale staff to help support you and your students on the subject areas below.

To view, open Gale In Context: For Educators first and then click on this link. Note – This folder is available only to current Gale In Context: For Educators subscribers.

If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES

• The Federal Reserve has recently made its first interest rate change in nearly four years. Use your Gale resources to discover the impact of this decision and how it affects your learners, and explore more about the role of the Federal Reserve. 
  With regularly updated articles, you can gain the freshest insights, such as in this link to Loans and Credit activity. 
  • ​​​​​​​Gale In Context: For Educators users—be sure to check out the free folder listed above for some financial literacy content, including lesson plans.
• In addition to Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints for Presidential Election curriculum support, don’t miss the two topic pages in Gale In Context: Global IssuesElection Interference and Elections and Voters’ Rights.
• Did you know that users have the ability to do an advanced search in Gale In Context: Biography and select ethnicity or occupation?

ELA UPDATES

• Celebrate spooky season with your Gale resources! Check out these new ELA activities for Elementary, Middle School, and High School.
• Mary Shelley and Frankenstein: A Tale of Darkness and Creation. Delve into Mary Shelley’s life and examine Frankenstein’s enduring legacy with help from Gale Literature Resource Center. (Side note: Don’t forget to search Gale In Context: Middle School, Gale In Context: High School, and Gale In Context: Literature for additional content supporting Mary Shelley and Frankenstein.)
• Immerse yourself in Native American Heritage Month (November) with Native Authors. Utilize Gale's advanced search features in Gale Literature Resource Center to explore works by Native American authors. This empowers students to have a greater voice and choice, enabling them to select a Native author to delve deeper into and gain a unique perspective by stepping into the author's shoes.
• Do your student "stan" TikTok? Use Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoint’s new TikTok topic page to lead them to a variety of perspectives and facts. And check out this TikTok CER activity.

STEAM UPDATES

• Help your students Understand the Importance of Pollution Prevention. Some activities that could be used with this include Alternative Energy Tic Tac Toe; Alternative Energy Trading Cards; and Alternative and Renewable Energy Scavenger Hunt.
• Is your school hosting or participating in a science fair this year and looking for student support? Check out the Interactive Simulations and Experiments activities in Gale In Context: Science. Use these tip sheets to quickly access the Simulations content and Experiments content within the database.
• November is Native American Heritage Month. Art teachers will want to check out Native American art in the Gale In Context resources like Elementary, Middle School, and High School.  

ELEMENTARY UPDATES

• Celebrate spooky season with this new ELA activity for Gale In Context: Elementary.
• Send your students on a scavenger hunt in Gale In Context: Elementary to learn about life cycles.
• Capture the imagination of young learners with fables and fairy tales in this lesson. Students will utilize Gale In Context: Elementary to explore and identify the defining traits of fables and fairy tales. Through this interactive experience, they will have the opportunity to compare and contrast these two distinct story types. Get ready to enchant your learners.

CONTENT SPOTLIGHT

What’s new in Gale to help kick off the school year?

• Gale In Context: For Educators
  • Over 450 lesson plans across K–12 have been added in 2024, bringing a new grand total of over 1,400 lessons.
  • New high school subject search areas for social studies: African American Studies and Latin American Studies, each containing eight units of study.
• Gale In Context: Literature: New content and functionality continue to be added, plus some new Topic Pages on popular literary works and authors.
  • Gale In Context suite—ReadSpeaker updates have resulted in faster load times for reading articles.
  • The translation tool now features four new languages including Lao, Punjabi, Tamil, and Maori.

Also, artificial intelligence has been at the forefront recently, particularly in how it is and will be used in education. Are you familiar with AI hallucinations? Learn more about them in this new Gale blog post, AI Hallucinations and Other Erratic Behaviors.

Featured For Educators Folder of the Month

Gale In Context: For Educators: Here is your free folder of the month! In it, you will find a variety of content types including lesson plans, activities, videos, etc. that were handpicked by Gale staff to help support you and your students.

To view, open Gale In Context: For Educators first and then click on this link. Note: This folder is available only to current Gale In Context: For Educators subscribers.

If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES

• It’s been 50 years since Watergate. Help your students reflect on Watergate and President Nixon’s legacy with Gale.
• Did you know the African American Studies subject tree in Gale In Context: For Educators is composed of eight units, including African History Prior to 1619, Civil Rights Era, and Contemporary Milestones and Challenges? Latin American Studies also has eight units, from Mesoamerican Civilizations (1500 BCE–1492) and Latin American and US Foreign Policy in the Nineteenth Century to Immigration in the 20th Century and Beyond.
• On October 14, 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. became the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Honor Martin Luther King, Jr. in your K-12 classroom.

ELA UPDATES

• What are some fun ways ELA teachers can engage with students and motivate them to write? Gale’s own Hannah Roudebush provides some great advice and best practices in this Teaching to Transform podcast with Melissa C. Morrison.
• Engage your students in Banned Books Week this September 22–28 with Gale! Using our support site materials, have students complete a book review, participate in an online scavenger hunt, or even use our pre-made folder in Gale In Context: For Educators. Plus, be sure to check out an all-new Topic Page in Gale In Context: Global Issues on Book Banning.
• What’s new in Gale In Context: Literature?
  • More than 20 new Topic Pages, including works like Dracula, Braiding Sweetgrass, and Firekeeper’s Daughter; Author pages on Rig Veda, Colson Whitehead, and Louise Erdrich.
  • New featured videos on literary terms pages, like Imagery. (Check them out in this month’s For Educators folder!)
  • And what’s coming soon? Be on the lookout for new Topic Pages for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Truman Capote, and In the Time of the Butterflies.

STEAM UPDATES

• The world of science certainly has its share of controversy. Be sure to include Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints in your science curriculum toolbox, where you can find over 20,000 different perspectives around complicated issues like space travel. Read how to debate the complexities of space exploration in your classroom.
• Physics teachers!!! Gale Interactive: Science added new Physics Interactives.
• Math teachers!!! Are you looking for statistics or charts/graphs to use with students? Go into For Educators and click into Advanced Search, scroll down to Content type, click the Statistics box, then click Search. You can then filter your results to find the most recent content.
• Gale In Context: Biography includes some new Topic Pages on scientists like astronomer Annie Jump Cannon and immunologist and recent Nobel Prize winner Drew Weissman.
• Gale In Context: Science includes a new Topic Page on Cicadas to highlight the bumper crop that will emerge this year.
  • Updated Topic Pages include astronomy topics like Eclipse, Sun, and Planets and Dwarf Planets; technology topics like Artificial Intelligence and Stem Cells; and health topics like Nervous System and Cystic Fibrosis.

ELEMENTARY UPDATES

• With Lee Isaac Chung’s recent release of Twisters (the sequel to Jan de Bont’s original Twister in 1996), there’s a renewed interest in nature’s extreme weather. Use Gale to help students unravel twisters’ mysteries in your elementary classroom.
• Have you checked out the News tab in Gale In Context: Elementary? Stay up-to-date on current events, popular holidays, and even a few you may not have heard of in this tab that’s updated monthly!
• Media Literacy Week will be here before you know it! Keep this Media Literacy Activity Packet in your curriculum toolbox!

CONTENT SPOTLIGHT

Start the year off right with Gale! Whether it’s research projects or curriculum supplemental material, get back to school with Gale In Context and Gale In Context: For Educators. Also, learn some best practices for incorporating Gale content into your classroom on this Build Better Lessons Gale recorded webinar.

Don’t miss these brand-new lesson plans found in Gale In Context: For Educators. To access, log into For Educators and type the name of the lesson plan in the search bar:

• Analyzing a Primary Source
• How Does This Impact That?
• How to Craft a Historical Question 
• Making Your Point 
• Primary Sources vs. Secondary Sources
• The Importance of Thorough Research

Featured Gale In Context: For Educators Folder of the Month:

COMING SOON! Starting in September, we will be providing a free Gale In Context: For Educators folder each month. Don’t miss out on this nugget of goodies!

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES

• Looking for curriculum support for the upcoming presidential election? Coming in late September, Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints will launch a dedicated topic page, “Presidential Election of 2024,” including such topics as campaign issues, voting processes, and the significance of elections in a democratic society.
  • Looking for more? In Gale In Context: For Educators, visit the Subject browse tool for Social Studies by grade level for content on Voting, Political Parties, Democracy, Origins of American Government, Campaign Financing, Politics and the Media, and much more!
• Support Hispanic Heritage Month with these ideas.
• Are you planning for the national debate topic of Intellectual Property Rights? Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints is the resource for you! Go to Browse Issues and click on “2024-2025 National Debate Topic (Intellectual Property Rights.)”
• Secondary History teachers, did you know you have access to a De Las Casas Primary Source and topic pages for Christopher Columbus and Human Origins in Africa?

ELA UPDATES

• Don’t miss this Teaching Learning Leading K-12 Podcast, where our very own Gale training consultant Hannah Roudebush shares best practices and tips on how educators can connect their ELA classes to the interests and lives of their students.
• What are some ways educators can create an ELA curriculum that keeps students engaged, beyond just teaching novels? Former ELA teacher and Gale Training Consultant, Hannah Roudebush, gives some great advice and discusses incorporating informational texts, primary sources, historical context, current events, and real-world issues alongside novel studies in this article published in The Learning Counsel.
• Learn how to curate digital content from your Gale resources to create text sets and support research projects with this 30-min webinar. 

STEAM UPDATES

• September is National Honey Month! Check out the lesson plan and scavenger hunt using Gale In Context: Environmental Studies to help support your curriculum!
• Are you searching for interactive simulations to use in the classroom to help bring concepts to life? Learn how to find them in Gale In Context: Science with this tip sheet.
• Use Gale resources to help supplement your classroom and build literacy skills with these bellringer ideas.

ELEMENTARY UPDATES

• Explore how to effectively use Gale In Context: Elementary in line with the science of reading principles, specifically fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Participants will explore how Gale can support evidence-based instructional practices and enhance students' reading comprehension and literacy skills through research and learning tools, including translation, listen, highlights and notes, and more. Build Strong Readers- Integrate the Science of Reading with Gale In Context: Elementary
• Help get your students familiar with Gale In Context: Elementary with this fun Solar System Trading Card Activity.
• Honey fun isn’t just for the upper grade levels! Check out the Gale In Context: Elementary lesson plan and scavenger hunt to support National Honey Month in September!

CONTENT SPOTLIGHT

New this month! Engage your students in Claim, Evidence, Reasoning writing with our Innovation and Global Impact Activity utilizing Gale In Context: Global Issues.

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES

• Prepare for Pride Month with curated Gale In Context: High School Topic Pages and a complete Escape Room Activity.
• What do your students know about Bitcoin? Empower them to learn about digital currency with Gale In Context: Middle School. Check our Blog Post.
• How did cars change U.S. culture in the 1920s? Find out with Gale In Context: U.S. History and our Blog Post.

ELA UPDATES

• Practice Lateral Reading with our Gale In Context: High School Lateral Reading Activity.
• Gale In Context: For Educators can help you curate subject-area text sets. Learn how!
• Read how one high school ELA teacher is making Gale In Context: Literature their go to resource for engaging students.

STEAM UPDATES

• Celebrate World Environment Day and World Oceans Day with these Gale In Context Activities.
• Teaching weather and climate? Check out our 5E Lesson Plan for Gale In Context: Environmental Studies.
• Discover Interactive Simulations within Gale In Context: Science using our Tip Sheet.

ELEMENTARY UPDATES

• Leverage Gale to avoid interrupted learning. Check out our summer activities and support here.
• Teach about the science of summertime with Gale In Context: Elementary - explore our Blog Post.
• Support National Inventors Month instruction with our Themed Materials including a Research Project, Tarsia Puzzle, and Escape Room.

CONTENT SPOTLIGHT

What is going on with TikTok? Is the government overstepping? What are the chances of a total ban? Help students understand this complicated current event with our TikTok Ban CER Lesson Plan.

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES

• Start prepping for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with our pre-made Activities.
• Can social studies teachers use Gale to help students personalize history? Gale’s Heather Bassett and Cynda Wood explain how in this eSchool News Article.
• Help your students better understand mental health with our Mental Health Awareness Materials.

ELA UPDATES

• Ready to compare Gale and Google side by side? Check out our blog post: Gale Vs. Google: See Who Wins in your Classroom.
• Looking to incorporate our Advanced Search capabilities into your learning community? Our Advanced Search Tip Sheet can give you some pointers.
• Gale is here to support your Media Literacy curriculum. Get the word out with this Media Literacy Flyer.

STEAM UPDATES

• What are estuaries? Why should students care? Utilize our new Estuaries Topic Page within Gale In Context: Environmental Studies to find out.
• May is National Inventors Month. Help your students learn more about famous inventors and their inventions with our Themed Materials.
• Teach your Middle Schoolers about what they can do in the fields of science and technology with our Science and Technology Careers Lesson Plan.

ELEMENTARY UPDATES

• This Arab American Heritage Month, teach about influential Arab American figures with Gale In Context: Elementary. View the activity here.
• Emotions are hard, but Gale In Context: Elementary can help students figure them out! Utilize our Emotions KWL Activity to get started.
• Help your students develop their search skills with our Searching Skills Scavenger hunt!

CONTENT SPOTLIGHT

Research season is here! Utilize our Search Like a Pro Searching Skills Activity to help students develop their resource searching skills.

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES

• Looking to incorporate more Primary Sources? Take a look at our Primary Source Lesson Plan Collection for full, ready to go lessons.
• Enhance your Financial Literacy curriculum with our on demand webinars, activities, and scavenger hunts. Take a Look.
• April is Arab American Heritage Month. Access our elementary, middle, and high school activities on our Theme Page.

ELA UPDATES

• Gale In Context can help your students engage critically with literary works. Take a look at our Blog Post to learn how.
• Start collecting content to support National Poetry Month by using the Poetry and Poetry Terms Topic Pages within Gale In Context: Literature.
• Help students with CER (Claim Evidence Reasoning) writing. Check out our recorded Webinar and pre-made Activity for ideas.

STEAM UPDATES

• Preparing for the solar eclipse? Use the Gale In Context: Science Eclipse Topic Page to find content (including a few experiments) to support your lessons.
• Gale In Context: Science includes Experiments and Simulations. Check out this Flyer.
• Want to teach your students about famous scientists? Gale In Context: Science has a huge collection of Biographical Topic Pages to get you started.

ELEMENTARY UPDATES

• Gale In Context: Elementary has updated many of its Geography Topic Pages including Continental Divides, Coral Reefs, Dead Sea, and more.
• Engage your students this National Poetry Month with our Parts of Poetry Escape Room.
• Noticed any weird weather lately? We have! Help your students understand their surroundings with the Weather and Climate sub-section found in the Science category of Gale In Context: Elementary.

CONTENT SPOTLIGHT

What do other countries think about current events? What actions are they taking to fight climate change or spread vaccine availability and awareness? Gale In Context: Global Issues can help answer those questions for your students. Check out this Blog Post to learn how.

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES

• Gale In Context resources are perfect for your students’ National History Day projects. Take a look at this Tip Sheet to see which resources are their best bets.
• Utilize our Content Specific Materials to celebrate Women’s History Month. Engage even more with this Blog Post.
• Coming soon to Gale In Context: For Educators- African American Studies and Latin American Studies high school lesson plans and topic trees. Expect to see these starting in January and adding until April.

ELA UPDATES

• Coming soon to Gale In Context: Literature-new topic pages including “Dracula”, Colson Whitehead, and “Firekeeper’s Daughter”.

• Use Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints to teach argumentative writing with this Lesson Plan.

• Gale In Context: For Educators now has a World Literature topic tree.

STEAM UPDATES

• Gale In Context: Science has new and updated technology-focused topic pages including Cryptocurrency, Metaverse, and ChatGPT.
• Gale In Context: Environmental Studies has new interactive infographics to better engage students with relevant data.
• We support Middle School science too! Utilize this Weather and Climate 5E Lesson Plan designed for grades 6-8 utilizing Gale In Context: Science.

ELEMENTARY UPDATES

• Want to add some pop culture into your classroom? Take a look at this Blog reviewing how you can find materials within Gale In Context: Elementary.
• New to Gale In Context: Elementary? Join our Gale 101 Webinar on February 29th to learn the ins and outs!
• Bring poetry to life for your students with our Gale In Context: Elementary Parts of Poetry Escape Room.

CONTENT SPOTLIGHT

New York’s Pearl River School District is successfully bridging the library-curriculum gap utilizing their Gale resources. Read about their strategy in our Blog Post.

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES

• Gale In Context: Global Issues supports a deeper understanding of the Russia Ukraine Conflict with a new Topic Page. Learn More.
• Utilize our Content Specific Materials to celebrate Black History Month. Classroom materials support learning about Black Artists, Mathematicians, and Hidden Figures.
• Gale In Context: Middle School has new topics pages to explore including: Charles III, King of the United Kingdom, Fast Fashion, Freedom of Religion, Plessy V. Ferguson, and Yom Kippur.

ELA UPDATES

• New to Gale In Context: Literature? Take a look at our 1-3 minute Tutorials highlighting the unique and valuable tools and content available to you!

• What better time to talk about love in literature than Valentine’s Day? Take a look at our Student Activities developed with Gale In Context: Literature.

• Engage your students with our Novel Studies! You’ll find classics like The Catcher In the Rye and more contemporary works like The Hate U Give.

STEAM UPDATES

• Galileo Galilei’s 460th birthday is February 15th. Teach your students about his life and discoveries with Gale In Context: Science. Learn More.
• Support Science instruction with Gale In Context: Middle School! New Topic Pages include Extreme Weather, Food Safety, Patterns of Extinction, and Telescopes.
• Want to bring real-world environmental issues in your state or province to your students? Gale In Context: Environmental Studies contains dedicated state and province Topic Pages.

ELEMENTARY UPDATES

• Our pre-built Graphic Organizers are great to help students understand Text Structure. Find a document within Gale In Context: Elementary and allow them to organize their thoughts.
• Help students explore space with our Solar System Trading Cards activity.
• Looking for a complete Lesson Plan? Check out our Fairy Tales and Fables Lesson Plan for a fun way for students to identify, compare, and contrast fairy tales.