Lesson 3 -- Social Issues Resources Series

I clicked on the animal icon so I could pick something other than an armadillo even though I did live in Arizona for a time. There were 383 articles for animals so I chose "Pets" from the Topic/subtopics list on the right. There were fewer articles, 108, but I was still searching for something more specific. I chose "Dogs," again from the list. The number of articles went back up to 290 so I started scrolling down. The article which caught my eye was about a dog who saved a woman's life by licking her head. You can sort these articles 4 different ways. There was such a wide variety of them beginning with the most current according to the date. My particular article did not have any pictures, but did have  3 "Descriptors" and when clicked on, new searches were provided. So many new avenues to discover.
Part  2(a) -- The country I selected was one I had never heard of, Suriname. In very short order you can read all the important facts of the country which appear to be very up-to-date. The history timeline is very complete. At the end of the article there is contact and website information and of course, the sources with exact citation info. This is a quick but in depth search. There also is available from the Graphic Organizer, downloadable, one-page PDF forms with fill-in-the-blank info for your report or speech in easy, moderate, or challenging. You can print out a colored map to accompany your article.
(b) Maps of the world. There are 3 different ways to search. I chose Somalia as we had a patron come in last week interested in this country. 6 graphics came up, 5 were maps and 1 was a picture. Once you click on these listings there is usually an article connected to it. Most were just factual info of the country and one was a personal story of a family who left Mogadishu. Any Geography class would certainly benefit from this site, if you are just a curiosity seeker, or teachers looking for handouts of map outlines for testing purposes, as well as researchers or for those writing reports.
(c) I chose "Skills Discoverer"- "Computers" - "Safety Land"- Interactive games. Teaches younger folks about using computers safely thru questions with multiple choice answers. I also tried "Language Arts"- Seussville and found it to be a bit confusing and a very "busy" place as I suppose it would be in Seussville but, it kind of turned me off.  I also clicked into "Ask a scientist" which definitely is for teens or adults. It was based out of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. I just couldn't decide what groups would want to use some of these sites and exactly what you would see or shouldn't see even though these are listed for grades 6-9.
I clicked on "Fiction" where you can download stories in PDF. There is a short summary, the date and the Lexile score. There are several topics/subtopics on the right to choose from and a most interesting one - "Stories written by kids. It is so hard to fathom all the information given on these sites, most are very concise. Again, just a wealth of information can be found. Maybe I was just tired when trying some of the topics in the Skills Discover because they didn't seem to be laid out as plainly.
We have already shown a couple of patrons some of the databases. Now we just need to get them to practice using a computer as the info presented in the SIRS database is more current than what we can offer in a book. Until next time.