Lesson 2--SIRS Discoverer

SIRS Discoverer (grades K-9)-- 1. Warthog does not appear in the dictionary, but tarantula does. Age appropriate articles with Lexile Reading Levels indicated are well done and interesting!
2a.-- Country Facts-- Looking up Kuwait revealed the dateline from History 18th Century --2006. Economy, geography, weather, population, facts, flag and map of country are other features. I liked the graphic organizers available in 3 levels: easy, moderate and challenging which serve to record research results, and can be used as student study guides.
2b.--Maps of the World--Kuwait is listed twice: one in size small and one large map with more detail and easier to read. Dates of most maps of countries seemed to be 10 years old or older. Most research requirements state 5 years old or younger. To keep a database like this current must take thousands of man-hours!
2c.--Select one other area in Database Features led me on a journey to all areas: Pathfinders--Dinosaurs is a topic the Eureka School 8th grade science students do a unit on, coming into the libraries to find a book or books on their dinosaur. The SIRS Discoverer article, "Field Museum Cleans T. Rex Sue for Her Anniversary" King County Journal (Bellevue, WA) May 12, 2010 Lexile Score 1260 1K , reveals T. Rex Sue getting cleaned for her 10th anniversary celebration at Chicago's Field Museum. Sue was discovered in 1990 in South Dakota by Sue Hendrickson. The Eureka Elementary Library has the book, A Dinosaur Named Sue: The Find of the Century by Fay Robinson with the Science Team of the Field Museum. Scholastic c1999 (Hello REader! Science Level 4) A wonderful story of Sue's discovery. Had a truck not gotten a flat tire, Sue and her dog would not have discovered T. Rex Sue! Activities-- This section contains so many activities: recipes, jokes, art projects, games, puzzles, and on and on, enough to keep kids occupied all summer long, winter weekends, and holidays! Biographies-- The instructions, "search the biographies by last name," could be made larger and bolder, but if a student types in first name, last name, the search results will reverse the name order so that the last name appears first, comma, first name and multiple results will be received.! Fool proof! :)Fiction--A section of delightful reading, and level rated, I learned some things: From "Plantains" by Morgan Perez, Jack and Jill Vol 72 No 2 Mar/Apr 2010, pp18-21. Plantains are part of the banana family, but must be cooked, and are usually fried. Recipe included. Article can be sent to one's e-mail. Photo Essays-- Pulling up Native Americans revealed a few sentences with photo. Possible use for grade 5 in their Native American studies. Pictures--Another resource for finding photos to use in reports. Educators' Resources--This feature is positively tops! Included here is the Educator's Guide Oneline, defining, explaining Subject Tree Searching, Subject Headings Searching, Keyword Searching and the Logical (B00lean) Operators AND, OR, NOT, Phrase Search using quotation marks and natural language search explained, the Guide to the Student Workbooks and their answer keys, searching the World Almanac For Kids and how to use SIRS Discoverer for teaching truncation to search, and using SIRS as a writing tool. At-A-Glance for School Leaders includes Inquiry and Discovery Forms that cover understanding basic knowledge, Problem Solving, Analyzing Graphs and Charts, Map Skills. And More: The Information Literacy Training Materials is included under Educator's Resources, too, showing a Quick Start Guide, explaining with pictures.
A mighty load of information contained in this database!