Lesson 3 Sirs - Finally

Ok- I hope that I'm not the only one this far behind.  I am hoping to get back on track this weekend!

I am sad to say that I have never used SIRS before.  There are sooooo many options out there, I don't know if I'll ever get to sample even 1% of them, but on first look, this is one that I would use again.

I did the recommended SIRS Discoverer search for armadillos.  I came up with 78 sources.  I can really appreciate the reading level indicators as well as those with graphics.  I think this resource would work well for beginners as well as seasoned researchers. 

I clicked on one of the links that indicated an easy article from Ranger Rick.  I liked the fact that not only was the article included with links to the graphics, but there was also a link to both a thesaurus and dictionary.  What a great way to give students the ability to be more autonomous! 

For the second part of the Discoverer section, I chose to look at Greece in the database features.  The link brought up the facts, of course, but it also provided graphic organizers for teaching resources, graphics including a map and the Greek flag, and MLA documentation that could be cut and pasted to a student's research.

I looked at several maps in the Maps of the World section.  My husband teaches American History and I could see this being an excellent supplement for his students.  He would not need to hope for the best in a random internet search, but could specify exactly what he wanted to depict in a map of the Civil War, for instance.

I looked at the Educator Resources and Activities.  In addition to library duties, I also teach sections of Biology and Anatomy.  I thought some of the graphic organizers about how to analyze charts and graphs would be a great tool for the beginning the year.  I looked at a couple of the links under activities (I'm definitely going back to this!!). I found some activities that were question/answer and a really neat activity that I'm going to try later with my 4 year old to use science to make dull pennies bright and shiny again.

In the SIRS Issues Researcher, I was, of course, drawn to the topic of banning books.  The topic overview let me know that the issue was bigger than just books, it was all about censorship.  When I clicked on a link to one of the essential questions, I was able to see many article both for and against the issue.  I think our high school social studies teacher uses this.  If not, I'll be pestering him to give it a look on our next school day.

Why, oh why, didn't I make time for this before??? The curriculum pathfinders has tons of information!  So much better than a google search.  I looked at the science topics and was pleased to find lots of possibilities for topics we are working on right now - heart health and genetics!