Lesson 4- SIRS Discoverer and Issues Reasearcher

SIRS Discoverer is for Grades K-9.  It contains selected full text magazine and newspaper articles that meet today's curriculum needs. The articles included have been selected as safe, trustworthy and non commercial.
1. I searched  Kangaroo in the subject headings. It brought up 365 articles, of which 43 were newspaper, 266 magazine, 51 reference, 37 graphics and 0 webfind sites. I wanted to look at a graphic and scrolled down to an article titled Koala Chaos that was not about Kangaroos at all, but about Koalas that had been relocated to Kangaroo Island. It did have images of Koalas.
2.Using the Database features, I selected Country Facts. It displays 3 different choices- Country Facts, United States Facts and Canada Facts.  When I chose Europe, an alphabetical drop down of over 50 countries was displayed. I selected Ireland. There were basic facts about languages, capital city, size etc., but also references and a link that took me to the subject heading page, where I found 15 articles.
Back at the Database features I opened Maps of the World. I selected United States. This includes Territories. I selected Iowa. It gave me a simple map with several labeled cities. It included railroad lines and the names of surrounding states. It did not allow me to cross over the state lines and get similar information. While some bodies of water were shown, it only identified 2 of the rivers.
Another Database feature that I explored was Activities. It listed 22 categories with projects to make or do. I opened Jokes and Riddles. How does a bunny keep his fur looking good? Thank goodness the answers were provided. My dad will like this one.
SIRS Researcher is for student's grades 6-12. It has an A-Z list of leading issues that students may research.
1.Clicking on Banned Books brought up a page with a topic overview and definition, and tabs for quick search, advanced search, topic browse, database features and common core correlation. It has a box with Pros and Cons and some articles to support each and an interactive link to a video .
2.When selecting Pathfinders, 6 courses are offered; Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Fine Arts and Health . When investigating Health, I found it divided into 4 Courses with 3-6 areas in each. 17 research ideas, a health related How Do I? question, the name of a notable person in health and 2 interactive videos were also included.
 I guess you are still wondering about that riddle in SIRS Discoverer. ...Hare spray. Groan.