Lesson 3 -- SIRS Discoverer

1. Look up armadillos (or your favorite animals) and discuss the results. Note if you find pictures and the various reading levels of the articles. (Remember, articles in SIRS Discoverer are selected, so you may not find something from yesterday's news.)

I decided to click on the animal icon on the home page just to see where this link would take me, then I clicked the title link this sorted by title.  Knowing exactly what you want to research narrows down the search considerably but meandering around the sight I found a fun article about "10 Smart Animals".  So many fun facts and articles gears towards this age group.  There were a few photos in this article I liked the best that at the bottom it contained the following information ...
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Citation :

 You can copy and paste this information into your own documents.

Newman, Aline Alexander. "10 Smart Animals." National Geographic Kids. July/Aug. 2004: 22-27. SIRS Discoverer. Web. 05 Feb 2013.

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making it easy for kids to site their article without problems. For teachers the lexile score would be very helpful assuring that their students are getting articles that they can read and understand independently.



2. Some of the most useful features in SIRS Discoverer are the "Database Features" located on the right hand side of the window. Explore this section by:

• selecting a country in "Country Facts" and noting the information located there.
• Country Name, Official Name, Capital, Population, Size (in sq km), Continent/Region, Government Type, Government Official, Agriculture, Climate, Currency, Languages (official), Holidays/Observances, Major Events in History, Did you know, Map of France, and the France Flag.
• selecting a map in "Maps of the World" and discussing a potential use.
• Wow! This is an awesome link, students working on research papers can use this area to print off maps for the paper or copy the map into presentation software for a great visual of the area they are reporting on.
• selecting one other area in "Database Features" and discuss the information located there.
• Science Fair Explore link breaks down the many aspects of science and gives students possible science experiments.  This link would be useful for students looking for a science fair topic or teachers looking for new innovative experiments for their classroom.