1.The World Book Online homepage for Kids Grades K-5 was very colorful--the colored lines running up and down with the pleated look was a little too busy for a child with vision problems--a little too much to focus on, I thought. I chose to research the mountain lion. My husband saw an older cub 1 1/2 miles from our house a few years ago. A trapper saw mountain lion tracks by a dugout 2 miles south of our house this past winter.
The Quick Facts give a lot of information in a concise & easy to read format in a small space. Kids would think this is great not having to read alot to pick out the information.
How to cite the article for a paper is very helpful.
The Animals of British Columbia link to cougar info gave a front & hind foot picture, I found that helpful for keeping our eye out for prints in the area of our ranch.
"Tracks - The cougars tracks rarely show evidence of the claw. The front feet are larger than the rear and generally the toes spread wider with speed. A distinctive feature of this creature in snowy areas is tail marks on the snow. " Interesting information!
The habitat was not specific in this article "They once lived throughout the forests of the United States and southern Canada. When settlers moved into these areas, they drove most of these animals out. Today, mountain lions are most common in Mexico, Central America, and South America. Some also live in Canada and the United States, especially in the western parts of these countries."
2. Info Finder gave more detailed information about mountain lions (ex. detailed info of the lion's cubs and the raising of the cubs). The print in Info Finder was smaller and geared to a higher reading level. You could link to special reports and magazine articles and it listed the scientific classification. In both articles the text could be read to you (allowing students to read along with the reader) -- so helpful for students who struggle with reading, Both articles could be translated into many languages.
3. The country I chose was Canada. It was a country that I felt I may actually visit someday. The Reference Center home page was not cluttered, I found it a lot easier to read --not bombarding kids with so many designs on one page like the Kids Grades K-5 homepage.
I liked the way the Canada page was set up with the various links on one page, patrons would easily see what is available for research on that country. I liked the small colored pictures on the middle of the page, it was the first thing I wanted to click on.
In the reference center under eBook Anderson's Fairy Tales the story "The Goloshes of Fortune" could be compared to the special reports comparison with England's monarchy of 2000 -- The Queen Mother: Creator of the Modern Monarchy (giving kids a past story and modern day real life comparison) Very helpful for an Enlish class comparison study.
With the eBook pages for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn there was more related information -- (ex. primary sources and web sites). There was also related encyclopedia content (author, other books written by Twain, Hannibal, Missouri, etc.). Researching one area leads to many, many other areas.
Wow, grkids8, you gave us a wonderfully thorough report! Thanks for teaching me a few things about mountain lions in the process. Did you notice that in Reference Center, some of the e-books are downloadable onto e-reader devices? Thanks for your work here.
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