1. Your civic organization is sponsoring a community event with the theme, “Spring Holidays Around the World.” The organization needs your help in finding the following: a. Spring festival traditions from a variety of countries b. Traditional spring festival foods and their recipes c. Spring festival games or pastimes.
I browsed the selection of the left and found Nation and World topic.  Choosing the Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays,  clicked on that and found a Calendar of Selected Holidays from the Table of contents.  I found that by going to the Index of this book a person can find all the festivals.  I also went to Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World, 2012.  They actually had recipes to use!
I also used the Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays to find games and pasttimes. 

I used the advance search to find recently added 2012 titles.  I was surprised by how many new titles there were.  I decided to look at 1990's: Music.  Very entertaining search.

 

 

1. Your patron or student is interested in literary criticism of Victor Hugo’s novel, Les Miserables. She is NOT interested in anything about the musical theater or movie versions. Click the “Full text” box, and type the novel title in the search box. Use the “Document Type” and “Subject” limiters on the right sidebar of the results page to exclude reviews, musical theater, etc., so that you get only results about the novel. Explain your process and results.
By using the limiters, it does get the user to exactly what they're looking for.  I found 51 literary criticisms of Les Miserables.  I'm sure the user would be delighted.
2. You and your colleagues are curious about the impact of Hurricane Sandy on libraries (impact, not necessarily damage). What is the date and content of the most recent information on that topic? Explain how you did your search.
I put in Hurricane Sandy, clicked full text.  Mostly got closings of libraries.
Then I went to advanced search and put in Hurricane Sandy, full text "and" impact "and" libraries.
It seems all I'm finding are articles about closings or disaster relief efforts.  Sorry, but I found nothing that helped me.  I give up.

February 22, 2013
Advanced Challenge
SIRS Discoverer
1. A third grader who reads below grade level needs articles on the solar system for a school project. How would you find appropriate materials for this student, and what are your results? (Hint: Advanced Search is useful here.)

I went to the Advanced search on SIRS Discoverer and typed in Solar system.  I checked Relevance and Easy and hit search.  There was an excellent article called Our Solar System from National Geographic Young Explorer!  I had to look up Lexile Scoring and found that a 7 year old in 3rd grade reads in the 300-800 Lexile range.  Nice to know.  This article was Lexile 840.  It told about all the planets (briefly) and even included pictures and a quiz.  Very useful.  By putting in the Lexile scote lowest to highest, I could eliminate many of the more difficult articles. 

2. What are two ways you can use SIRS Discoverer to find maps/images of volcanoes? How many results did you get with each?

When I put in volcano*, I got 939 "all articles".  I found 30 WebFind Sites that had several neat spots like National Geographic: MapMaker Interactive.  Cool.
The 138 Graphics had several charts of "Types of Volcanoes" and Volcanoes, etc.  One spot was called:

Map: World's Major Volcanoes  I learned there are lots of volcanoes in the world! Then I did an advanced search: Volcano* full text and map* full text  I only got 151 All articles.  No graphics at all.  Surprising. When I put in volcano* and images I did hit 115 articles and one of the web find sites was awesome. It was: 3-D Tour of the Solar System: Geology Tour and with 3-D glasses, it was amazing!  Check it out!

3. A high school student comes to you for help on his report on careers. He is interested in being either a nurse or a pharmacist someday. What do you show him on Learning Express?
I would send him to Jobs & Careers.  Click on Nursing and Allied Health.
He could go to Career Guidance at this point.  I'm sure he could find plenty on nursing or pharmacy in this section.
When I put in Pharmacy in the search field, it had a Pharmacy Technician Exam but when you click on eBooks, there's a section on Becoming a Healthcare Professional.  I'll bet that would be very helpful.

2. A recent high school graduate has her eye on an office manager job, but she knows she needs to improve her skills before she applies. What do you recommend for her in Learning Express?
I guess I'd have her go to Job Search & Workplace Skills so she can learn how to do her resume and learn interview skills.  There's Grammar Practice and vocabulary and spelling practice also.  If she uses some of these tools, I'm sure she'll have a shot at that office manager job.

1. A fourth-grader needs help with reading comprehension. What are 3 things you will show him on Learning Express?
First off, I would show the 4th grader the site.  Then click on Elementary School, Reading Skills Improvement.  I guess at this point, there are several options to choose from.  The 4th Grade Reading Practice has a Grade 4 Reading Comprehension Practice 1 and a Grade 4 Reading Comprehension Practice 2
After getting this practice, they can proceed to some of the 4th grade tests.  It looks like they can learn comprehension skills on many of these practice tests.  Great for building confidence.

4. Using World Book Discover, go into the special features under “Reference Tools” (left side of the home page) and explore. Which ones would best suit your students and why?
I loved the life skills portion.  They actually had a resume.  They had questions that students can answer for interview skills.  How to read classified ads.  Some of these things seem kind of simple but for a student just getting started in the career hunting field, this can be very helpful.

3. Using World Book Advanced, go to the E-Book Center (bottom center of the home page). Feel free to browse for ebooks, but please look up either Andersen's Fairy Tales or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Note the special tools available and the Related Information. How might this be useful for your students?
Nice that there is a section for e-books.  I did not know this.  I think students will be delighted that this is available.  Sometimes the actual book can be hard to find at the local or school library. 
The students can listen or read the story.  Excellent.
I guess the related information gives the student tools to quickly move to other areas of thought.  The student may also read the biography of the author. 

Using World Book Student, go into one of the following special feature sections: "Explore," "Biography," “Behind the Headlines,” “Quizzes and Activities” or one of the Research Tools that are new to you. Report your findings and mention ways you could use these with your students.
Today 1/30/13 I'm going to check out Biography centers, Authors in World Book Student.
I decided to research Lois Lowry since I've just recently reread The Giver, Gathering Blue, the Messenger and Son.  World Book Student gives a brief synopsis of Lois Lowry's writings.  There wasn't alot of detail about her life.  It's good they give a "How to cite this article." 
I decided to Explore South Dakota also.  I liked that they give the option to read an article or listen to it.  Once in South Dakota, I was able to pick biographies or facts about our state.  Very interesting.  I like that the student can e-mail the article, print or save the article. 

Good Morning, I am starting my advanced challenge with World Book Kids.
I chose World of Animals and then I chose Ants as my subject.  I read the article, saw a video and played a couple of games.  I think this is a great learning site.  I will recommend to students or to home-schoolers who are looking for specific animals to study.  Sometimes we only have a book or two for them to check out but if I show them this site, they should be able to continue their adventure.  I like that it even allowed me to watch a National Geographic video on fire ants.  Definitely goes farther then the book version of World Book.  1/22/13