primary grade research sources

[Marcia Zorn <MZorn12345@AOL.COM>]

The great news is that after four years of a gradual switch from a fixed to
an almost totally flexible schedule, many of our teachers are
enthusiastically bringing classes or sending small groups to our library for
research.

Our primary grade teachers are especially enthusiastic about student
research, but after the students reach the grades which take our Texas
Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) which ranks all of the schools,  the
enthusiasm lessens because the teachers tell me that they don't have time to
use the library because they are preparing for the test! Of course, that is
another topic, and we will continue to work to change that!

Not-so-great is that, now that we have students coming to research
interesting topics, we find that most of our nonfiction and reference books
are too difficult for them to read independently. The online encyclopedia and
database sources available are also too difficult.

We would love to have your suggestions for primary-level online encyclopedia
sources. Golden's First Connections has been recommended to us, but we are
told that it is no longer available. I have looked at Encyclopedia
Britannica's student and elementary online encyclopedias, and though that is
a step in the right direction, we really would like something easier. I have
checked LM-NET's archives, but most of the postings I found were '99 or
previous, so we are hoping that you are using something new and exciting
which you can recommend to us. I will post a summary of suggestions received.
We thank you for your assistance!

Marcia Garman Zorn
Librarian
Shady Oaks Elementary School
Hurst, Texas
zornm@hebisd.edu
mzorn12345@aol.com

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