Helpful Hints for Kids Search Linda Eleftheri Second Grade Teacher March 2009

Kids Search Kids Search Kids Search is free to Indiana students. Kids Search The information is provided through INSPIRE, Indiana’s Virtual Library. The resources are for kids in grades Kindergarten – Eighth Grade. Ebsco is the company that creates and maintains the information in the databases.

Easy to Use The information you will find in Kids Search has been previewed by teachers and librarians. The reading levels of the articles in this site are for students in elementary and middle school. You can choose to view newspaper articles, magazines, encyclopedia & dictionary information, photos, maps and more.

Faster & Safer Instead of getting lost searching the World Wide Web of the Internet, use Kids Search. You will find more results at your reading level, faster. You don’t have to worry about finding things that are inappropriate or unsafe.

This is the web address for Kids Search: 03&sid=0fcc11ab-d8b0-4e5f-ab53- efdb8b3733b0%40sessionmgr103 You don’t have to use the long URL. Just go to INSPIRE and selectINSPIRE Kids Search. It is usually bookmarked or linked on school and public library websites.

Home Page

Key Word Searching Type the word cat into the Find box. You will get 43,551 results. That is way too many. So try to be very specific about what you want to find. Click CATS under Narrow Results by. This will limit the results to 566. That is still a lot of results. Click DOMESTIC animals. Now you only have to sort through 28 results. Click KITTENS and you have 11 choices.

KITTENS – 28 Results

Viewing Results Since there are 28 results for KITTENS, use the page number to go to the next 10 results or click Next at the bottom of the screen. Notice the (Lexile) number in blue by some of the articles. The next slide will explain what these numbers mean.

Reading Levels Using the results list from KITTENS, compare the reading level of TEMPLE CAT (610) to AMAZING PET HEROS (990). Amazing Pet Heroes is more challenging to read because of the number of syllables in each word, the number of words in the sentences and the number of sentences in each paragraph. Use the chart on the next slide to help you find your Lexile Range.

Reading Levels Lexile - Look at the numbers on the chart next to your grade level. Match these with the numbers next to the information you find. This will show about how difficult or easy the information you find will be to read. GradeWords 1 st nd rd th th th th th

Return to Results List To get back to your list of results after you look at an article or picture, go back to the Results List at the bottom of the screen.

Practice Try typing the name of your research item in the Find box. Click GO. Use a word like air pollution and try to limit the number of results. Check the Lexile ranges as you explore your results.

Air Pollution Search Can you find 30 results for Air pollution? Find the picture LAST WORDS. Find out why the children are wearing masks.

Type Nintendo games in the Find bar and click GO. Do you have 39 or 3,900 results? Try to limit the results to something that interests you.

Use the Back Button Go back to the Home Screen. Always Clear your old searches before starting a new one. Use the back button, green arrows on the tool bar, after trying a search if you just want to limit the results. Practice returning to the HOME Screen or clearing old search results.

Limit Search Results Enter stuffed animals and see how many results you find. Now limit the results by using Stuffed animal (Toys) from the left column under Narrow Results. You should have about 40 results now.

Stuffed Animals

Topic Search Use the Home Page to search by Topic. Click Animals with the picture of the elephant. Look at the list of search items. Select Pets and Fun – then click GO. Look at the Results list in the form of Magazines.

Search by Topic Click the Elephant for information about animals.

Animals Click Animals. Check the box for Pets and Fun. Click GO. Look at all results. Read the titles of each article to see if some interest you. Then check Magazines.

Use the Back Button Go back to the Topic Screen – this is the Home Page. Click Animals again. Use the back button, green arrows on the tool bar, after trying other topics such Geography or Science. Practice returning to the Home Page.

Narrow Your Search Start with Animals again. Narrow the search by clicking Habitats. Then click Habitat (Ecology) to limit the search to Endangered Species. Now you only have 37 results instead of 717.

Filter Results Look at the Filter results tab. You can choose to view only the Magazine articles or just the Newspaper articles. Decide what you want to view and remember to check the Lexile range. Check out the Books & Encyclopedias icon. Then use the back button to return to Magazines.

Using Filters Click Social Studies for the Topic Search then check the box next to Geography. Try to find What is Geography? (Lexile 650) and How To Read a Map (Lexile 690). Which article would help you locate the United States on a map?

Limiting Results and Sorting Select Language Arts from topics. Check the box for Folktales. Click BOOKS—Reviews from the Narrow Results column. Keep narrowing your results by clicking the kind of book reviews you want to explore.

Go back to Animals. Check the Habitats box. Press Go. Narrow Results with Endangered Species. Narrow Results again with Habitat (Ecology).

How to View a Resource The 7 th result is from a Weekly Reader Newspaper. Even if there is no Lexile Range, we can find information that is easy to read. To view the article click the icon by PDF Full Text. The Weekly Ready was scanned into the computer. If you click the name of the article, Blue Skies, only a summary of the article will appear.

Full Text If you want to read the full article or see all of the information click PDF or HTML Full Text to see the full document.

In The News Return to the Home page and click IN THE NEWS. The Results will show many topics from the main headings (Search by Topic). Or pick from (Search within current topics) such as Let’s Go to the Movies or Cool Science. Click In the News, then Let’s Go to the Movies. Click Go. Photos will show a picture of a famous green movie star. Who is he? Biographies reports about child actors - See result number 7. Books & Encyclopedias have information about the top 25 Amusement Parks.

In The News Screen Shots

Cool Images Click on Images to find photos of people, nature and famous places & historical landmarks. You can copy maps and flags into your reports and projects.

Images Put a check in the boxes Historical photos and Photos of places to help narrow the search for images. Type a key word in the Find box and click GO. By entering “white house” you will get too many results that do not show The White House. Try entering more specific words like “The White House Tour”. Now the results are fewer (44) and the results are all pictures of the inside and outside of the real White House in Washington, DC.

Note Taking Use a word document while you are searching to take notes. Minimize the word document page in a small corner screen. Copy and paste sections of information and type your own thoughts next to it. Remember to put “quotation marks” around the ideas you borrow from others and give credit to the person who wrote it. It is never OK to pretend you wrote something that someone else created.

Note taking screen & Kids Search

Citing Articles Education Place MLA Citation Maker from The Plone CMS Click on the citation to find the information you need to cite your source. You will need the author’s name, the title of the information, a date and where your information came from. Visit the helpful websites below for Citing Resources.

Printing The print, and save features as well as the “add to a folder” options are the same at the top and bottom of the screen. For our school projects the print command is the one we will use most. Future lessons can include directions and practice using the other features.

Valuable Information The choices at the top are the same at the bottom.

Printing There are two (2) print icons. Always ask an adult before you print. Only the information about the article will print now. If you want to print the Weekly Reader article click PDF Full Text and then click Print.

This box is for ing article information. To resources you must provide a real address and the computer you are using must have an account set up.

To the resources you must provide an address, put in a subject and a comment to tell what you are sending. Rich Text is already selected. A pop up box will let you know if the was sent correctly.

Save To save the article, make sure you can see the story and then save it to a file that you can locate later. Rename the article by using save as. If you save now you will only be saving this link and information about the article.

Add to a Folder Add to folder means you can store resources in a folder now and view them again later. We will not be using this feature unless your teacher sets up a folder with you. If you use the folder at home have a parent help you. You will have a password and username to remember.

More Practice You will have more practice in the lab with your teacher using Kids Search. You will practice using many other parts of the Kids Search site.