Elementary
Research Paper Research Guide and Sites~
Go to www.glenelg.org. >Dragons’ Lair. Enter
Username and Password. Click on Libraries >LS Databases.
You will find:
“Sirs Discoverer”
This site has sources for any research
topic, special “Challenge Quests,” Current Events, Encyclopedia, newspaper and
magazine sources, and filtered websites, for every topic. This superb database
is the only one the government is making available for all students/schools in
the No Child Left Behind Program.
If student clicks on Advanced Search,
and then “unchecks” Challenging
materials, the resource search can be tailored to only give materials in the lexile reading range of certain grades. A really reluctant
reader could unclick “Moderate” and so just search for “Easy” level materials.
A Lexile chart for elementary grades:
Lexile Reading Levels
|
|
Lexile scores match reader ability and text difficulty,
allowing individualized monitoring of student progress. Lexile measures are based on two well-established
predictors of how difficult a text is to comprehend: semantic difficulty
(word frequency) and syntactic complexity (sentence length). Why use two separate reading
levels? These lexile
levels take into account subject matter, depth of coverage and Flesch Reading Ease scale. Lexile Scores provide a formalized measurement by which
students and teachers can track their reading progress. |
http://www.proquestk12.com/lsm/sirs/dis-help/workbooks.html
PDF-workbook on research for students. Needs Adobe Acrobat to
run. Good complete guide to research for students.
Latest
“Spotlight” is Women’s History for March, but scroll
down and see the wonderful archived topics kept stable and available.
Sirs
Discoverer has a “Challenge Quest” question each day and a backlog of research
topics here.
http://www.proquestk12.com/lsm/sirs/dis-help/cite.html
“How to Cite” for all kinds of citations.
Noodletools, also listed on the GCS library database
page, contains a good, but time-consuming, citation machine that is full-proof
if the user can correctly categorize each resource they used!
It
must be entered by having an account. Fourth and Fifth grade students create a
personal account in Library classes based on their GCSTech
username and password. Be sure to check availability of your username by
clicking “Check Availabilty.” If your username is
already taken, add one more letter to your Tech username and see if it is
available. Then use your Tech password to complete the profile.
http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/topics/elementary-lesson-plans.html
Click on elementary lesson plans
http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Research_Paper_Format.htm
MLA style sheet
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/research-papers/writing/2123.html
Nice breakdown of subject into topic
headings
http://www.big6.com/showcategory.php?cid=19
Howard
County Public School System has adopted Big6 as has Montgomery County. This
website is useful for 4th grade and up, and is used in the Middle School
Division. For lower grades, Super 3 (plan, do, review) is available. Big 6 formula was developed by two professors
at University of Washington, Seattle library school and has been sweeping the
country.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/writing/index.asp?topic=Research
Useful writing center
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=306
Savvy center for struggling writers,
using information picture books as a base!
http://www.learningtogive.org/lessons/unit115/lesson4.html
Project-based research paper guide, based on
encouraging philanthropic giving in elementary children. Develops
a lifelong habit of giving.
http://www.poster.4teachers.org
Project
Poster: Data Collection and Sharing
This
multidisciplinary site offers an easy way to create online projects and
reports. Using the Project Poster tool, students find an online form and add an
appropriate picture and text (up to 3,500 characters) and four Web links.
This is just the
tip of the iceberg. Contact Linda
Jeffries-Summers for further collaborative research needs.