SIRS

SIRS Discoverer
1. I did an advanced search for "solar system" and set the reading level to easy. This search yielded 44 results. Since I didn't know much about Lexile levels, I clicked on Help at the bottom of the page and learned that a third grader has the typical Lexile level of 300-800. (Also under Help, I saw that the easy reading level is grades 1-4.) So I went back and refined my search so that the Lexile range was not higher than 800. This gave me 8 results which you can sort by lowest Lexile score to highest. These results were not that informative so I would recommend doing a broader search and then sorting by Lexile score.

2. Under database features, I chose Pictures and then did a search for volcanoes. This gave me 105 results. You can also do a keyword search for volcano and then choose the graphics (137). The results include charts, diagrams, maps and photographs.

SIRS Issues Researcher
1. I did a search for suicide prevention and there were 7 results for WebSelect sites. This is a better way to search than Google. Under the educator resources, you can find that 100% of SIRS teaching and learning resources are curriculum-relevant, standards-based, and access a variety editorially selected, copyrighted, publisher quality media types. Student-safe, editor-selected, publisher quality content and websites eliminates the need for teacher “snoopervision” and avoid related discipline problems. No time wasting distractions. Teachers have time to support learning. Less searching & distraction = more learning. 

2. Under Pro/Con, I chose water use which gave me 103 results. There are articles discussing the "yes" and "no" to the question "Should mandatory restrictions be implemented to conserve water?" and a link to the USGS Groundwater Data is at the top of the page.