MeL for Kids — Kids InfoBits

Kids InfoBits, published by Gale Cengage Learning, is a kid-friendly database available through the Michigan Electronic Library It has an easy to use graphical interface organized into subjects. It is targeted for students in grades K-5, but is most useful for independent research grades 3-5. Users may either search by keywords, or drill down through the categories using the topic tree.

A brief, helpful  (around 7 mins.)  training overview web cast describes the main features of the database, such as the sources (Blackbirch Press reference publications, Columbia encyclopedia, 75 magazines such as Highlights, Time for Kids etc), how to search for information in various formats and save them to a “backpack” feature to create a bibliography.

The Teacher Toolbox feature contains ready to use

lessons and accompanying worksheets for subjects such as “How to Write A Topic Sentence,” “Organizing a Report” and  “Creating an Outline.”

All kinds of documents except images may be listened to using the Audio Player tool:

Audio Player

While the audio file will play in real time, allowing for independent learning, downloading the file as a mp3 file makes it a bit smoother (this option is permitted).  The possibility to hear whole or partial documents read makes this resource good for use with ELL, special needs and younger students.