My daughter is nuts for red pandas. When browsing on SIRS Discoverer on the South Dakota State Library database recently, I found fascinating info on the fluffy creature. First of all, the red panda and the panda are not related. However, they share many characteristics, including subsisting on a diet of bamboo. A map showed the red panda's living range to be near the Himalayas. I found several articles, graphics, and a website devoted to information. Articles varied in reading levels. I even found an article suitable for my 4-year-old son, which included a fun learning activity comparing the red panda with a panda.

I recently read the book Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo. I was able to peruse several maps of India. I was able to link up to an article describing the monsoon season in India, which is talked about in the book.

One of the categories in the "Database Features" is the Winter Olympics. Clicking on the link brought up various articles on all aspects of the the Olympics in Sochi. Most interesting to me were the articles on the unseasonably warm weather -- which is causing problems for some of the events -- and Shaun White's failure to score a medal. All the articles are rated by reading levels and show a Lexile score. Another great feature is the ability to translate articles into several different languages. I flipped back to the maps feature, and was able to take a look at Russia and find where Sochi is located on the Black Sea.

There is no end to the amount of information I found on the SIRS Issues Researcher. I clicked on the hot topic of bullying. At the top of the page were links for "Pro/Con Issues and Essential Questions"; a definition of bullying; and a link to stopbullying.gov. Other features include a wealth of articles on the subject. Also available are "Research Tools", which include -- among other things -- Topic Overview, a Note Organizer, and Statistics link. Common Core information is also available. And the list goes on ... Wow! If only I could have had some of these resources available to me when I was writing college papers back in the Dark Ages!

Finally, I explored the Curriculum Pathfinders. I chose Language Arts, and then clicked on Creative Writing. I discovered links to numerous websites devoted to the writing life. Of particular interest to me were the links to the Edgar Allan Poe Museum (that would have been helpful when I did that independent study on Poe in college) and Judy Blume's website (which features lots of helpful hints for anyone interested in writing).