Thing 17

I chose to compare and contrast the eLibrary Kids Elementary site with Kids Infobite.org.
Both sites requested a library card ID, however, elibrary left the option for a drivers license instead, which may be a good option, because everyone still does not have a library card or access to a library, but their parent will more likely have a drivers license.
Both sites offer fantastic resources for kids.  Kids Infobites is geared towards K-5, while elibrary is K-12.  Reading levels are simplified for Kids Infobites by easy, more difficult, while elibrary kids offers multiple reading levels, as well as a source key to understand these levels.  Kids Infobites offers something that I believe is wonderful, especially in the case of struggling readers and ESL students, which is an audio choice.  Students can choose to listen to an Infbites reader read the article and may choose to listen or read along.  This also allows for MP3 download for later listening.
For many elementary students I would probably recommend the Kids Infobite site because it is all information that is within their grade level K-5, which means it will be much less information for them to sort through.  elibrary is very user friendly and is good for all levels, but possibly not as "fun" to use as Kids Infobites.
For 5th grade and up I believe elibrary offers more diversity and a wider choice of materials, and that is because what they will be exposed to increases with each grade level.
I went to each source, looking up newspapers, magazines, books, maps, pictures, audio/visual, and transcripts.  All was very easy to do and I loved that with each resource additional related documents were available and offered.
I found both sites easy to navigate and very appropriate for students.

I went to General One File and found it a site that students would be able to maneuver through without too much difficulty.  General One File claims to be a 1Stop Source for news and periodical articles on a wide range of topics.  I chose Social Studies and was immediately offered an extensive range of resources dealing with the general topic.  I chose to go to a brief article, Every book is a social studies book: how to meet standards with picture books K-6.
MP3 downloads are available as well as citation helps.  I especially loved that feature because I am one of those people who are citation challenged. (yes, along with being technologically so, but this class is helping to change that).  Since I know I struggle with proper citations, I am especially eager that my students learn where to go to get the help they need to create the proper citation.  This site lives up to its "one stop source" claims and would be very helpful for classroom use.

In going to Citation Tools in General One File, I found I was not able to download the citation.  Each attempt was met with a message saying they could not open the file and then asked if I wanted to choose where to open it.  I tried Acrobat and it said an error occured and now I can't get past Acrobat.  Each time I choose MLA or APA it takes me right back to Acrobat Reader and the same message.  HELP RON!

Here is my citation from BibMe.