Do you have students asking for resources to write country reports? MeL has several student-friendly resources for this oft-requested topic. Britannica and World Book both will allow you to compare basic facts and figures about countries but Britannica is definitely more full-throated when it comes to articles. They do a great job with articles at scalable reading levels including images and video to augment the text that is freely available for students to include in their reports with attribution. Kids InfoBits is geared for preK-5 and while they don't do side-by-side country comparisons or list every country recognized by the UN, they do have in-depth data on approximately 90 countries. They have resources from many sources that they break down into books, biographies, pictures, magazines and news. For Brazil, for example, they have over 500 news articles beginning at middle school reading levels as well as dozens of book excerpts and six brief historical biographies. Gale's Research in Context for middle schoolers is light on geography. If you don't think they'll feel "talked down" to, feel free to steer middle schoolers to Kids InfoBits for country information if they're looking for it, they'll find plenty at their reading level. MeL Minutes are brought to you by the Library of Michigan. Want more information on MeL? Stay tuned for the next MeL Minute available on many Michigan library listservs, email us at contact@mel.org<mailto:contact@mel.org>, visit http://mel.org<http://mel.org/>, or Sign up for the MeL Minute and other Library of Michigan e-mail lists via GovDelivery<https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/MILOM/subscriber/new>. We encourage you to share MeL Minutes with your colleagues and networks. Sonya Schryer Norris Library of Michigan 702 W. Kalamazoo St. PO Box 30009 Lansing, MI 48909 517-373-4457 http://www.michigan.gov/libraryofmichigan http://www.mel.org<http://www.mel.org/> http://www.michlibrary.org<http://www.michlibrary.org/> Did you know most Michigan educator certificates expire June 30th of any given year? Educators can check expiration dates and renew or progress certificates using the Michigan Online Educator Certification System at www.michigan.gov/moecs<http://www.michigan.gov/moecs>. Not your year for renewal? Use MOECS to manage professional learning for future renewals, view effectiveness ratings and update personal information! [cid:image004.jpg@01D2C025.EAA99170]
