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4th Grade Lesson-Evaluating a Website Information Literacy Skill

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4th Grade Lesson-Evaluating a Website Information Literacy Skill

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All About Explorers was developed by a group of teachers as a means of teaching students about the Internet. Although the Internet can be a tremendous resource for gathering information about a topic, we found that students often did not have the skills to discern useful information from worthless data.

So we set out to develop a series of lessons for elementary age students in which we would demonstrate that just because it is out there for the searching does not mean it is worthwhile.

A typical novice strategy for searching the Internet is to type the topic into the address bar. For example, if you are researching Christopher Columbus, you naturally would look first at www.columbus.com. Unfortunately, as you will see if you click on this link, that is not helpful. Neither is www.columbus.org, which takes you to the Columbus, OH, Chamber of Commerce.

There are many less benign examples of site names that do not relate to the topic they appear to be about. While we could use many of the existing sites that make this point for us, we did not want to run the risk of finding out in a year or two that the site had new, undesirable content. The only way we could guarantee this would be to create our own site in which we could control the content ourselves. The result is what you are exploring right now.

To stay current on the site and hear about developments as they happen, follow @aaexplorers on Twitter.

A Note About the Content In This Site:

Because we wanted to make a point about finding useless information even in a site which looked at first to be fairly well put together, all of the Explorer biographies here are fictional. While many of the facts are true or based on truth, many inaccuracies, lies, and even downright absurdity are mixed in indiscriminately. As such, it is important that you do not use this site as a source of reference for your own research!

Any references to outside source materials, however, are quite accurate to the best of our knowledge. Books and other print materials are listed throughout. In most cases these are the references we give to our students when they are looking for reliable information about these explorers. Links to other web sites have also been evaluated for accuracy and usefulness.

Our lesson plans have also been incorporated into this site along with an Explorer WebQuest which we use with our own students to do valid research about these same explorers after showing them the pitfalls of poor planning and searching. In both cases, again, the information we include will be as accurate as possible. All of our lessons have been tested with students in the upper elementary grades.

All About Explorers Has Been Featured In...

Publications

Toni Buzzeo's book, Collaborating to Meet Standards: Teacher/Librarian Partnerships K-6 (2nd ed.)

Pearson Education Canada's grade 8 textbook Literacy in Action 8: CyberSense, by Sharon Jeroski and Kathleen Gregory.

ISTE's Learning and Leading, August 2011 issue: Learning Connections: Find the truth about the Pacific tree octopus by Keith Ferrell.

Media

The Bucks County Courier Times: " Site helps kids determine what's real vs. what's fake ", June 9, 2009.

The New York Times: "The Future of Reading: In Web Age, Library Job Gets Update", February 16, 2009.

Educational Blogs

Kim's Ventures in Educational Technology: Exploring AllAboutExplorers.com, July 26, 2009.

Lifelong Learning 2.0: Another Webquest on History... or Is It More Than That?, July 21, 2009.

The TechChickTips podcast: "The Golden Episode: Links That Make Us Think"

Silvia Tolisano's Langwitches' Blog: "Teaching Information/Research Skills in Elementary School", February 21, 2009.

School Library Journal blogs on October 28, 2008 and February 17, 2009

teachbytes blog: "11 Hilarious Hoax Sites to Test Website Evaluation", November 1, 2012

Other Websites

Classroom 2.0 LIVE! broadcast: Exploring AllAboutExplorers.com, August 8, 2009

Alan November's list of recommended websites at the November Learning website.

The University of Missouri's eMINTS facilitator guide: Evaluating and Using Internet Resources

Teachers.tv lesson "Teaching E-safety"

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All About Explorers was developed by a group of teachers as a means of teaching students about the Internet. Although the Internet can be a tremendous resource for gathering information about a top...

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CBC Kids Fact Versus Fake Article and quiz

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CBC Kids Fact Versus Fake Article and quiz

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We believe the name says it all. NewsForKids.net was created by a teacher to make the news accessible to kids. We carefully choose high interest stories appropriate to the audience, and present them in a way that is easy to understand.

News is necessarily complicated and messy. There's a lot to know. We strive to make each article as self-contained as possible, giving the necessary background and not assuming that the reader already has certain knowledge. This is a daunting task. Where it is not possible to give all the necessary information within the article itself, we try to provide easily accessible resources to fill in the gaps.

We work hard to use simple language when telling the stories. Our goal is to be as inclusive as possible. It's easy for advanced readers to read "down", but not for struggling readers to read "up".

We understand that there are side effects to simplifying the language and adding background information. We strive for strong, clear writing, but sometimes rephrasing difficult concepts comes at a cost. We're also not the best resource for teaching kids about inverted pyramid structure or how to write a great lead.

But we think we offer something important that's hard to find: Interesting stories told in an accessible manner. Real news, told simply.
Contact
To get in touch with us, please visit our contact page.

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We believe the name says it all. NewsForKids.net was created by a teacher to make the news accessible to kids. We carefully choose high interest stories appropriate to the audience, and present them in a way that is easy to understand. News is necessarily complicated and messy. There's a lot to know.

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Dogs ( Canis lupus familiaris) are domesticated mammals, not natural wild animals. They were originally bred from wolves. Dogs are sometimes called "canines," which comes from the Latin word for dog - canis. Sometimes people also use "dog" to describe other canids, such as wolves.

A baby dog is called a pup or puppy. A dog is called a puppy until it is about one year old. Domesticated dogs have been bred by humans for a long time and were probably the first animals to be domesticated. Domesticated dogs eat both meat and vegetables, often mixed together with other ingredients and sold in stores as dog food.

Today, some dogs are used as pets while others are used to help humans do their work. Dogs are popular pets because they are usually playful, friendly, and listen well to humans. Thirty million dogs in the United States are registered as pets. Dogs are sometimes referred to as "man's best friend" because they are kept as domestic pets and are usually loyal and like being around humans. Dogs often have jobs, including police dogs, army dogs, service dogs, fire dogs, messenger dogs, hunting dogs, herding dogs, or rescue dogs.

Appearance and behavior

Dogs have four legs and make a "bark," "woof," or "arf" sound. Different kinds of dogs have different kinds of fur. Dogs often chase cats, and most dogs will fetch a ball or stick.

Dogs can smell and hear better than humans, but cannot see well in color. Their eye structure helps dogs to see better in dim light than humans can. They can also see further around before moving their eyes than a human can.

Like wolves, wild dogs travel in groups called packs. Packs of dogs are ordered by rank, and dogs with low rank will submit to other dogs with a higher rank. The highest-ranked dog is called the alpha male. Each dog in a pack helps and cares for others. Domesticated dogs often view their owner as the alpha male.

Origin of dogs

All dogs are descended from wolves, by domestication and artificial selection. This is known because DNA genome analysis has been done to discover this. Dogs have been bred by humans.

The earliest known fossil of a domestic dog is said to be from 31,700 years ago in Belgium. Scientists believe that dogs have lived with people for at least 30,000 years. In 2013, a study was published that showed that the skull and teeth of a canid, dated to 33,000 years ago, had characteristics closer to a dog than to a wolf, and the authors determined that "this specimen may represent a dog in the very early stages of domestication."

Another sign of domestication is that sometimes, dogs were buried together with humans. Evidence of this is a tomb in Bonn, where the remains of a man of about 50 years of age, a woman of about 25 years of age, a dog, and other artifacts were found. Radiocarbon dating showed that the human bones were between 13,300 and 14,000 years old.

Different dog breeds (kinds) have different lifespans. In general, smaller dogs live longer than larger dogs. The size and the breed of the dog change the average lifespan of a dog. Breeds such as the Dachshund usually live for fifteen years, while Chihuahuas can reach age twenty. The Great Dane, on the other hand, has an average lifespan of six to eight years; some Great Danes have lived for ten years.

Dogs and humans

Dogs are often called "man's best friend" because they fit well with human life. Dogs can serve people in many ways. For example, there are guard dogs, hunting dogs, herding dogs, guide dogs for blind people (along with other service dogs), and police dogs. These dogs sometimes help police in airports or other areas. Sniffer dogs (usually beagles) are sometimes trained for this job. Dogs were sent by Russians into outer space a few years before any human being was sent. The first dog sent up was named Laika, but she died within a few hours.

It is estimated that three-quarters of the world's dog population lives in the developing world as feral, village, or community dogs. Dogs are not usually pets in these areas.

Pet dog populations grew after World War II. In the 1950s and 1960s, dogs were kept outside more often than they tend to be today and were still used as guard dogs, children's playmates, or walking companions.

Most modern dog owners describe their pets as part of the family. It is estimated there are 77.5 million people with pet dogs in the United States.

A 2014 study using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) comparing humans and dogs showed that dogs have the same response to voices and use the same parts of the brain as humans do. This gives dogs the ability to recognize emotional human sounds, making them friendly social pets to humans.

Best dogs for kids

The best dogs for kids are ones that have calm personalities and are happy to socialize with everyone in the family.

Having a family dog can also teach children cooperation and responsibility. For example, a child can help with chores such as walking, feeding, and brushing the dog.

Here are some of the most popular dog breeds for kids:

There are at least 800 breeds (kinds) of dogs. Dogs whose parents were the same breed will also be that breed: these dogs are called purebred or pure pedigree dogs. Dogs with parents from different breeds no longer belong to one breed: they are called , mixed-breed dogs, , or . Some of the most popular breeds are sheepdogs, collies, poodles, and retrievers. It is becoming popular to breed two different breeds of dogs together and call the new dog's breed a name that is a mixture of the parents' breeds' two names. A puppy with a poodle and a pomeranian as parents might be called a Pomapoo. These kinds of dogs, instead of being called mutts, are known as designer dog breeds. These dogs are normally used for prize shows and designer shows. They can also be guide dogs.

10 interesting facts about dogs

There are hundreds of different breeds of dogs and around 400 million dogs in the world.

The dog has earned the nickname "man's best friend."

The largest breeds of dog in the world are the Great Dane, Irish wolfhound, Scottish Deerhound, Neapolitan Mastiff, English Mastiff, Anatolian shepherd, Dogue de Bordeaux, Leonberger, and Boerboel. The smallest dog breed is the Chihuahua (dog).

The oldest dog who ever lived was a cattle dog from Australia named Bluey who lived to be 29 years and 5 months old.

A dog's nose print is unique; it is similar to human fingerprints in that no two are the same.

Dalmatian puppies are born completely white and develop their spots as they grow.

Dogs dream just like humans do.

Little dogs are often called toy dogs, or lap dogs - because they're so little they look like a toy and can easily fit on your lap.

A dog is as smart as a 2-year-old child and can recognize around 150 words and gestures.

Dogs should not eat raisins, grapes, onion, chocolate, or garlic because it makes them sick.

Images for kids

In Spanish: Canis familiaris para niños

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Help Save The ENDANGERED

From EXTINCTION!

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

Rare photo of the elusive tree octopus
(Enhanced from cropped telephoto)

The Pacific Northwest tree octopus ( Octopus paxarbolis) can be found in the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula on the west coast of North America. Their habitat lies on the Eastern side of the Olympic mountain range, adjacent to Hood Canal. These solitary cephalopods reach an average size (measured from arm-tip to mantle-tip,) of 30-33 cm. Unlike most other cephalopods, tree octopuses are amphibious, spending only their early life and the period of their mating season in their ancestral aquatic environment. Because of the moistness of the rainforests and specialized skin adaptations, they are able to keep from becoming desiccated for prolonged periods of time, but given the chance they would prefer resting in pooled water.

An intelligent and inquisitive being (it has the largest brain-to-body ratio for any mollusk), the tree octopus explores its arboreal world by both touch and sight. Adaptations its ancestors originally evolved in the three dimensional environment of the sea have been put to good use in the spatially complex maze of the coniferous Olympic rainforests. The challenges and richness of this environment (and the intimate way in which it interacts with it,) may account for the tree octopus's advanced behavioral development. (Some evolutionary theorists suppose that "arboreal adaptation" is what laid the groundwork in primates for the evolution of the human mind.)

Reaching out with one of her eight arms, each covered in sensitive suckers, a tree octopus might grab a branch to pull herself along in a form of locomotion called tentaculation; or she might be preparing to strike at an insect or small vertebrate, such as a frog or rodent, or steal an egg from a bird's nest; or she might even be examining some object that caught her fancy, instinctively desiring to manipulate it with her dexterous limbs (really deserving the title "sensory organs" more than mere "limbs",) in order to better know it.

Map of estimated tree octopus maximum range, including spawning waters

Tree octopuses have eyesight comparable to humans. Besides allowing them to see their prey and environment, it helps them in inter-octopus relations. Although they are not social animals like us, they display to one-another their emotions through their ability to change the color of their skin: red indicates anger, white fear, while they normally maintain a mottled brown tone to blend in with the background.

The reproductive cycle of the tree octopus is still linked to its roots in the waters of the Puget Sound from where it is thought to have originated. Every year, in Spring, tree octopuses leave their homes in the Olympic National Forest and migrate towards the shore and, eventually, their spawning grounds in Hood Canal. There, they congregate (the only real social time in their lives,) and find mates. After the male has deposited his sperm, he returns to the forests, leaving the female to find an aquatic lair in which to attach her strands of egg-clusters. The female will guard and care for her eggs until they hatch, refusing even to eat, and usually dying from her selflessness. The young will spend the first month or so floating through Hood Canal, Admiralty Inlet, and as far as North Puget Sound before eventually moving out of the water and beginning their adult lives.

Why It's Endangered

Route 101, separating the rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula from Hood Canal

Although the tree octopus is not officially listed on the Endangered Species List, we feel that it should be added since its numbers are at a critically low level for its breeding needs. The reasons for this dire situation include: decimation of habitat by logging and suburban encroachment; building of roads that cut off access to the water which it needs for spawning; predation by foreign species such as house cats; and booming populations of its natural predators, including the bald eagle and sasquatch. What few that make it to the Canal are further hampered in their reproduction by the growing problem of pollution from farming and residential run-off. Unless immediate action is taken to protect this species and its habitat, the Pacific Northwest tree octopus will be but a memory.

The possibility of Pacific Northwest tree octopus extinction is not an unwarranted fear. Other tree octopus species-including the Douglas octopus and the red-ringed madrona sucker-were once abundant throughout the Cascadia region, but have since gone extinct because of threats similar to those faced by paxarbolis, as well as overharvesting by the now-illegal tree octopus trade.

Tree Octopus hat from 1923

The history of the tree octopus trade is a sad one. Their voracious appetite for bird plumes having exhausted all the worthy species of that family, the fashionistas moved on to cephalopodic accoutrements during the early 20th Century. Tree octopuses became prized by the fashion industry as ornamental decorations for hats, leading greedy trappers to wipe out whole populations to feed the vanity of the fashionable rich. While fortunately this practice has been outlawed, its effects still reverberate today as these millinery deprivations brought tree octopus numbers below the critical point where even minor environmental change could cause disaster.

While efforts were made in the past to preserve remaining tree octopus habitat, these were met with resistance by the timber industry, which has traditionally viewed the tree octopus as a nuisance, both because the octopuses favor the valuable, moss-shrouded trees of old growth forests-pitting conservation needs against lucrative sources of lumber-and because octopuses hiding among felled trees often gummed up sawmills and stained pulp vats with their ink.

Traveling sideshow exhibits, such as this one by Glen "Bones" Hartzell from 1942, demonized tree octopuses to the ignorant masses
(Click to enlarge)

These nuisances led many loggers to regard tree octopuses as bad luck, resulting in the pointless killing of octopuses on sight at logging camps in a misguided attempt at eradicating the troublesome species. Anti-octopus sentiment was so strong among loggers that some even began to fear that the octopuses were prone to attacking humans.

These fears were fueled in no small part by gratuitous stories involving tree octopuses harassing lumberjacks and distressing damsels in Northwestern-themed pulp magazines of the 1930-40s and variously "nipping", "entangling", or "suckering the flesh" of the heroes of men's action magazines of the 1950-60s. (The magazine publishers depended on cheap paper made from wood pulp and were glad to contribute to the anti-octopus propaganda campaign of the timber industry.)

To this day, misunderstanding and fear of these gentle creatures can still be found among many old timers, although education campaigns-and special octopus-separators installed at sawmills-have largely halted the practice of tree octopus eradication.

How You Can Help

More Tree Octopus Information

Posters motivate the citizenry to action! Post them!

Tree Octopus FAQs - Frequently asked questions, now with answers.

Tree Octopus Sightings - Includes photos of and behavioral research on the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and other tree octopus species.

Tree Octopus In The Media - appearances of tree octopuses, both real and fictional, in the media and popular culture.

Research On Other Tree Octopus Species:

The author of this article and its subsections is Lyle Zapato.
This site is not associated with any school or educational organization,
other than the Kelvinic University branch of the Wild Haggis Conservation Society.
Not to be confused with the Pacific Northwest Octopus Tree.

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Information about the endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and what you can do to save it.