Week 3: Learning Library Express
I like the new format.  Just don't use the back button, it kicks you out of the program and you have to log back in again.
For the 4th grader that needs help with reading comprehension:  I would send him to the LLE:School Center:Elementary School:English Language Arts Skills Improvement.  From there he could work on the modules for Informational Reading Practice, Literature Reading Practice, or he could go to the Tutorials and do the Middle School Reading tutorial to boost his skills.

In the Career Center, she would go to Job Search and Workplace Skills: Build your Workplace Skills to brush up on her reading and writing skills for business.

Also in the Career Center, she could go to: Succeed in the Workplace under Guidance for more ways to brush up on workplace skills.

Information on a Nursing Career can be found under Guidance:Explore Careers: Nurse or under:Learn More about a Career:Nursing.

I did not find information on being a Pharmacist but I did find references for a pharmacy technician.

Advanced Challenge Week 2

Chilton's online manual has videos, still pictures and written instructions on how to change out a steering wheel. Seems to be very thorough, I would not have thought about detaching the airbag before changing out the steering wheel. It's nice that you can print out the instructions too.

The Part number for a 1989 Geo Prizm 3 speed automatic transmission transaxle is A131L.

The languages of the Bible are Hebrew (Old testament) and Greek (New Testament). I did the first lesson in Hebrew and found that the Hebrew word for night is pronounced the same as my first name, that was cool.

Using TumbleBookLibrary to look for mystery books for third graders, I simply typed "mystery" in the search box and it brought up several books suitable for a third grade student.  I choose 'Ace Lacewing, Bug Detective".  You have options of reading the book and turning the pages yourself or you can have everything automated and sit back and listen to the story as you follow along in the book. A/R information, Lexile and grade levels are all included in the information. This is a fun way to get students interested in reading more.

I had a little trouble finding a fiction book supporting STEM at first.  I tried searching 'math' & 'technology' and found nothing.  It was only when I searched 'science' that I found several fiction books dealing with science.  I enjoyed 'Gotcha' about magnets and 'Clever Trevor' on levers. My favorite was 'A Moldy Mystery' on growing molds.  Kids would find these books enjoyable and fun to try.

Advanced Challenge Week 1

Checked out the games in the World Book Kids and with my special interest in math, I found myself getting lost in trying out the various math games.  Suddenly, I realized that I had just spent an hour playing with many of the games in several categories.  I would hope that after this was introduced to the students, they would find themselves learning and losing track of time too.

In World Book Student, I explored the Biography section.  I found out some interesting facts about some of my favorite authors from when I was a child.  I also read about some actors and actresses from some of my favorite classic movies.  I think my students would enjoy learning some personal facts about the authors of the books they are reading.  I also liked the fact that the biographies included the proper formatting for citations.

We are in full swing with our Accelerated Reading program.  Students are always looking for more books. I enjoyed reading the Emperor's New Clothes and even had some of it read to me. I also had it translated to Spanish so see how much I could remember from High School.  Another option for students to find books they might not have thought to read.

The Reference section of the World Book Discover had some great information on How to do Research.  With students taking on Senior Projects, this is a great place for them to find ideas on how to start. Also found the Citation Builder helpful.

Week 10 Wrap up

Week 10

Nothing like squishing 10 weeks of class into 3!  Once I got started, it was fun to see what was next. 

Many of these resources I remember from working at the SDSU Library during college and more extensively during library school when working on my MLS.  Of course, at that time they were all paper or microfiche formats.  It’s much easier to find things with the digital format so less frustrating. 

Since our school does not have an in house library, these resources are very important to our student’s education.  Directing students and teachers to these resources when someone has a question will be very helpful in our attempt at integrating education with technology.

My greatest discovery was finding the actual census records of relatives. Somehow, just being able to look at a copy of an actual document made the history come alive. 

Week 9

Week 9: Ancestry Library

Searching myself, I found a list of all the addresses I have had since 1984.  That was kind of cool and scary.  I couldn’t find my birth certificate or marriage license but I did find information on several other relatives.  This could be quite addictive.

I was named after my grandmother so I searched for her.  I found an actual census that listed her, my grandfather, my dad and brothers.  I could actually look at the actual census document. I did discover that not only was I named after my grandmother but I also got married on her birthday which was new to me.

I typed in the family name for pictures and found a picture of my uncle in an SDSU yearbook and pictures of my cousins when they were in Middle School.  Lots of fun and the time flies as you explore.

Heritage Quest

After trying several different places, I finally had a hit with Toms River, NJ. I have relatives there so it was fun to try to find pictures of places I remember or recognize. I did find the graveyard where my grandparents are buried.

Sanborn Maps

I choose Flandreau, SD, since I spent a lot of time there when I was a kid.  I was able to find the houses where my Great Aunt, my 2^nd cousins, and my Great-Grandparents used to live. I also looked at the 1950 Sioux Falls map and found the block where I grew up.   I was disappointed that many of the towns I wanted to look at weren’t listed.

Common Core: 8^th Grade Algebra 1

Ancestry Library: This could be used for S.ID Interpreting Categorical & Quantitative Data. Students could search for pictures of family members and we could make represent the data with histogram (S.ID.1)

Sanborn Maps: I could overlay a coordinate grid on the map and students could use the maps to draw lines between places and then find the equation of the line. (8.F.3)

Heritage Quest: 8^th Grade Math 8.G.2.  Students could look for congruency in 2 or more objects in a picture.

Week 8

Week 8: Archive Grid

I learned that Sitting Bull’s name was actually Tatanka Iyotake or Tatanka Iyotanka or Ta-Tanka I-Yotan and that he was the leader of the Hunpapa Sioux.  That was new to me. 

I searched ‘Silence Dogood’ hoping to find the originals letters but found nothing.  Then I searched ‘Benjamin Franklin letters’ and got several hits. When I clicked on the first one, it said ‘this page does not exist or has been renamed.’  I tried several other hits and most said ‘contact an archivist to learn more about access to materials in this collection.  This would be great for social study classes and history buffs.

CAMIO

It was fun to see pictures of items that Paul Revere made as a silversmith.  The details on the tea urn and spoon were beautiful. There were also covered bowls, more urns, a sugar bowl and cover, all exquisitely made. 

‘Sioux’ brought up pictures of Native American clothing, pipes, and many pictures of NA life.

I was disappointed that ‘Harvey Dunn’ brought no results but neither did ‘Terry Redlin’.  ‘Van Gogh’  brought up 48 pictures of his paintings.  The pictures were of good quality.

Since we do not offer art classes at our school, this would be a way to explore art and expose our rural students to the world of art.

It was nice that the slide show of the images looped.  It was easy to move the images around and compare them.  I didn’t try the Web page feature but it looked easy to use.

Common Core:  8.SL.5 Integrates multimedia and visual display into presentations… For math, students could look at pieces of art and find mathematical images within them such as circles, squares, parabolas.  They could also import the images into a graphing calculator and find the equations of the parabola.

Week 7

WorldCat and More FirstSearch Indexes

Great Resource for librarians!  I’ve used this database for the information to put an entire library online and also for cataloging 2 church collections. 

I used the advanced search feature to search for a book I remember reading in grade school ‘Runaway Alice’. There were lots of hits.  Item #1 showed 16 copies worldwide. The top library is the Hartford Public Library in Illinois.  The LC call no. is PZ7.M9532. The subjects descriptor only had one:  Children’s stories.  I did see and alternate title ‘A nickel for Alice’.  Using the information I found, I searched online used bookstores and found a copy for myself.  Can’t wait to read it! Again.

Searched the WorldCat dissertations and theses and found that my uncle’s dissertation is in the National Agriculture Library in MD if I should ever want to read it.

In the OAIster database, I found an actual letter written to a lady in Minnesota from Sinclair Lewis talking about his journey through North and South Dakota. It looked like it was and actual scan of the letter.  Very cool.

I found the book ‘Digital Teaching Platforms : customizing classroom learning for each student’  and lo and behold, the top library is the South Dakota State Library.  May have to check that one out this summer!

Enjoyed this resource very much and spent way too much time looking for old books I remember.

Common Core:  If you can think of it you can find it.  8.W.8 Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively.