I found this challenge to be very much worth my while.  I think the most valuable tool for me will be the worldbookonline site.  So much information there and neat things for the kids to use, especially for those who struggle with reading.  Also the pictures, music, videos, other websites it suggests.  Very useful and easy to use.  I also really like the Mango Languages site and the Ancestry site.  Honestly more for my personal use than my students, but Mango would be really good for a student with English as a second language.

I have already shared/showed a few of my colleagues some sites that I have researched and they seem interested as well.

I searched my name on Ancestry Library and found that they were off on my birthday by a few days.  My residence for the year 1994 was correct.  I also noticed a list of some close and not so close relatives listed.  I went to the edit search tab and typed in my marriage date and place and got basically the same results.

I then typed in a couple of my paternal grandfather and found a copy of his and my grandmothers marriage license.  Also found him listed in a federal census registry albeit with his first name misspelled.    Also found out that his father was born in Austria, which is something I find interesting since the family originated in Bohemia in Czechoslovakia.  I typed in a few of my great-grandparents and didn't have much luck.  I did find one in a federal census registry, however.

I went to the pictures page for South Dakota and got mostly baseball players.

Tried to get to Heritage Quest and got nothing but a blank white page.

I went to Sanborn Maps and sadly discovered that there were no towns from Charles Mix county on the list.  I then went to a few towns around the area such as Delmont and Armour.  I thought it was a little bit difficult to navigate through the maps.  I guess perhaps I'm used to the Google maps where you can sort of "glide" around and find certain points.  I did notice how in several of these little towns that they all had at least one lumber yard and in some cases more.  Kind of crazy to think about today.

On the Worldcat site I chose the book "Ava's Man" by Rick Bragg.  There were 7 results and 2,268 libraries worldwide have this book.  The "top" library was the Alexander Mitchell Library.  The class descriptors were:  LC:  CT275.B78516 and Dewey:  975/.042/092;B

Other books by this author included:  "I am a Soldier Too:  the Jessica Lynch Story", "All Over but the Shoutin", and "The Prince of Frogtown".

The subject list was a list of related subjects with a percentage next to it.  The top subject on this list was "Alabama".  After clicking on this another list showed up.  This list included books, serial #s, archives, maps, etc. relating to the state of Alabama.

This site would definitely be beneficial for those doing research on virtually any topic.  Also, if you were impressed with the author you could find what else he/she had written.  Even if you weren't impressed with an author, you could at least find some more information on the subject the author had written about.

On the OAIster site, after searching South Dakota, I went to the link "Facts on Kids".  Up popped various state agencies and I chose the South Dakota fisheries under the Game, Fish, and Parks.  I perused the report on Lake Oahe.  Included was information on different fish populations, harvest surveys, stocking reports, etc.  Why this was under "Facts on Kids", I'm not sure.  I do think this site would be good if you are looking for some statistical data on any number of things.

eBooks on EBSCOhost

I first searched Red Cloud's War.  I had to go down to the 5th option before I actually got to anything about Red Cloud.  I got books on World War II and aviation and weather.  I noticed how you could go to the table of contents and view the "Most Relevant Pages".  The table of contents for the two books I chose revealed nothing but the title of the book.  Also, some of the "Most Relevant Pages" looked to be index pages.

As far as the Constitution Day projects I would recommend the following:

1.  Representing Popular Sovereignty:  The Constitution in American Political Culture

2.  Our Elusive Constitution:  Silences, Paradoxes, Priorities

3.  The Constitution, the Law, and Freedom of Expression 1787-1987

When I went to the Advanced Search I chose Nebraska.  Everything there seems to be from the University of Nebraska Press.  Many things on Native Americans.   Top three were:

1.  Turtle Lung Woman's Daughter

2.  Science and Native American Communities:  Legacies of Pain, Visions of Promise

3.  A Final Promise:  The Campaign to Assimilate the Indians 1880-1920.

The Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Cultures 2012 is the title I chose.  It gives a list of every country in the world.  I chose the Czech Republic.  It started by giving the basic facts of the country such as population, religion, language, etc.  There were 20 different topics about Czech culture with a paragraph or two briefly describing each one.  Some examples of the topics were major holidays, relationships (in this title in included how to greet people), clothing, food (to which it also adds a recipe for a popular dish), and employment.  I was also interested to read about the (at least) preceived problems of the Czech Republic, one of those being the fact that women are paid roughly half of what men are in most professions.  The bibliography included books and websites from where this information was gleaned.

I would absolutely use this in my geography classes.  I like to have students compare and contrast their cultures with cultures from around the world.  This would be the perfect site to go to for such an assignment.  You can also translate the text to a variety of different languages as well as listen to the text.

For the second part of this assignment I searched the Battle of Gettysburg.  I was provided with a site that gave the basic layout of the battle, pictures of generals, and maps.  One was also able to explore biographies on various generals who were at the battle. There was a link to the Gettysburg Address that would be useful as well.  We generally do a unit on this battle and the information hear would definitely help the students with the projects that go with the assignments. 

I searched Winter Olympics at the Proquest site and found a wealth of information available.  The related searches tab on the left makes it very easy to find the most specific subjects.  You could pick specific athletes, sports, profiles, advertisements used, personal profiles, etc.  Also, the publication dates would be helpful if you are looking for a certain time period.

I was not really impressed with the Publications tab.  I tried typing in different subjects and was told nothing was found.  I did find some information on the Civil War, but to me this was not very user friendly.  I guess I'm not sure what full text means, but I assumed that if I went to a magazine I would get the "full text" article but it would just give me table of contents on the couple I clicked on.  Maybe I need to give it more time but I think if I were doing some research I would use some of the other sites already studied in this class.

I searched armadillos on SIRS Discoverer.  I clicked on graphics and got 10 different pictures, one being a chart of different animal defenses.  When I clicked on Lexile it arranged the articles from lowest to highest.  It also categorizes articles into reading levels that are general, easy, moderate, and challenging which would be beneficial to most classrooms I would think.  I know my classes have a broad range of student ability and this makes picking reading material fairly easy.

The country I chose was Pakistan.  It listed basic facts such as the capital, climate, population, etc.  When I clicked on the maps section I did notice that almost all of them were political in nature with counties, provinces, highways, etc listed.  It would have been nice to see more physical and thematic maps in this section.  One feature that I did find valuable was the "All Articles" tab to get some information on the country/region.  We do current events from time to time and this would be a valuable tool to use for that.

The activities page included an immigration map as well as a tutorial on how to create a timeline which is something we use often in geography. There were also various activities for all the different content areas.

On the SIRS Issues Researcher I chose the topic of smoking bans.  The Topic Overview gives a brief history of smoking in the U.S. including when the Surgeon General's first warning came out.  Lists the pros/cons and essential questions.  It provides a list of key terms to know and the definitions.  It also includes additional resources and events related to smoking bans.

The Research Tools section gives various studies and research done, magazines and newspaper articles, charts, graphs, and maps.  Also, under "My Analysis", it gives you a list of questions to consider when choosing a topic as well as a Debate Guide and writing help.

The Articles section was, as one would suppose, full of various articles from newspapers and magazines.

Under Curriculum Pathfinders I searched under social studies and it showed different courses, timelines, maps, and primary sources to use along with research ideas.  A click on "research ideas" gives a list of different sites one can choose from.  Under the graphics and multimedia tab there are excellent pieces of information that would come in handy when researching for a paper, speech, or debate.

I chose the 8th grade informational practice since I teach middle school social studies and a majority of our reading is informational text.  I liked that it allows the students to go at their own pace.  I also liked the immediate feedback students get when they are done.  It notes a topic for each question which is helpful for teachers.  At our school, if students are struggling with a certain aspect of reading they go to a reading interventions class at the end of the day.  This would help them know which areas students are struggling in and better able to address those problems and select reading passages and questions that specifically address those problems. At the bottom of the page it gives "Recommendations" to go to for extra practice and it aligns the questions with Common Core standards.

Under Job Searching skills I chose the Work keys Locating Information.  There was a test designed to ascertain whether a person could read a computer printout.  This particular printout was an order at a dry cleaners.  You had to read the information (number of shirts dropped off, when they were dropped off, pick up date and time, etc) and answer questions about it.  I guess it would let one know what kind of skills were needed to render one capable of being a competent worker at such a place.

The ebook I downloaded was for a chef.  It was loaded with information.  There was a questionnaire to start of asking about basic culinary skills.  It went on to give information about different types of chefs and the average salaries for each.  It noted what parts of the country were in demand for the various types of chefs.  Along with each description of chef there was also something called "Insiders Advice" with tips on what to expect if one was going into that field.  They also mentioned different culinary jobs that don't require cooking such as a writer or a nutritionist.  The ebook also gave a course description of what one could expect when going to school.  It also finished with a practice test and then how to market yourself when applying for a job. I could see this being extremely valuable to many people looking for jobs in a variety of areas.  It would definitely be helpful to high school kids who are trying to figure out what they might want to do with themselves after high school.

Mango

I went to the Mango site and chose the Czech language.  The beginning mentioned navigating the narrow streets of Prague and checking out a castle complex by purchasing a bus ticket.  It also mentions a tour of the Pilsner Urquell facilities which I think would be extremely interesting and appropriate as one might work up a thirst trying to remember and utilize a foreign language.

Once I got into this site I was impressed to say the least.  There is so much to like and very little to not like.  It makes you do a bunch of listening and repeating.  You basically just listen to them and then repeat.  It will introduce a simple word, such as "hello" and then you repeat, then they and a few more words until you are able to introduce yourself.  You can chose between grammatical and conversational goals.  Very cool website.

I'm not quite sure as where I can use this and whether or not I'd have to pay for it.  At school it works great.  I tried to look at it at home and it asks for a barcode.  I thought if you were a member of the state library it was free, but not 100% sure on this.

Under the Chilton Library site the vehicle I chose was a 2002 Chevy Tahoe.  Three things that should be done at 30,000 miles are:  1) Replace air cleaner filter, 2) Replace automatic transmission fluid and filter, and 3) Service/Inspect automatic transmission shift linkage.

The latest technical service bulletin was "Suspension DTCs C0696 or C0711, Incorrect trim height, compressor self test inoperative" and it was issued on 6-3-13.

I tried to go to the repair site to check on the brakes but it kept telling me that my time had expired and I needed to log back in.  I shut down the website, went back to the website, typed in all the info that I had typed in previously and still it said I had been logged out of my session.  Not sure what is going on there.  Maybe I'll go back later and try again.

Under the World Book Reference Center I chose the country of Ireland.  Things seemed pretty similar to the previous sight.  I did notice that there were timelines which we use from time to time in class.  They also give you a link to other websites that would be helpful if doing more specific research.

For lesson 1b I compared the WorldBook online kids with the info finder.  The kids section had three paragraphs worth of info stating that the prairie dog lives underground in grasslands called prairies.  There was on drawing of a couple of prairie dogs.  The info finder had an actual picture and sounds of the prairie dog along with different species of prairie dogs, their natural enemies, and how they affect people.

On the World Book Discover page you can choose from a variety of different languages to have the article translated to from English.   I did try to click on one of the languages and my school has this sight blocked claiming it is security proxy, whatever that might be.  However I don't believe it would be   a big deal to get this unblocked but I'm not 100% sure.

Under the Advanced option I searched the country of the Czech Republic.  I teach 7th grade geography.  We are constantly talking about culture and everything the term culture can include.  I notice on the website there are pictures of architecture, the countryside, etc.  You could also click on a link that would play music.  Food and drink was another section that kids tend to be interested in and that I don't believe you can find in a regular encyclopedia.  Also, from a teacher perspective, they make it really easy to print certain sections of the entry without having to select a certain portion.

I searched hogs in both the World Book for Kids and the World Book Students.  The student site definitely had much more information.  From the parts of the hog, to different types of hogs, uses of the hog, charts that show leading hog producing states, etc.  The Kids section was pretty bare bone which I suppose you would expect for K-5.  I think the most useful part of this website for me will be the double clicking on words to get a definition.  I teach middle school social studies and the most common type of questions I get are asking to define a word.  I don't mind answering these, of course, but if a student can double click on the word right there and find out the meaning, all the better.  Especially for those who don't like to speak or be thought "dumb" if they don't know the meaning of the word.  I noticed that this option was available in both the kids and students version.

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