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.