Lesson 4 2015

Advanced Challenge
SIRS Discoverer
1. A third grader who reads below grade level needs articles on the solar system for a school project. How would you find appropriate materials for this student, and what are your results? (Hint: Advanced Search is useful here.)  Thanks for the hint. I went to the advanced search and put in solar system, then I marked only easy (green) and arranged it by Lexile scores. I came up with 47 results with Lexiles between 510L and 1290L, because this student reads below grade level I would probably stick with the top four that have have reading lexiles below 700L.

2. What are two ways you can use SIRS Discoverer to find maps/images of volcanoes? How many results did you get with each? The first way was to do a keyword search for volcanoes and then I clicked on the graphics tab which showed 151 graphics of volcanoes. The next search I did was for the words map and volcanoes. I got back 16 specific graphic maps for volcanoes. There were also over 200 articles in which I could also find maps. The second way was to use the subject tree search for science. Then I clicked on geography and geology. Then the subtopic of volcanoes. Through this process I found 184 graphics. What this showed me was not to just rely on one way to find information.

SIRS Issues Researcher1. A committee of teachers needs good websites about suicide prevention for teens. How do you help them using SIRS Issues Researcher? I would show them the A-List and the search engine, then after they find suicide, prevention I would have them click on the 5 websites in the left hand box so they could check out the websites. Is this a better way to search for web sites than using a search engine such as Google? Why or why not? This is a better way to search because they are vetted by educators and are safe. This is important when you're working with schools.

2. Recent drought is causing your town to consider restrictions on water use. Citizens disagree about the need for restrictions. What subjects would you search in SIRS Issues Researcher to provide information for civic discussion? This was a fun one to figure out. I went to leading issues. There I found a topic of water use which led me to a great page which had the pro/con issues and essential questions. Exactly what I was looking for. There was also an interactive USGS Groundwater Data for the Nation link. I went to South Dakota just to see what was there and you can really find a lot of information. How neat.
I think a lot of people would be amazed by how much information our libraries have available to them. The public can go in and access this information for free. There is no better bargain than our libraries.

Lesson 3 2015

Advanced Challenge - Learning Express 1. A fourth-grader needs help with reading comprehension. What are 3 things you will show him on Learning Express? I would show the student how to get into Learning express and where to find the elementary section. Since the student is having trouble with reading comprehension I would point out the English Language Arts skills improvement and then the Informational Reading Practice and the Literature Reading Practice. Both have two practice sets for fourth grade.

2. A recent high school graduate has her eye on an office manager job, but she knows she needs to improve her skills before she applies. What do you recommend for her in Learning Express? I would have the graduate go to the Career Center and Build Your Workplace Skills. This section has multiple ways to help someone prepare for an office manager job. I would also encourage the person to check out the Preparing for WorkKeys Assessments. It is a ways for someone without work experience to show a potential employer they have taken a job skills assessment.

3. A high school student comes to you for help on his report on careers. He is interested in being either a nurse or a pharmacist someday. What do you show him on Learning Express? In the Careers Center there is a section for becoming a nurse which has everything a person might need to know.  I wasn't able to find pharmacist in the Learning Express. I did a general search for all areas and was able to find pharmacy technician but that was as close as I was able to come.

Lesson 2 2015
Chilton Online Auto Repair

Advanced Discovery Exercise

1. Your neighbor needs to replace the steering wheel on his 1982 Jeep Cherokee. He thinks he can do it himself, but he’d like to see some videos before he gets started. How can you help him?  I'd send him to the Chilton Library where he can look up the year, make and model of his vehicle. Then he can go to "steering" then "steering wheel removal and installation." This will not only give him videos, but animations and tech tips.

2. What is the Transmission transaxle part name/number for a 1989 Geo Prizm with 3 speed automatic transmission? Now if I found this correctly I believe the part name/number is A131L, which is a transaxle for a 3-speed automatic. I also found a nice diagram under transaxel identification which shows you where to find the automatic transaxle identification number.

 

Mango

Advanced Discovery Exercise

1. A Christian seminary student is struggling to learn the languages of Old and New Testament times. What would you show this student to help?  I would show this student the Mango library and then see what the student is looking for. I went to Biblical Hebrew to start with. It was a very interesting lesson. I don't think I'd ever be able to learn it, but it was interesting to listen to him reading and how the English words changed into the Hebrew.

 

Tumblebook Library

Advanced Discovery Exercise
1. Alex, a 3rd grader, has read every mystery in the library. Use TumblebookLibrary to find titles Alex hasn't read. Describe the process and your recommendations in your blog posting. I put in the word mystery in the search enginge so I could show Alex the different books that were available to him. My recommendation for Alex would be Private I. Guana. It looks like a great book, is in his reading level and has a video to go along with it.
2. You are preparing for a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) story time for school-age kids, connecting a fiction book with a science activity. You would like to offer some ebooks as enrichment. What TumblebookLibrary fiction books would you recommend? The first book I'd recommend would be Science which is a collection of three books: Gotcha, A Moldy Mystery and Our Seasons. Another cute book is Dinosaurs Roar, Butterflies Soar as well as Don't Squash That Bug.

 

Lesson 1 2015
I checked out World Book Online Kids in two areas; games and activities and animals. I was looking for something I could do with my grandson when he comes to visit. I was very impressed with how the games start very simple and work their way up. I did the addition color sheets because I wanted to see if that was something he'd be able to do and I was happily surprised. I like the fact that you can also print your color sheets to complete them by hand coloring or to print the completed color sheet after you've colored it online. I also wanted to check out the animals because my grandson loves animals. They have great pictures and the information is easy to read and understand. I had no idea a cobra could stand up to 6 feet tall and had a speed of up to 5 mph. Yikes!

Next I reviewed the World Book Online Info Finder's Virtual Tours. I took the swamp tour. What I like about the virtual tours are that the videos are short and to the point, it is easy to move back and forth between the videos and they give you a lot of additional resources and I thought the interactive green swamp was intesting. There are student activities and teacher activities. The easy science lessons would work well as a home activity also. I think because the videos are short and interesting it would keep a student's interest.

Lastly I reviewed the World Book Online Refence Center for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The book is broken out by chapters and with the online tools you can even have it read to you. The tools also allow for online translation which could be very helpful for both adults and children where English is not their first language. In the related information you can find websites that can give you more information on not only the book you are currently reading, but the author and his other works. There are also primary sources you can research and back in time articles. These really give you a broad picture of the time period from which this work comes.

Lesson 10 Wrap up.

I have really enjoyed the library challenge. I didn't know that there were so many things available on the web for people to access. I will definitely use the genealogy resources the most. I already use Ancestry.com, but I found more things I can do with it through this challenge. I know I'll continue to look at the lessons in Heritage Quest. They have some great lessons for people wanting to know more about genealogy and how to use tools available to them. I'm also going to use Sanborn Maps to put pictures into my ancestors' profiles that show the time and the place where they lived.

I've been telling the people I work with about the challenges each week and what I've explored. I'm going to continue to do so and to keep my ears open in case someone is looking for something or needing information and I can say, "Have you tried....." This has been such a fun, learning experience. Thank you Jane and Julie.

Lesson 9

I've patiently been waiting for this week. I'm so excited it is here. I love genealogy and I'm excited to get exploring.

ANCESTRYLIBRARY
Question 1
I started with putting in my maiden name and I found a number of year book pictures of me. It will be fun to add those to my site at home. I also put in my married name and found telephone/address lists from previous years and family trees with my name in them.

Question 2
Next I searched for my grandma Hannah Hester Brugger. I found her birth information, her death information and I found her in every census from 1900 to 1940. I was able to track her from her maiden name of Brugger to her married name of Wendland and where they lived during that time period.

Question 3
I had problems finding the location part so I went in to search and found pictures and then typed South Dakota. I found some post cards that linked to South Dakota including the Court House in Highmore, SD and the Government Building in Deadwood. Now there isn't a date on the post card of the Highmore Court House, other than circa 1900 - present, but I'm amazed at how big it looks. I'll have to drive through Highmore and see if it's still there. There are some great old pictures of Huron that I'll definitely use in my genealogy.

HERITAGE QUEST
Question 4
I chose to browse and I found the new Learning Center and found a gold mine of information. There are some great videos that will help with your genealogy research. I chose to watch County Histories and Your Family. It was a nice presentation that included a PPT presentation. There are others on Census Tracking for Beginners and Getting Started with Family History Research.

SANBORN MAPS
Question 5
I looked at the block between 3rd and 4th street and Dakota and Wisconsin avenues in Huron in the time period between the late 1920s to the mid 1940s. The old Marvin Huett hotel was around then as it is now, but now it is apartments. There were also a couple of banks on the block that were around back then. It was interesting to see things like "fireproof" or "fireproof except for wood roof" and things like that.

Week 8 WorldCat, CAMIO and More

I started this week with WorldCat. Again, this was a totally new experience for me. I knew this existed. I decided to search for one of my classic favorite books, "The Hound of the Baskervilles."
I've always been a Sherlock Holmes fan. There were 1,808 records found that had The Hound of the Baskervilles either alone or as part of a set of other stories. Of that 1,168 were in English. The number one entry showed 1,189 libraries world-wide that had that book. The top link showed that the book was in Pleasantville, N.Y. library.

The call number or class descriptor is: LC: PR4621; Dewey: 823/.8.  I went to click on the author's name to see what else would be listed and found that there were 28,972 records associated with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Wow! Of those 17,457 were in English. I then went to the descriptor which I figured was the subject and found that I was looking for English detective and mystery stories. When I clicked on the link it took me to 10,872 records (in English) that dealt with the subject I was looking for. I didn't know the Lee Child was considered in this category. I really enjoy reading his books, as well as P.D. James and of course who could forget Agatha Christie.

I clicked on Death in Holy Orders by P.D. James to see where it was located as an audio book. The Brookings Public Library was the only library in SD that had it listed, but a number of Iowa, Montana and Wyoming libraries had it listed in audio format.

DISCOVER 2
Next is the OAIster. I'm glad someone added the pronunciation for me. I looked at what was available and chose the Retirement Planning Information brochure from SDRS (since I can take early retirement in a little over two years if I choose to I thought this was a good choice). As long as I was here, I scrolled some more and found another document from SDRS on Level Income Payment Option.

When I checked out another couple blogs, I noticed that one of the bloggers looked at the same OAIster that I did.

DISCOVERY 3
I typed in Sioux to the CAMIO search link. It showed 63 results, beautiful pictures, books, sculptures, photographs, etc.. I took a close look at the first item in the listing because of the title, a Scalp Shirt. The shirt is circa 1890 and is Lakota Sioux. According to the description it says the Lakota Sioux Scalp Shirts were often painted blue or green on the top to represent the sky and yellow on the bottom to represent the earth. According to the description, the hair on the shirts aren't scalps, but locks of hair from family members or friends who've donated them. Each lock represents a war exploit performed by the shirt's owner. After 1870 (the Reservation period) the wars ceased so the scalp shirts became items of ceremonial or formal attire.

Another great exploration week. Thanks for the tours.