It has been awhile since I last posted. We have finished calving and lambing and now are on to fencing.then haying and summer work begins.

 I am checking into Learning Express Library for summer projects for my children. So the fun begins.

Lesson 10

Well we are done. Or just started? I have really enjoyed this challenge and am now going to work on some other learning experiences I found in the last 10 weeks. I am also going to keep blogging as I go so in my old age I can remember where and what i learned.

I have one child practicing the drivers exam and the other practicing ACT. Also getting ready for algebra 2 and Chemistry!  Summer fun.

See you soon

Lesson 9

Lesson 9 -- Genealogy -- Ancestry, HeritageQuest and Sanborn Maps

Once again I need to be at the library for a portion of this lesson. So I am going to do what I can from home and finish the rest later.


4. Heritage Quest - from home - Well, that was interesting. I searched for Jennewein - Fred Jennewein is a known historian and a relative of my husbands. From their I went on to my fathers name ( lots of hits and a genealogy from 1611. I am not sure if it is my family or not), my mothers maiden name (no hits). I spent quite a bit of time doing this and found nothing conclusive to my family. I loved looking at the old family names. One of my cousins just asked my if I knew of any awesome old family names. I know where to send her!

5. Sandborn maps - I looked in Deadwood. I guess I am not familiar enough with the buildings to find the ones that are still their or don't recognize them when I see them. Neither my local town nor the one I grew up in was listed. I am not sure what I would use this for but great information for someone who needs it.

Well I am done for today. Family heritage is something my husband is very interested in so I will show him what I found when he gets home. I hope I get to the library this week to finish this lesson and lesson 8, until later...

1. I was in the phone records but my birth, marriage, and divorce records were not in this sight.

2. I searched for my grandmother. It was interesting in the 1930 census her name is misspelled. I know it is the right person because my mother and all her siblings are listed as children. I then checked in 1925 her name was spelled correctly.

3. It took me awhile to find the photos and maps spot on the search but there is was on the bottom. I found lots of baseball players from 1976 on also a 1917 WWI soldier photo. I did not dig to far into this site because I was running out of time. At a later date I will spend more time on other relatives of mine.

I am all caught up and very excited about that accomplishment in my life. This has been fun and informative. I appreciate the opportunity to learn about what information is available at the state library. until next time...

Lesson 8

Lesson 8 -- ArchiveGrid and CAMIO
Here I am again a week late. Apparently I work best under pressure. Since I was on last we watched two of our granddaughters dance in a recital. They were beautiful and did a wonderful job. We also traveled and got to see a granddaughter sing in her spring concert. She was the best lemonade vendor I have ever seen. Great stuff. So now on to this (or last) weeks challenge!

So I just read Lesson 8 and you have to access this site from the library or school and since I am at home and  the library is not open today I will move on to Lesson 9. Books are Fun is at the library this week so on Wednesday or Thursday I will stop in and accomplish two tasks while I am there. See you later...

1. Paul Revere - The Bloody Massacre,  Teaspoon, Tea urn, Sugar Bowl and cover, Federal Style Tea Service, The Boston Massacre, Sugar bowl, Creampot, ...

2. Lots of Native American bead work and other art work like pipes. Also, there was paintings of Sioux Springs-- near Humboldt, Nevada.

3. I have been intrigued by Harvey Dunn, I have a large print of The Prairie is my Garden in my dining room. I was surprised to find no works by Harvey Dunn in Camio. Next I searched Terry Redlin also no information apparently our South Dakota artists are not famous enough.

Michael Angelo was my next search and of course there were  ten results nine of which were pencil drawings and one painting "The Appearance of St. Michael on the Castel Sant'Angelo to Pope Gregory the Great". 

4. Interesting if you were going on a trip and wanted to get a preview of what was in a museum you were visiting. The school children may use this while doing a research project on art or various artists.

5. This was kind of cool but I do not have an application in mind for myself or my children, but who knows tomorrow is another day and you never know when you may need this information.

Lesson 7

World Cat and more -
I searched for the book "The Rosary". It is a favorite of my mom's, she is 87 and has a very old worn out copy that I have been afraid to read. There are 836 libraries with this book and Rapid City, SD is the top library. The call number is LC: BX2163; Dewey: 242/.74. When I clicked on the Author Garry Wells, I found he had written 32 books, 31 in English. There were 2,180 other books on the rosary. The site lists content, descriptors and materials specified. Interesting. Also there is an online version.

Other FirstSearch Indexes - Worls Cat 179 million articles from 1000 B.C. to present WOW!
Discovery Exercise part 2 - I went into OAIster, chose South Dakota and there were 764 results from farming, flooding, Wounded Knee, and many more. Lots of photo's of events which would be great to insert into a report if you can. Denver Public Library had a picture you could print or download.

Several blogs were still on earlier lessons which was encouraging to me since I am a week behind. "Blog" is very efficient, it is only Wednesday and they are already done with this weeks lesson. Some of you bloggers are very creative and I am impressed. I have enjoyed this blogging and like it because I can go back and figure out what resource I was using when I found some cool information I want to look into more. I hope I continue to use these resources so I know what is where and which to use for what. Ha. If you can follow that last comment we could be friends.  Until next time...

Lesson 6

Lesson 6 -- Ebooks on EBSCO (formerly NetLibrary)

1. I researched Deadwood, South Dakota. There was a lot of information. I did not know that so much of the gambling revenue went into the restoration of historical sites. Deadwood has always been one of my favorite cities because of the history. I love the cemetery! It brings history to life for me - real people with real graves. When I was younger it brought home that all we learn in the history of our country is about real people. Pretty cool!

2   Wow the following is just a partial list but note it goes on forever 1,190 results. I sorted by relevance and that helped put the important documents first. This an awesome site for students to access.

 1..Proclamation 8714--Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, Constitution Week, 2011. By: OBAMA, BARACK. Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents, 9/16/2011, p1-2, 2p

PDF Full Text (37KB)

2. Add Added

Proclamation 8418--Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, Constitution Week, 2009. By: Obama, Barack H.. Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents, 9/16/2009, Special section p1-2, 2p

PDF Full Text (36KB)

3. Add Added

Constitution Day. Scholastic News -- Edition 2, Sep2010, Vol. 67 Issue 1, Special section p8-8, 1p; (AN 53451430)

HTML Full Text PDF Full Text (686KB) ....Page: 1 2 3 4 5 Next to 1,190

3.  First of all no PB Publisher available in the "Select a Field" drop down box. I selected a state and then limited it to history. I found mostly book reviews. Oops I was in the student portion not the ebooks. I found American History I did a search with in a search and found good information about Nebraska, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Nebraska Univerisity Press, and the Transcontinental Railroad.

Well as I am a week behind and I am going to be finished with this assignment. I have my awesome 4 1/2 year old grandson with me this week and we have projects to do. He has been an angel while I worked. He is doing his own research on Samuri Power Rangers, he is quite qualified to join their quest.

Did you Know -  "Wild West" I found it interesting that Oklahoma was called Indian when it was a territory in 1857.

Lesson 5

Lesson 5 -- Gale Virtual Reference Library
I chose the book "The War Against Iraq". I liked the search within a search option. I read the article about the new Iraq and the challenges that need to be overcome while creating a democratic society. This would be a great tool for choosing what articles to read if you have a specific topic.

I searched anorexia. There was a good article in The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, 2006. The article gave a definition, description, causes and symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and prevention. I liked this site for looking up a topic. With the reference materials at your fingertips and the ability to save and print the articles you need. The view other articles linked to this site was helpful. I liked the listen button and the ability to download onto your mp3 player. I am on the road a lot and like to listen to something other than the radio. A great way to multitask!

I just realized I am all caught up and Lesson 6 is not available yet! Yipee! Last week I spent way to much time playing a game I found Absurd Math. It was quite fun. Well on to other things.

Lesson 4

Proquest -
I did my basic search on multiple sclerosis. Wow! There were lots of articles and they were in depth. More information than I knew what to do with. I would need to dumb the information down a little for my to understand it, but it is great that there is so much information out there.

I read through several challenge cohort's blogs. It is interesting that we all go about things differently and all find many things we did not know. Having a goal of learning something new each day is very easily accomplished with all this available information.

When searching for publications I first searched for rancher there were zero publications found. I searched cattleman, sheep, and farmer with the same result. When I searched for agriculture there were six publications. This is not a site I will use very often.

Lesson 3

January 31, 2012
I am now on to last weeks challenge. With any luck I will finish this today and be on track the rest of the weeks.
SIRS Discover - 1. When looking up armadillos I liked the reading level information, the citation at the end of the article, and the graphics and subject icons were helpful to know if you wanted to read the entire article. The site was easy to move around in and would be helpful in a research project or just for fun.
2. The country I chose was Gabon, the information available initially was the subject and graphics. Immediately, I could see that there were three levels of teacher resources to list the facts of the country. I liked the availability of this information for the teachers. When I actually clicked on Gabon there was lots of information about the country from population, economy, geography to history. Very interesting.
   The Maps of the World icon I searched South Dakota. This site could be helpful in finding graphics for a report or power point.
   I went to Road Trip Car Games. This was under activities; exercises, games and sports. It was fun to see the different games available to entertain kids. It is nice to do something besides watch a video!

SIRS Issues Researcher - 1. Under the leading issues I chose obesity, there were 651 sources. The ability to narrow my search was a great option, as that is way to many articles to research. I liked the map showing the increase in adult obesity since 1985. The sources were further categorized by newspapers, magazines, view points, reference, web sites, and graphics/media. There was a basic definition and also a pro/con section discussing whether this was a government issue or personal one.
   The research tools section was helpful from the topic overview to picking a topic and organizing notes. Helpful ideas for new researchers and old.
2. Curriculum Pathfinders I chose math the following is a list of topics to choose from. Anything you want to learn about is available. There was also two interactive activities basket math and absurd math. I am going to post this and go check out the absurd math now, 

Algebra Arithmetic Geometry Statistics Equations and Problems Equations Logic Probabilities History Ancient Numerals Greek Mathematics History of Mathematics Mathematicians Tools Calculators Math Exercises Math Games Math Homework Help

lesson 2

January 31, 2012
Well I am really behind in this challenge. Chasing two teenagers around is keeping me very busy.

Today I logged on the the Learning Express Library. It was easy to get an account. I took the California 8th Grade Math Test. I liked the format and the feedback after the exam. I can see this being helpful to an incoming 8th grader to know what is coming in the following year. Any student who struggled in 8th grade math could use this for a summer study.

I logged onto Creating a Great Resume. I liked the fact that you could save what you had done if you get intrupted and need to stop. Also, at the end you get help on saving your information to a flash drive so you have it for your next job search. The site referred to another course about what you want from your career, this would be helpful for anyone who has not defined what their goals are.

Writing Skills Success in 20 Minutes a Day, 4th Edition was the ebook I chose. It has been a long time since I did any writing and this course looks like it would be a great refresher for me. I am always looking for writing challenges for my children and I am sure I will find them in the Lerning Express Library.

lesson 1b & 1c

I liked the World Book Info Finder. There was a lot more information then on World Book for Kids. This would be great for the kids who want more information after listening to the WBK.

The World Book Online Reference Center has close to the same information as the World Book Advanced either search would allow you multiple resources.

The L'Encyclopedia Decouverte was confusing. I did find the visual dictionary but did not like that all the icons were in a foreign language. Maybe I did not know how to change that to English but I just had to guess at what the words meant. I did like being able to switch to the different languages once you got to the dictionary.

 Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos, was interesting. I can see our Spanish classes using this to improve their pronunciation. Also, as a practice in listening to the language.

Lesson 1a

World Book for Kids was great. I can see my grandkids loving this site. The video was short enough for younger age kids to pay attention. I also liked that with just a click the kids can be read to.

World Book Student gave more information in a smaller font, while still allowing the student to be read to. So many kids have reading issues. Including this feature gives students the same information in a format they can relate to. I liked the work sited information at the bottom of the page.

World Book Advanced has lots of information. On the first screen today's headlines, research tools, and a place to store and work on your research were available. I especially liked the research site. Through the years as my children worked on papers for school we ran into problems because our home computer was not compatible with the schools. My kids ended up retyping lots of information on reports. Having a site to save and work on your research is very helpful.

I am new at this blogging! It seems I got a little wordy. On a personal note, I am recovering my kitchen chairs and this lesson was a welcome relief from a job I am totally unqualified for. Now I guess it is back to the grind or we will have nothing to sit on for supper!

When I researched Afghanistan the breakdown of information on the left side of the page was very helpful. I also liked the Facts in Brief section. The ability to choose the articles you want to review right away gives your research a clear direction from the start. This site was easy to move around in and should be very helpful for anyone needing to research a topic for personal use or for school.

World Book Discover gives you several options for searching for information. I liked the option to transfer the article into different languages. Also the option to have the article read to you is available. If you were not fluent in the English language both of these options would be helpful. I personally liked the video on the great depression. I did not know that the camps that sprung up all over were called "Hoovervilles", named after our president.

January7, 2012

Today I set up my blog. I am crazy grandma dawn because one of my sons-in-law named me that six years ago and it has stuck as a screen name. I am very new at this and so far my blog name is not on the library site so who knows what will happen or if I am really signed up.

I am excited about this challenge. I have been thinking of taking classes online and this should help me. I also still have teenagers at home. Maybe I can wow them with my new found knowledge!