South Dakota State Library Lesson 5

I browsed the NetLibrary, first with the keyword cooking. Many children enjoy looking and learning about cooking and I wanted to see what they had to offer. All the books I saw were aimed at adults or high school aged children. There were quite a selection to choice from and it may be interesting to share some ethic food or reasons about their food from the books on NetLibrary.

I looked up U.S. constitution and found a few titles I felt would be easier to read and are informative to older students. The titles are as follows: "Representing Popular Sovereignty: the Constitution in American Political Culture", "The Bill of Rights: A Bicentennial Assessment", "The Illustrated Dictionary of Constitutional Concepts". The last title help define terms and concepts and is written in alphabetical format. Looking over the text of the three titles; the vocabulary is geared toward higher grades and may need to be looked up to understand the concept.

I chose to search for Nebraska history. I found some interesting titles and information that could work in reports. One book that was written in simple-to-the-point words was called "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Old West" In this book students can learn about cowtowns and what being a cowboy was all about. It put things in a humorous light and made for easy reading. Another book I came across was "America View Thier Dust Bowl Experience" This book had insight to what was happening at that time and what the emotions were. A book about Lewis and Clark caught my eye. The 3rd grade teachers have a unit on Lewis and Clark. Although the book is advanced, I feel some of the maps could be used to show the trail taken. Also, some facts about what type of animals they saw and fish they caught in the Midwest is a great connection for kids. The last book I read is called "The Changing Image of the City: Planning Downtown Omaha 1945-1973." This was an interesting read because I've been to Omaha and it gave me perspective to then and now. How population and business change over the years is interesting to say the least. All good books to retrieve data from.

NetLibrary has some good resources. The students I work with would not be able to use them due to the advance writing, but teachers can pull some data and facts out to share with students. I will have to spend some more time searching for topics of interest. :)