Art Museum Writing Contest

Today we enjoyed a Field Trip to the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia. The tour was a whirlwind because we were supposed to concentrate on only 5 pieces of art and then the kids are supposed to pick one and write a story or poem relating to that one piece of art. We had never visitied that museum before, so it was good to see some of it and we will go back when we can stay longer.

There is a writing contest in conjunction with these 5 pieces of artwork that my kids will be entering. Maybe they will win something...there are small cash prizes. But both of them like writing and they like art, so this is going to be a neat combination of both.

If you are around the Augusta area, the Morris Museum of Art is FREE on Sundays and they usually have fun, FREE activities about every other Sunday (art, ornament making, etc. are coming up). If you are intersted in the writing contest, it is called Combining Voices Writing Contest, see the info at their website...you do NOT have to visit the Museum to enter, but I believe you have to live in the area and be in grades 3-12 (public, private, or homechool). Maybe I'll post their poems or stories when they are done.

Book Adventure

Have you ever heard of Book Adventure? If you are looking for a place that quizzes Reading Comprehension, then Book Aventures would be perfect! It's a book quiz website run by Sylvan Learning Centers. I found this website years ago when I was just starting out homeschooling and all of my daughter's friends (in public school) were taking AR tests and winning points that they got to "spend" at the AR store at school...I wanted my daughter to be able to participate in something like that, too...take quizzes on books and get points to turn in for prizes.

That's when I discovered Book Adventures. You can search for just the right book for your interests and you can take quizzes in the "Quiz-O-Matic" section...they have all kinds of books (grade K-8) and if you get most of the questions right, you win points that you can turn in for prizes.

What kind of prizes? Well, most of the prizes on the website are pretty lame...Under "Prize Library" you'll find stickers, bookmarks, etc....although they do have a free 6 month subscription for Highlights Magazine for 2000 points. Not bad...I also saw a few small paperback books and they do change the prizes regularly.

BUT if you register as a teacher (Teacher's Lounge) and have your students sign up under your class, you can design all kinds of personalized reward certificates for any number of points you decide. These are found under "Prize Library" but all the way at the bottom you will see "Personal Incentive Plan (PIP)" **Note: you possibly could do the same if you register as a parent, but I do not know**

For example, under Bailey's account, she has PIP prizes ranging from an ice cream sundae (200 points) to 2 new Wii/Computer Games (3000 points)...her other prizes are things like:

"1 Free Day Off of School" (500 points)
"1 Free Book" (700 points)
"2 Free Books" (1000 points)
"1 New Computer Game" (1000 points)
"Anything from the Dollar Tree" (200 points)
"A Night at the Movies" (500 points)
"Lunch at McAllister's" (700 points)
"1 New Webkinz" (1500 points)

**I see that she has 5450 points right now! Not sure why she hasn't cashed them in yet...she must be saving up for something...maybe EVERYTHING!

She helped me to come up with things she wanted to work for...you can individualize the prizes to each of your kids, which is neat. If you have more than 1 kid, some of the prizes can be universal for everyone, but then add prizes that are specifically for that kid...something that they really enjoy or collect or whatever. That will keep them encouraged to read more books.

Now, I do have to buy the prizes, but this has encouraged her to read SO MANY books that I want to keep her encouraged and I don't mind spending the money for this reason...although, these prizes were added to Book Adventures about 2 years ago BEFORE we were budgeting our money so carefully, but I will find a way...it's for a good cause...the love of reading!

One last note: I think this site is hard to navigate. Except for the Kid's Zone and Quiz-O-Matic, it's hard to find where to go to add prizes, change prizes, etc...I have to relearn each time I go to this site...kind of frustrating at first...maybe if I used it more? Anyway, go into the Teacher's Lounge and then click on Personal Incentive Plan and it should take you there...Have fun and start reading!