Swagbucks Equals FREE Books At Amazon!

I have a very valuable resource that I want to share with you called Swagbucks. This is an easy way to get free books from Amazon.com. I have been a member of Swagbucks since February and I love it. I have earned over $55.00 in gift cards to use at Amazon.com...woot, that means FREE Books!

Swagbucks is really easy...all you have to do is sign up here and you'll get 30 Swagbucks just for signing up. When you make Swagbucks your default search engine you will earn random swagbucks for doing web searches, which is something I do everyday.

I earn an average of 20-30 swagbucks a day for doing web searches. You can redeem your swagbucks for thousands of prizes, I redeem mine for Amazon Gift Cards. It takes 450 swagbucks to earn a $5.00 Amazon Gift Card. I have been earning 2 of these per month.


Ways To Earn Swag Bucks

• Internet searches- After you sign up for Swag Bucks download the Swag Bucks tool bar and make Swag Bucks your default web browser (instead of google). Now every time you search you have a chance to win Swag Bucks. I usually win around 20-30 Swag Bucks Daily just by searching.  Tip: Search for websites you visit daily rather than entering the actual web address. For example I visit facebook several times a day. Rather than typing facebook.com I type in Facebook in my search bar. It requires an extra click to get to facebook but it ups my chances of earning Swag Bucks.
• Daily Polls- You will win earn 1 Swag Buck just for completing the Daily Poll. (you will find a link to the daily poll in your toolbar under EARN)
• Surveys- I rarely do the surveys however you will earn 1 Swag Buck just by clicking on the link in your tool bar labeled Trusted Surveys under the Earn tab.

There are other ways to earn Swag Bucks but these are the simplest ways to earn.

That is easy money...and I use it to get me and my daughter free books. If you want to try it you can sign up here.

Our Geography Project

Alexis's I Am A Citizen of the World Banner

Alexis's study area we created today.

It is very important to me and my family that Alexis learn about cultural diversity. In rural Indiana we don't get many opportunities to experience different cultures so we have to be creative. We are going to travel the globe without actually leaving Indiana.

How do you experience culture without traveling? That is the tricky part...one thing we have done is join Postcrossing, a postcard exchange. I wrote a blog post about this a few days ago. The idea is that we will receive postcards from all around the world as well as send postcards all around the world.

This week we started a unit study on the continents. We bought a world map and created a comfortable study area. We talked about which continent we live on and which continent is the largest. 

Alexis is sending her first postcard to Lithuania, so we looked at Lithuania on the world map. We also looked at photographs on the internet of Lithuania and the people.

Monthly we will be doing more in depth studies of specific countries and cultures. In September we will be studying, in depth, about Native Americans. This will tie in with our current history lessons and we have two Native American events happening within an hour from us. 

For each culture we study we will also make recipes that are popular for that culture. There is a Native American Powwow in September and we will have the opportunity to eat fry bread and Native American Tacos. 

This project is going to demand a lot of organization. But we are determined to experience cultures outside of our rural area. We want Alexis to learn that no matter where you live or what color your skin is, we are all citizens of this world. We all deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and it is ok to be different.

Roly Poly Habitat

We have been studying habitats and we made this habitat for Roly Poly Bugs otherwise known as Pill Bugs. We got the idea from the Scott Foresman  First Grade Science Unit. All I'm gonna say is...our Roly Poly Bugs did not survive.

What My Child Is Reading - August 6

Amelia and Eleanor Go For A Ride- Based on a true story. Two of America's most famous women who were also good friends, stole away from a White House dinner for a night time flight. This was a great book. I loved the black and white illustrations. 

I Spy Fun House: A Book of Picture Riddles

Froggy's First Kiss- Froggy has his first crush on a cute little frog named Frogilina. Every time he looks at her his insides feel all squishy. Throughout the book he has many small mishaps where he bonks his head because he is distracted by his feelings for Frogilina. When Frogilina tries to kiss Froggy, a scared Froggy decides to give the special Valentine he made to his mommy instead of Frogilina. 

I found this book at my local Goodwill store. This is a good and inexpensive place to shop for used books. We usually get them for 50 cents each.

Finding Pen Pals To Help Kids Learn Geography

Alexis's mamaw has this brilliant idea about how we could teach Alexis about other cultures.

So here is mamaw's idea:

Each month we will pick a different country and learn about their traditions and customs. We will learn each chosen country's traditions by reading books we find at the library.  During that month, we will devote one day to live according to the customs and traditions of that culture. (Ex. Preparing a meal centered around the traditional cuisine)

I just love this idea and Alexis is very excited about it. I thought if Alexis had a pen pal it would really add to the whole experience. Alexis says she wants a pen pal from London. I will have to work on that...but for now I signed us up for Postcrossing, a postcard exchange. 

We hope to get lots of postcards and we are open to receiving letters, too. Alexis will be posting some of her experiences at her new blog http://alexisworldtraveler.blogspot.com/ 

First Grade Writing Prompts

In kindergarten, Alexis's teacher encouraged her to write in a daily journal. I am saving them all so Alexis can see them when she is older. It is so amazing to read through the journals and to see the progress from the beginning of the year to the end. Spelling and punctuation improved drastically.

I will admit that I slacked this summer. I didn't encourage Alexis to write in her summer journal as much as I should have and I'm feeling guilty.

Today I was reading Rowdy In First Grade and I found this link for writing prompts, Lakeshore Learning. They have an amazing writing prompts calendar. I am ecstatic, because this is just what I needed to help motivate Alexis to write more.

US History: American Indians

I wanted to work history into our after school lessons so I have been researching several history curriculum.  History Odyssey looks very appealing to me but for now I am going to stick to the free stuff.  The only free lesson plans I have found is Guest Hollow. Although I do prefer a secular curriculum, Guest Hollow does have some good book suggestion. 

For history I decided to start with the American Indians and work through American history chronologically. We are reading The Birchbark House per the suggestion of Guest Hollow. The Birchbark House is about an Ojibwe family told from the viewpoint of 7 year old Omakayas. The story takes place on an island in Lake Superior. When the white men come and want the tribe to move west, Omakayas realizes life may never be the same.

We plan to spend over a month studying American Indians, because there is so much to learn on that one topic alone. Also locally there will be an Indian Powwow at Shakamak State Park in Jasonville, Indiana on September 17-18, 2011. We will end our study by attending the powwow and experiencing the American Indian culture first hand.