National Geographic Kids, one of my favorite educational websites, is holding an essay contest. The contest requires students to write a 300 word essay about what they have discovered as a “hands-on” explorer of their world. The contest also requires an original photograph depicting the theme of the essay. The winner of the contest will join the National Geographic Kids expedition to Peru. You can read all of the contest rules and requirements here.

National Geographic Kids is also holding a contest for teachers through which they can also win a trip to Peru. In order to enter the contest teachers must conduct a lesson plan about Peru and write a 500 word essay about the best practices for teaching about Peru. Read all of the requirements for the teacher contest here.

Thanks to Karen at Teaching and Learning Spanish for the tip about this contest.

Applications for Education
Having your students write essays for this contest could be a good way to get students to explore the habit around them. Take your students for a walk outside around your school to let students make observations about their environment. Then bring them inside to work on writing a essay about their observations.