The Olympics

One of my goals this year is to incorporate more in depth study into current events. Well, one of the most exciting things coming up this month is the Summer Olympics in London. I figured since we are a year-round school, it would be great to expose my kids to this fun and historical event. Plus, it would provide numerous learning opportunities. I started by introducing a project for my students to work on with a partner. Each group could choose whether they wanted to research Olympic events, Olympic history, or London. Many of the groups chose London, but a few chose the others. So far, they have done some internet research into their topic of choice, taken notes, and crafted a paragraph summarizing their findings. They are currently in the stage of editing and revising their paragraphs. They will then type their summaries and place onto a photo using YouAreYourWords.com, which is a really cool site I found out about on Pinterest. I will definitely upload pictures when it's complete. Ok, so in addition to their Internet research and Web 2.0 published summaries, they will add some sort of visual or kinesthetic application of their findings into to present along with an oral reading of their work. To supplement this project with some daily culturally-relevant literature and comprehension activities, I have been doing different Teacher Read Alouds with class discussions and writing responses to literature. So far, we have read The Magic Tree House: Hour of the Olympics by Mary Pope Osbourne, Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull, and How to Train with a T-Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals by Michael Phelps. We will be reading the Fact Tracker that goes with the Magic Tree House book as well as some other nonfiction selections about Modern Olympics history. Also, next week, we will be doing daily Time For Kids readings of news articles online in order to follow what is happening in London. My kids are loving this unit, and I really feel they are becoming better readers, writers, and researchers in the process. Oh yeah, and to specifically hit on some of the GATE icons and universal concepts, we have had some great discussions and writing about the structure of ancient Olympic events compared to the modern Olympics, as well as on the ethics and fairness of past rules involving the participation, or lack thereof, of women in the Olympics. We are all having fun! Stay tuned for pictures of how it all turns out.