Olympic Games
Literature Focus Unit
Anne Cleary
EDU 315
Literature Selection
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Sports Heroes and Legends Jim Thorpe by Carrie Golus
TIME for Kids Biographies: Jesse Owens Running into History by the Editors of TIME for Kids with Elaine
Israel
National Geographic Swifter, Higher, Stronger A Photographic History of The Summer Olympics by Sue
Macy
The Complete Book of The Olympics 2008 Edition by David Wallechinsky and Jamie Loucky
Ancient Olympic Games by Haydn Middleton
Great Olympic Moments by Haydn Middleton
Modern Olympic Games by Haydn Middleton
Eyewitness Olympics by Chris Oxlade and David Ballheimer
Olympic Math by Greg Roza
Olympic Sports: Basketball, Soccer, and Other Ball Games by Jason Page
Olympic Sports: Swimming, Diving, and Other Water Sports by Jason Page
Olympic Sports: Sprints, Hurdles, and Other Track Sports by Jason Page
Olympic Sports: Rowing, Sailing, and Other Sports on Water by Jason Page
Olympic Sports: Martial Arts, Boxing, and Other Combat Sports by Jason Page
Olympic Sports: Gymnastic Events by Jason Page
Olympic Sports: Decathlon, High Jump, and Other Field Events
Olympic Sports: Cycling, Shooting, and Showjumping
Olympic Time Capsule: Photo Essays by Michelle McCullon and Gail March Cohen Ph.D.
Theme Study
• Students will take part in a thematic unit on
the Olympic Games. This unit will integrate
reading and writing with social studies,
science, mathematics, art, music, and physical
education.
• Students will develop an understanding of the
Olympics, the different games of the different
seasons, and the history from the beginning to
modern day games.
Language Arts: Reading Activities
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Students will read Photo Essays about Olympic Time Capsules as a small group to choose
facts to share with the class.
Each student will have Silent Reading time to read from the collection of literature in the
classroom.
Students will take turns reading about the history of the Torch for the project of creating the
bulletin board.
Students will read and do research on their athlete they choose to do their Athlete Report on
as well as read and do research on their country for their small group presentation for the
Opening Ceremony Project
Small group lesson on Event Analogy Challenge where they work together and fill in words
that fit the spaces in a worksheet relating to many Olympic sports. For example:
– A ball is to field hockey as a _ _ _ _ is to ice hockey.
A handout is passed out in a packet about the history of famous Olympians. After the teacher
has done the lesson on books about 2 famous athletes the class will take turns reading about
the history of others to prepare for the Athlete Reports and choosing their athlete.
Students will read independently a hand out on Olympians Don’t Quit and do a
corresponding crossword puzzle.
Language Arts: Writing Activities
• Daily writing workshops: Every day as a writing assignment the students
will individually answer questions in a worksheet short answer or journal
format.
– Day 1: What is a competitor? A worksheet on competition where students
explain personal experiences, their successes and how competition affects
them.
– Day 2: Sports in Poetry. Students will choose from poetry styles and their
favorite sport and write a poem about that sport.
– Day 3: Win or Lose. A worksheet where students journal to answer questions
about their feelings before an event, what happened, how you feel afterwards
and more.
– Day 4: Don’t Forget to Write. This is a writing activity where students will
choose an athlete and pretend they are that athlete and write a letter home
to their family. Tell their family about the host city and the other athletes and
how the competition is going.
– Day 5: Athlete Report. Have a list of athletes for students to pick from and
they can research and then write a report on their athlete.
Language Arts: Speaking Activities
• Individual students will present their writing assignment
they did on their Athlete Report that they researched and
wrote about.
• Small groups choose one of the Photo Essays on Olympic
Time Capsules to present to the class. They will each pick a
fact about their topic off the poster to share with the class.
• Students will present their country in the Opening
Ceremony Simulation and tell the class about customs,
clothing, food, and traditions of their country.
• Students will participate in large group discussions during
multiple lessons including math lessons, science lessons,
music lessons, and visual representing games and puzzles.
• Students will speak and cooperate in small group projects
Language Arts: Listening Activities
• Students will listen attentively when their peers present their
Athlete Reports to the class.
• As a group Students will listen to the teacher read from books
Sports Heroes and Legends Jim Thorpe and TIME for kids
Biographies Jesse Owens Running into History as the teacher shares
facts on these two athletes and give examples for their writing
assignment on Athlete Reports.
• Students will listen to the teacher and other students during large
group discussions in variety of lessons throughout the week.
• Students will listen to one another and cooperate in small group
activities and projects.
• Listening while other student read during large group reading time
and taking turns.
Language Arts: Viewing Activities
• View words on Word Wall
• Students will watch video clips off of The Olympic Series DVD for Social
Studies:
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The Olympic Spirit
National Pride
Rivalry
The Medal Ceremony
• Viewing the students Social Studies Presentations on their country of
choice during Opening Ceremony Simulation.
• Viewing the Photo Essays posted in the classroom that small groups
present to the class.
• Students will view each other’s pie charts during a math lesson.
• Students will view other students art work displayed from the Medals
lesson and the Recycling lesson.
• Students will view websites and watch short videos on different body
parts in the exercise affects of the body lesson in science.
Language Arts: Visually Representing Activities
• A word wall will be made of Greek words used as Olympic terms and
prefixes.
• Students will assemble a puzzle that consists of events and descriptions
that match together. As small groups they will put together the puzzle and
glue it down onto paper. They will do one puzzle for Summer Events one
day and Winter Events another day.
• As a whole the class will play jeopardy style visual game set up using the
official licensed board game called the Olympic Challenge.
• They will work on an integrated lesson involving Reading, Social Studies,
and Art as they create the classrooms bulletin board. They will all get a
pamphlet on The Olympic Torch that they will take turns reading out loud.
Once they understand the history of the torch they will create the torch
for the bulletin board and fill it with words that represent the spirit of
Olympic Games. Also post a map of the world and trace the route the
torch has made from one Olympics to the next.
Science Activities
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“No Drugs Allowed.” Olympic Athletes have been tested for drugs since the 1968 Olympic
Games. Discuss the effects of drugs on the muscle and read some facts to the whole class
and have the small groups of students come up with answers to discussion questions such as
“What are the good and bad immediate effects of steroids on the body?” and “What are long
lasting effects of steroids good and bad?” along with other questions. Then get back to the
large group and discuss them.
Does altitude affect endurance sports over 800 meters or explosive sports like sprints? Have
the students do research on the effects of altitude on the lungs of the human body and come
up with a hypothesis to the question and write a short reflection on why.
Physical Educations effect on the muscles. Discuss what body parts do they think are effected
by exercise. Then as a class visit http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/htbw_main_page.html and
watch short videos on how these body parts work.
Discuss Recycling effects and how it helps the world. The Olympics has done great things for
uniting the world. There are many people working to make the world a better place and
going green is one of those things many people can take part in. Go over types of materials to
bring in to be recycled and explain they will be used in an art project later in the week.
Mathematic Activities
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The Stade: Measured by Hercules, the son of Zeus, the stade is the distance he could walk while
holding his breath. This became the length of the running track for the Ancient Olympic stadium
(185 meters). How many breaths would Hercules take to walk the length of the Olympic Stadium in
Atlanta which is 1250 feet? Discuss the conversion of meters to feet. Have students solve more
distances given in feet to meters to see how many breaths Hercules would take going other
distances.
Word problems are done using vocabulary terms such as Olympiad, which is a unit of time Greeks
used that signifies four years. Such as Olympic Games were recorded from 776 B.C. until A.D. 392
which is 1,168 years. How many Olympiads are there in 1,168 years?
Introduce work with percentages in relation to spectator seating in the Panathenian. It sat about
50,000 people in its original state as an ancient Greek Olympic Stadium in Athens. When it was
restored in can seat about 40% more people. How many spectators can watch events there today?
Show more work with percentages by working with pie graphs. There were 43 events in the 1896
Olympics and Greek athletes won 10 events. Figure out the percentage for them and the other
countries and then as a class use those percentages to construct a pie chart.
Show more work with percentages by working with pie graphs. There were 43 events in the 1896
Olympics and Greek athletes won 10 events. Figure out the percentage for them and the other
countries and then as a class use those percentages to construct a pie chart.
Work with math vocabulary words in relation to numbers. The word “–athlon” in Greek means
contest. Pairing that with prefixes “bi-“ “tri-“ “penta-“ hepta-“ and “deca-“ can decipher the
number events in the contest. Discuss these words and then have students do their worksheet
where they match similar words to their events.
Social Studies Activities
• Watching short movies daily on Olympic Culture from The Olympic Series
DVD:
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The Olympic Spirit
National Pride
Rivalry
The Medal Ceremony
• After each video will orally discuss historical questions: When do they
think the Olympics started and where? Does anyone know? Why did it
start? What are some of the biggest changes from then until now?
• Students will participate in a Social Studies Simulation Project. They will be
split up into small groups and as a group they choose a country and
prepare a demonstration for the rest of the class. This can include
clothing, flags, traditional dancing and music from the countries culture
and/or traditional food and art. They present at the end of the week for
the Opening Ceremony Simulation where they will take turns entering the
classroom as if it the Olympic Stadium.
Music and Art Activities
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Learn about music genres. Discuss as a group and write on the board, have them
name genres. Once a list is made talk about what makes these genres different.
Use leading questions and have large group discussion, what makes country sound
different? Do certain songs have emotions and does the sounds you hear ever
describe the title well? Then listen to songs from “Summon the Heroes Boston Pop
Orchestra” by John Williams. Take the song called Javelin, listen to it and discuss
whether it describes the sport with its sound. Do this with a variety of songs from
the CD.
Show metals from past Olympics. Prints off coloring sheets from
http://abcteach.com/directory/theme_units/sports/olympics/ and have students
look at examine the images and letters on the metals while they color them if they
want. Then pass out tooling foil to each student in bronze or silver, teach them
how to kneed the foil with a popsicle stick to create a 3D metal of their own. Once
they are finished you can cut them out and string them and hang them in the
rooms.
Start a recycling project. Plan an art project for the end of the week once things
are collected and split the class into small groups. Each small group chooses an
Olympic symbol such as the torch or the logo and creates an art piece with the
recycled material. Show them ideas of materials they can bring in and example
projects on the website http://www.allfreecrafts.com/recycling-crafts/index.shtml
.
Physical Education Activities
• Students will participate daily in the classroom’s very own
Olympic Games. They will be split into 3 teams that are
designated countries. Each day will consist of several
individual sports or one team sport. For the individual sport
the teams will designate multiple students for certain
events so every student competes in one event while the
others support them. All students will participate in team
sports
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Monday: Track individual events
Tuesday: Volleyball team events
Wednesday: Field individual events
Thursday: Basketball team events
Friday: Gymnastic individual events
Technology
• Summon the Heroes CD by John Williams of
Boston Pops Orchestra
• The Olympic Series DVD on the Golden Moments
1920-2002
• http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/htbw_main_page
.html
• http://abcteach.com/directory/theme_units/spor
ts/olympics/
• http://www.allfreecrafts.com/recyclingcrafts/index.shtml
Language Arts Strategies
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Activating background knowledge: students will think about what they already
know about the Olympic Games past and present.
Brainstorming: students will think of many ideas related to the Olympic Games and
events and countries along with personal experiences through writing activities.
Connecting: Students will relate topics to the world around them by journaling
about personal events and putting themselves in the shoes of Olympians.
Predicting and Monitoring: Students will monitor the effects of exercise on the
body as well as their scores within their own Olympics in PE.
Playing with Language: Students will use language creatively through stories,
letters, journaling, games, and projects.
Revising: Students will make changes to written activities.
Visualizing: Students will draw pictures in their minds when discussing events,
cultures, and history of the Olympics as well as the human body and the physical
appearance of the track and field used for science and math lessons.
Language Arts Skills
• Print: Students will recognize words on the Olympic Greek
Word Wall.
• Comprehension: Students will recognize literary genres of
fiction, non-fiction, and poetry involving athletes and their
history versus Greek mythology that is the backbone of the
Olympic Games. They will also compare and contrast
Summer and Winter Olympics in puzzles of events.
• Language: Students will apply various skills in their writing
activities: stories, letters, poems, and journaling.
• Reference: Students will make compare and contrasts with
events, pie charts, and read about historical events.
Grouping Patterns
• Large Group: Large Group Discussions throughout curriculum,
Speaking Activities, Science Discussion on No Drugs Allowed,
Science Technology Experience on Body Parts, Discussing Math
Activities after they do individual work, Music Activity on genres,
Social Study Videos, Bulletin Board Project, Visually Representing
Jeopardy game, Reading on Famous Athletes
• Small Group: Art project on recycled art and Olympic symbols,
Country project for Opening Ceremony Simulation, Visual
Representing Puzzles, Photo Essay Presentations, PE Olympic Team
Activities, Reading Analogy Challenge worksheet
• Individual: Writing Activities, Science Altitude Reflection, Math
Activities, Art project on Olympic metals, Silent Reading, Math
problems before discussion, Athlete Reports, PE Olympic Individual
Activities, Reading Olympians Don’t Quit and doing the crossword
puzzle
Assessments
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Writing daily assignments
Participation in large group discussions
Math assignments and pie graphs drawn
Athlete Report: the writing part as well as the presentation
graded on a rubric
Analogy Challenge worksheet and crossword puzzle
Opening Ceremony Simulation country presentations,
groups graded with rubric as well as individuals
Science participation and reflection on altitude
Physical Education Participation and cooperation
Participation in art, music, and visually representation
projects and games
Week Schedule
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Daily writing
Daily writing
Daily writing
Daily writing
Daily writing
2 groups share facts from
photo essay
2 groups share facts from
photo essay
2 groups share facts from
photo essay
Listening about two
famous athletes to
introduce the Athlete
Report Assignment
Athlete Report
Presentation
Visually Representation
Bulletin Board Making
Part one
Visually Representation
Bulletin Board Making
Part two
Reading lesson of
Analogy Challenge
Worksheet
Group Reading about
famous Olympians
Reading lesson on
“Olympians don’t quit”
and crossword puzzle
Math: The Stade Lesson
Math: word problems
lesson
Math: percentages lesson
Math: Pie graph lesson
Math: vocab lesson
Silent Reading
Silent Reading
Silent Reading
Silent Reading
Silent Reading
LUNCH
LUNCH
LUNCH
LUNCH
LUNCH
Social Studies: Video on
The Olympic Spirit
Social Studies: Video on
National Pride
Social Studies: Video on
Rivalry
Social Studies: Video on
The Medal Ceremony
Social Studies: Opening
Ceremony Simulation
Science: “No Drugs
Allowed” lesson
Science: Recycling
Discussion
Science: Altitude lesson
Recycling art project
Science: Exercise affects
on body lesson
PE: track individual events
PE: volleyball team event
PE: field individual events
PE: basketball team event
PE: gymnastics individual
events
Music genres lesson
Visual Representation
Summer events jigsaw
puzzle
Art lesson on Olympic
Medals
Visual Representation
Winter events jigsaw
puzzle
Visual Representation
Game: The Olympic
Challenge