Let the Games Begin
Searching for Olympics lesson plans and activities? Need a printable map of Canada? Bring the 2010 Winter Olympics to your classroom with these fun and informative lessons and activities for your students.
Which Olmpic athletes will make the best use of Science? From the physics of a snowboarder's flips, the engineering of a luger's sled, or the biochemical makeup of a speed skater's pre-race meal — science plays a big part in the Olympic Games. Show your students how hard work and determination in the science lab help their favorite athletes go for the gold!
Can your students locate Canada on a map? Where in Canada is Vancouver? This printable map from National Geographic is a must have for Olympics projects.
This Xpeditions lesson introduces students to the ancient and modern Olympic Games. Students discuss the concept of competition, see pictures of people participating in Olympic sports, and compare and contrast ancient and modern sports. They conclude by drawing pictures of themselves participating in both the ancient and the modern games.
Highlighting artifacts from the Smithsonian's sports collection, this online
exhibition from the National Museum of American History will introduce students
to the pioneering men and women who dominated their sports; championed their
country, race, or sex; and helped others to achieve.
Use ReadWriteThink's BioCube to have your students write a biography of their favorite Olypmic athlete. BioCube is one of the most popular resources on Thinkfinity.
Explore the grace and beauty of motion in a variety of sports in this
ReadWriteThink lesson. Examining examples from their own experiences and from
popular media, students learn about the aesthetic elements of athletics. They
then write in reflective journals, view and interpret media, conduct Internet
research, take digital photographs and create original poems.
Teach students about costs and revenues related to the Olympics, using the '98 Winter Games in Nagano for sample data. This lesson from EconEdLink wraps up with students preparing for a city council meeting in which they state how hosting the Olympics could be beneficial even if total revenues do not cover the monetary costs.
Assuming the persona of an Olympic athlete, students interview one another in this lesson from ARTSEDGE lesson.
Help students make connections between sports and the arts with this collection from ARTSEDGE. Investigate bike skills through drama, observe Olympic athletes through the visual arts, analyze decades of Olympic emblems and posters, analyzing principles of design and learn about an astonishing connection between rock climbing and ballet.
Students can read or listen to the exciting story of Jim Thorpe, an American Indian who won gold medals in the 1912 Olympics. They can find out why his medals were taken away and why they were given back in 1982. Sportswriters named Jim Thorpe one of the top three athletes of the 20th century. Check out the instructor resources and student resources.
Learn about the achievements of Gertrude Ederle, the Olympic swimmer who became
the first woman to swim the 21 miles of the English Channel in 1926. This
ReadWriteThink resource includes a classroom activity about athletes, related
lesson plans, texts and other Web resources.
Develop "live interviews" with ancient athletes that reflect an understanding of
the beliefs that underlay the ancient Olympic Games with this lesson from
EDSITEment. Students also learn about the city of Olympia and its Games, read
stories about ancient athletes, and analyze the qualities to which praise or
blame was attached among ancient Olympic athletes.
Learn the basics of the Greek alphabet, transliterate an Olympic Ode by the
ancient poet Pindar, and find out the significance of the inscription on the
Athens 2004 Olympic medal with this lesson from EDSITEment.
Find comprehensive humanities information related the Olympics with this
EDSITEment feature.