Olympic Interdisciplinary Unit

Right now I am working on an interdisciplinary unit on the Olympics. The Olympic games start next week and offer a variety of teaching ideas.

Begin with a KWL chart of the Olympics.
*Discuss olympic rings, meaning of the colors, make rings from pipe cleaners and glue on construction paper.

Social Studies: History of ancient olympics and modern times. Compare and contrast. Create a timeline. Learn oath and motto of the olympics. Identify countries on a map.

Art: Make torches, rings, invent own country and make a flag.

Science: Kinetic and potential energy, physical science

Math: Graph medal wins, elapsed time, story problems, basic math
*Have a Math Meet. (board races)

Language Art: Clozed Reading strategies about the olympics. Identify parts of speech. Create a Mad Lib from olympics information.

Reading: Read the Magic Treehouse book, Hour of the Olympics.
*Make paper doll showing clothing of ancient Greece.
Make a mini book, putting ancient Greek games in order.
Discuss mythology.
*Vocabulary: Play LINGO (like bingo, but put vocab words in the squares).

As a culminating activity, I would like for us to have our own Olympic games. Group the children into countries, have opening ceremonies, participate in the games, then closing ceremonies.
Best web site for games: Go to Education World, the K-5 Measurement games are great.





*This page is under construction* I will edit as I gather links and specific information