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January 23rd-March 2nd 2006

Final Standings

About the Event

Geist Elementary is promoting literacy and the Winter Olympics through its first Reading Olympics. The theme is:

Teachers are begging kids to put books down!  Its all they want to do!  Students are checking books out every day from all areas of the library, all for     !

Students in Kindergarten through 4^th grade participate by reading for different “Events” and they earn points for their “team” (i.e. class). Events range from reading a book longer than you ever have before (Alpine Skiing, 20 points) to reading aloud for 20 minutes for a week (Figure Skating 30 points).  Each day the standings board is updated in the cafeteria as well as online.  The whole event will end with a closing ceremony on March 2^nd (Read Across America Day), where the Gold Medal, Silver Medal, and Bronze Medal teams will be honored, as well as all the Olympic Readers (students who completed all the events).

Search the Library Catalog for books.

Promote reading everyday and your student will most likely qualify for an event!

Try competing along with your student.  See how many events you would complete.

Events

Alpine Skiing- Read a book with more pages than any other book you  have read before. Points: 10

Biathlon: Read 2 books by the same author.  Points: 20

Cross Country Skiing- Read a story, folktale, fairytale, or informative book about another country. Points: 10

Bobsled: - Read a Picture book, a Non-fiction book, and a Fiction book. Points: 30

Curling- Read 300 pages of anything. Points 30  (1^st grade changed to 100 pages/ Kind. change to 60 pages)

Figure Skating-  Read a book aloud to someone for 20 min./day for one week.  Points: 30

Free Style Skiing-  Read 5 books of your choice.  Points: 50

Ice Hockey-  Read a book recommended by someone else (i.e. friend, teacher, relative).  Points: 10

Luge-  Read one Honor Book (Caldecott, Newberry, or Young Hoosier). Points: 10

Skeleton-Read a book with a call number from the 600’s. Points: 5

Ski Jumping-  Read a mystery book  Points: 5

Snowboarding-Read a book with a call number from the 700’s.  Points: 5

Speed Skating- Read one book in one week’s time.  Points: 20

Nordic Combined:  Read a biography.  Points: 5

Nordic Combined:  Read a book with a call number from the 900s. Points: 5

Nordic Combined:  Read a book with a call number from the 800s. Points: 5

Nordic Combined:  Read a book with a call number from the 500s. Points: 5

Nordic Combined:  Read a book with a call number from the 400s. Points: 5

Nordic Combined:  Read a book with a call number from the 300s. Points: 5

Nordic Combined:  Read a book with a call number from the 200s. Points: 5

Nordic Combined: Read a book with a call number from the 100s. Points: 5

Nordic Combined:  Read a magazine.  Points: 5

Exhibition Events (These were added to challenge the Olympic Readers)

Read 3 books by the same author.  30 points

Read 3 non-fiction books on a single topic of your choice. 30 points

Check out a wordless picture book and write the words to go with the story.  30 points

Read a book and create a promotional poster for the book using the below criteria.  30 points

Fiction: Title, Author, Characters, Problem, a question that can only be answered by reading the book, and a picture.  Must be completed in color.

 

Non-fiction:  Title, Author, Topic/subject material, a picture, and 3 interesting facts the book taught you.  Must be completed in color.

Online Resources: (From Kathy Schrock's Blog)

Search the Library Catalog for books.

Lesson Plans:

• Olympic Curriculum Guide
  ...super lesson plans, across the curriculum, to easily infuse Olympic study into the curriculum

• An Educator’s Guide to the Olympics
  ...created for the 2002 Winter Games, there are all types of great lessons, ideas, and activities on this page

• Olympic Winter Sports Lessons
  ...although some of the lesson ideas are specific to Utah, the information can easily be adapted for use with the Torino Olympics celebration

• Olympic Classroom Lesson Plans
  ...lessons on integrating the Olympics across the curriculum, foreign currency, and many more are found in this collection

• Catch Winter Olympics Fever
  ...a simple online collaborative project spearheaded by a first grade class

Worksheets

• Olympic Unscramble

• Olympics Vocabulary List

• Olympics Math Problems (primary grades)

• Winter Olympics-Themed Math Pages

• Alphabetical Order: The Summer Olympics

• Word Search: Winter Olympics

2006 Olympic Sites:

• The Official Site of the U.S. Olympic Team

• Time for Kids Article/ Getting Ready

• Time For Kids/ Virtual Tour of Itay

• Torino 2006

• The Olympic Flame Route

• The International Olympic Committee Website

• Kid's Village: Torino 2006

• Factmonster Winter Olympics

History

• History of the Olympics
  ...a beautifully-done site covering the history of the Olympics through the 2000 Summer Games

• International Olympic Committee: History of the Olympics ...this official site provides information, facts, and figures from the modern games as well as information about the scheduled future games

• Olympics Timeline from Infoplease
  ...an overview of both the ancient and modern games (lots of ads here which are distracting)

• Factmonster: Winter Olympics Through the Years
  ...a well-done timeline of Winter Games information

FAQs

What do I do with the score cards and the Tally Sheet?

Score Cards are for the kids to keep track and turn in to you (Teacher) to tally on the Tally Sheet.  YOU DON’T NEED TO SEND ME THE SLIPS.

When do I send you the points update?

People have been sending them daily.  If you would like to just total the points once a week you can.  I just need to know what your total points are for the standings.

Why are we doing this?

Because it is fun!!!! It gets the kids excited about reading and the Olympics!

Do read alouds count?

YES

Can we do this at school or is it only an at home activity?

Whatever you make it!!!  Just READ!

When is this over?

March 2^nd will be the closing ceremonies, so the last tally should be Feb. 27^th

Can they use books they have read before?

NOPE.

What if they have read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (870 pgs.), how can they read a longer book (Alpine Skiing event)?

I would say if they can find something with 0ver 400 pages that would be ok to substitute ---there aren’t a lot of books longer than the HP book!

 
Can teachers earn points for the class total?

No, but I encourage you to try to do the events too!

Can a student do an event more than once and earn the points multiple times?

No

This site maintained by Renee Isom, Media Specialist, Geist Elementary

Questions and comments welcome at risom@hse.k12.in.us

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