Student Savvy

A Teaching Blog by Suzy Memeo

  • Home
  • Blog
    • STEM
    • Interactive Notebooks
    • Ancient Civilizations
    • Earth Science
    • Substitute Teaching
    • Student Teaching
    • Complete Curriculum
    • Around the World
    • US History
    • Novel Studies
    • Teacher Binders
    • Open House
    • Middle Ages
  • Free Resources
  • Store
    • Complete Curriculum
    • Ancient Civilizations
    • Around the World
    • Bundles
    • Back to School / Open House
    • Earth Science
    • Google Classroom
    • Interactive Notebooks
    • PowerPoints
    • Middle Ages
    • Novel Studies
    • STEM Challenges
    • Teacher Binders
    • United States History
  • About
  • Subscribe

The Rio Olympics in Language Arts

August 17, 2016 by StudentSavvy Leave a Comment

 

The Rio Olympics in Language Arts 

I’m not a sports fan, but I love the Olympics! The summer games provide a great source of material for reading informational texts and apply to so many types of language arts activities. Even better – the Olympics is a topic that many kids are already interested in! Kids who are into sports will have their favorite events, and kids who are not sports fans will get into the human interest stories and current events reports that surround the games themselves   I’ve been taking some time to browse through internet sites about the Olympics in search of bits that would lend themselves to various language arts activities, and one of the places where I found some good ones is at the Team USA site. Here are a few suggestions for informational text readings, along with a suggested language arts activity for each one.

Athletes biographies 
One section that I think would especially appeal to kids is the athletes’ biographies. Students can choose their favorite Olympian from an alphabetical list and read interesting facts about that athlete’s career and life. Then, the students can search for more in depth information by following up in the Learn More section or from the Related Articles linked to each biography.   One good activity for this section would be to search for the athlete’s future goals and plans, and then to write a follow-up reading response. Two possible topics are:

  • Predictions for this athlete’s future
  • My own future goals and plans

Fun Facts 
Another page that kids are sure to enjoy is the fun facts. This is an article with a long bulleted list of interesting facts about the US team. It also has some informational graphics, in case you would like to incorporate a little practice with text features in your lesson. This page would be perfect for a question writing activity in which students write questions to be answered by classmates in some type of trivia game.

Sports Previews 
The sports previews section is all about the US team’s prospects going into the 2016 games. It includes information about how well the US has done in that sport in the past and about individual athletes who were expected to do especially well at Rio.   Students could use this information in activities that involve making comparisons by charting the information about one team or athlete from this section next to information about how that team or athlete actually performed in the 2016 Summer Olympics. An interesting writing activity might be to update one of the articles with information from the 2016 games.

 Learn About a New Sport 
The “Sports” tab on the home page of the Team USA site has tons of information about sports that kids may not have taken an interest in before. The type and format of the information varies according to what sport they choose. It’s a great section for some authentic research about a sport that could be interesting but that the kids have never considered before.   To begin researching, have students start at the team USA site, and then choose the “Sports” tab, and then “Summer.” Next, they should choose a sport that sounds interesting, but that they don’t already know a lot about. From there, the direction of their research will vary, depending on what sport each student chooses. Direct students to search for basic information that they might want to know in order to get started in that sport.   After taking notes on the information they find, students can present their findings in whatever way suits your current lesson focus, such as a written report, a project with graphics, an informational chart, or a poster advertising a local kids’ sports team.   Team USA is just one website that would work well for informational text reading about the 2016 Summer Olympics, and there are lots of others out there. Next week, my plan is to follow up on my own website, Classroom in the Middle, with information about another good source and more language arts activities that could be done with that source in your classroom.

  Classroom in the Middle

Guest post by Sharon from the Classroom in the Middle blog. Sharon has spent over 20 years teaching English, reading, and other subjects to middle school students. She loves having more time now to create and write about resources for teachers – especially materials for teaching reading, vocabulary, and writing to students in grades 4 through 8. Here is the link to her store, also called Classroom in the Middle.

  The Rio Olympics in Language Arts
  • Filed Under: Uncategorized

    Teacher Socks & Resources Giveaway!
    Struggles that Young Teachers Face

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Follow Me

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

    Recent Posts

    • Black History Month Bulletin Board, Activities, and More! 
    • Classroom Organization Tips for 2023
    • Fun History Projects for 5th Graders
    • Early Finisher Activities for Upper Elementary
    • Simple Emergency Sub Plan Ideas for Upper Elementary 

    Open House & Meet the Teacher Templates

    Open House Boho Rainbow Meet the Teacher Template

    Back to School Bulletin Board Decor

    Back to School Bulletin Board Decor

    Beginning of the Year Coloring Pages & Bulletin Board

    Beginning of the Year Coloring Pages & Bulletin Board

    Back to School Bulletin Board Decor

    Back to School Bulletin Board Decor

    Teacher Planners

    Teacher Planners

    ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS

    ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS

    Middle Ages Interactive Notebooks

    Middle Ages Interactive Notebooks

    Ancient Civilizations Timeline & Maps Posters

    Ancient Civilizations Timeline & Maps Posters

    Civilizations STEM

    Civilizations STEM

    EARTH SCIENCE

    EARTH SCIENCE

    Ecosystems Interactive Notebook

    Ecosystems Interactive Notebook

    Health Teaching Resources

    Health Teaching Resources, Interactive Notebooks

    Student Teaching

    Student Teaching

    Trending

    • Black History Month Bulletin Board, Activities, and More! 
    • Classroom Organization Tips for 2023
    • Fun History Projects for 5th Graders
    • Early Finisher Activities for Upper Elementary
    • Simple Emergency Sub Plan Ideas for Upper Elementary 
    • History STEM Activities and Challenges for the Classroom
    • Classroom Newsletter Template Ideas for Elementary Teachers
    • Top FREE Printables for New Teachers
    • History Classroom Posters and Decor Ideas
    • Summer Classroom Decor Ideas 

    Find it fast!

    2018 Activity Amazon outfits Ancient Civilizations Ancient Egypt Ancient Mesopotamia A Wrinkle in Time back to school night Biomes Black History Month bulletin board bulletin board ideas bulletin boards Chinese New Year Curriculum Early Byzantine Empire Earth Science Effective Teaching Strategies elementary End of the Year end of the year student gift ideas Giveaway Health Inca Interactive Notebooks Interactive PowerPoints Medieval Times Mesoamerica Middle Ages Novel Studies Reading Passages Rock Cycle SMART Goals STEM STEM Challenge STEM Challenges Student Teaching student teaching survival guide Teacher Outfits teacher planner Technology The Renaissance United States History Upper Elementary US History

    SEARCH

    Past Posts

    Pinterest

    Facebook

    Shop My Store

    Copyright © 2023 // Design by Laugh Eat Learn // Theme by Hello You Designs