Activity One – Muscle groups
Year 1 to Year 6
Ask the children to tell you what it is in our body that helps us to move and to complete tasks. Some will say bones and joints; others will correctly identify the muscles. If you have studied bones and muscles before then the children will be able to describe how muscles work to control movement. If you have a skeleton in school, show the children what happens when the movement of the bones isn’t controlled by muscles – the skeleton collapses.
Now set up a small range of ‘Olympic events’ such as running, jumping, throwing and lifting. Ask the children to ‘take part’ by slow motioning each event, thinking carefully about which muscles they use.
Complete a chart or Carroll or Venn diagram to show which muscle sets are used for each event. Do any of the muscle sets appear in more than one set? Ask the children to say whether a sprinter would do well in weightlifting and say why or would a high jumper succeed in the hammer throwing event?
Activity Two – Chow for ChampionsYear 3 to Year 6
Sportspersons have a strict diet to help them win.
Take a look together at the different food groups, how they help us to stay healthy and discuss how they might help an athlete. You’ll need to go a little more into the detail of how they help for the activity in which the children need to devise a diet for the day before and the day of the athlete’s event. They’ll need to find out how quickly the body can get energy from different types of carbohydrates and sugars or how long it takes for muscles to develop from protein intake.
You may be able to check your ideas against the actual diets of the athletes by following their twitter feeds or following their training blogs.
As a fun assessment activity following the lesson, give the children the diets of fictional athletes and ask the children to order them in events depending on their diets. For example:
Fast Freddie eats pasta with salmon for dinner the night before his race then in the morning has a bowl of porridge made with skimmed milk and honey. Just before he runs, he snacks on a banana.
Rapid Rajiv eats McDonalds with a large milkshake the night before and has cocoa pops with coffee in the morning before the race and just before he runs, tucks into a Mars bar.
Swift Sandhu has steak and chips, followed by ice cream the night before and has two glasses of wine. In the morning he grabs a piece of toast and before the race has a packet of crisps.
Blistering Bernie has chicken curry with lots of rice the night before. In the morning he has a bran cereal with semi-skimmed milk followed by a fruit juice. Just before the race he downs a bottle of energy drink.
Speedy Sam has fish and chips in the evening then a cooked breakfast in the morning. Just before running he has a bottle of water.
Activity Three – Animal Olympics
Reception to Year 6
We all know animals that can run, jump, swim and carry but in the spirit of the Olympics, if they were all competing fairly in an event, who would win?
For this activity, the children will need to collect data or use information that you provide to decide who, from the animal kingdom, would be crowned champion. Before setting out to do the research, ask the children to predict the medal winners and give reasons for their choices. Some are easier than others but the results are often fascinating:
Try these events…
100m sprint
The contestants:
In lane one - the ostrich
In lane two – the cheetah
In lane three – the polar bear
In lane four – the horse
Weightlifting (or carrying)
Representing Africa – the gorilla
Representing India – the elephant
Representing Great Britain – the ant
Representing Europe – the donkey
100m Freestyle
Lane one – barracuda
Lane two – swordfish
Lane three – shark
Lane four – Killer whale
High Jump
For Australia – the kangaroo
For Great Britain – the hare
For Africa – the cricket
For Europe – the flea
You’ll have to make allowances for size but many of the statistics say for example – ‘can lift twenty times its own weight’ or can jump ten times its height.
You can extend the activity further by asking the pupils to predict where humans would come in the events by referring to the Guinness Book of World Records
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Showing posts with label The Olympics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Olympics. Show all posts
Monday, 7 May 2012
Friday, 4 May 2012
Primary - using The Olympics in Art
Activity One – Photo Montage
Year 1 to Year 6
The Olympics will be covered in great detail by the world’s media and whilst millions of words will be written about the games we’re going to focus on the adage that says ‘a picture tells a thousand words’.
From the pictures already on the web of the development of the venues for the games to the thousands of pictures that will be taken at the opening ceremony, almost every moment of them will be documented in pictures.
This activity asks the children to be objective in selecting the pictures they think tells the story of the Olympics in London.
The children can make a scrap book from sugar paper bound together with treasury tags and do a design for the front of it.
Ask them to scan the newspapers and web each day for pictures that sum up the events and include them in their scrap book together with an annotation as to why they chose them.
At the end of the games, ask the children to swap scrap books and comment on each others' work.
Activity Two – Logos
Year 1 to Year 6
There was much controversy over the logo designed for the London 2012 Games but then almost every games has attracted comments from the media on the choice of logo.
Ask the children to find a selection of the logos or mascots of some Olympic games and how they came about.
Use the website http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/39-olympic-logos-from-1924-to-2012/ for ideas.
What do they notice about the elements used in the following?
London 2012
Vancouver 2010
Beijing 2008
Athens 2004
Sydney 2000
Lillehammer 1994
Barcelona 1992
Montreal 1976
From their findings ask them to improve on the logo for the 2012 games and finish with a vote on which one they think should have been adopted.
Activity Three – People in Action
Year 1 to Year 6
Use photographs of athletes ‘in action’ in sports such as running, swimming, high jump, hammer throwing and javelin etc. and ask the children to draw ‘stick people’ to document their stance whilst undertaking the action. Can they predict the changes in stance to complete the action?
Once they are happy with their predictions, ask them to divide a sheet of A4 paper into a 3 x 12 grid and copy the stick person carefully into the appropriate position on the grid spaces. By drawing the stick person sequentially, they should be able to overlay the pieces to create a ‘flick book’ to show the movement.
Once they’ve been successful with the paper version they can use free animation software such as Pivot to do an online Olympic animation.
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/stickfigure.html
You can even upload your animation to YouTube once you’ve finished!
Activity Four – Critique
Year 1 to Year 6
This is a great idea for an assembly towards the end of the Olympics.
Using the scrap book from Activity One ask the children to select a picture that they think sums up the spirit of the games and to write a small introduction to it giving their reasons.
In assembly create a slide show of the images to be played whilst parents are waiting and ask the children to present their choice and the reasons they have chosen it. At the end, you can ask parents and/or the children to ‘vote’ for which their favourite was based on the introductions given by the children.
This activity allows the children to practise the skill of critiquing a piece of art, be it a painting, sculpture or, in this case, a photograph.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Year 1 to Year 6
The Olympics will be covered in great detail by the world’s media and whilst millions of words will be written about the games we’re going to focus on the adage that says ‘a picture tells a thousand words’.
From the pictures already on the web of the development of the venues for the games to the thousands of pictures that will be taken at the opening ceremony, almost every moment of them will be documented in pictures.
This activity asks the children to be objective in selecting the pictures they think tells the story of the Olympics in London.
The children can make a scrap book from sugar paper bound together with treasury tags and do a design for the front of it.
Ask them to scan the newspapers and web each day for pictures that sum up the events and include them in their scrap book together with an annotation as to why they chose them.
At the end of the games, ask the children to swap scrap books and comment on each others' work.
Activity Two – Logos
Year 1 to Year 6
There was much controversy over the logo designed for the London 2012 Games but then almost every games has attracted comments from the media on the choice of logo.
Ask the children to find a selection of the logos or mascots of some Olympic games and how they came about.
Use the website http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/39-olympic-logos-from-1924-to-2012/ for ideas.
What do they notice about the elements used in the following?
London 2012
Vancouver 2010
Beijing 2008
Athens 2004
Sydney 2000
Lillehammer 1994
Barcelona 1992
Montreal 1976
From their findings ask them to improve on the logo for the 2012 games and finish with a vote on which one they think should have been adopted.
Activity Three – People in Action
Year 1 to Year 6
Use photographs of athletes ‘in action’ in sports such as running, swimming, high jump, hammer throwing and javelin etc. and ask the children to draw ‘stick people’ to document their stance whilst undertaking the action. Can they predict the changes in stance to complete the action?
Once they are happy with their predictions, ask them to divide a sheet of A4 paper into a 3 x 12 grid and copy the stick person carefully into the appropriate position on the grid spaces. By drawing the stick person sequentially, they should be able to overlay the pieces to create a ‘flick book’ to show the movement.
Once they’ve been successful with the paper version they can use free animation software such as Pivot to do an online Olympic animation.
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/stickfigure.html
You can even upload your animation to YouTube once you’ve finished!
Activity Four – Critique
Year 1 to Year 6
This is a great idea for an assembly towards the end of the Olympics.
Using the scrap book from Activity One ask the children to select a picture that they think sums up the spirit of the games and to write a small introduction to it giving their reasons.
In assembly create a slide show of the images to be played whilst parents are waiting and ask the children to present their choice and the reasons they have chosen it. At the end, you can ask parents and/or the children to ‘vote’ for which their favourite was based on the introductions given by the children.
This activity allows the children to practise the skill of critiquing a piece of art, be it a painting, sculpture or, in this case, a photograph.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Primary - using The Olympics in Numeracy
Activity One – Big Numbers
Year 1 to Year 6
The number 2012 means more than just a year to most people for 2012 is the name most people give to the London 2012 Olympics. There are a mass of really big numbers involved in the games from the number of tickets sold, the number of countries competing and of course the cost of staging the games. To get children to understand the size of numbers, get the children to investigate them, completing the chart for the activity. You can then compare them to each other using place value.
Begin:
Ask the children what the biggest number is that they know, some will say millions, some billions or trillions. You’re going to get the unusual ones like zillions or the monster godzillions!
An interesting discussion point is why the children say that the biggest number begins with the last letter of the alphabet. Is there a connection or is it just coincidence? You’ll find some bright spark will mention infinity although as Toy Story slips from their memories, it’s becoming less prevalent. Infinity is a great number to talk about. Can you have a number that is ‘infinity plus one’ or infinity minus one? What is the number and how do you write it?
Activity:
There are lots of websites from the BBC News to the official 2012 website and they’re jam packed with statistics. A lot of children find researching information difficult, especially when looking for written information within a block of written information. Finding statistical information is easier as they’re looking for numbers within a block of text so quick scanning will throw up the numbers, meaning they’ve only got to identify the context from the surrounding words.
Begin by asking them to find some commonly available information such as:
How many countries are involved in 2012?
How many competitors will take part?
How many tickets have been sold?
Ask them then to find any other statistics in the information they discover about the games.
Make a class wall display with the numbers they’ve found, adding a medals table so they can keep tabs on the successes of each country.
You should try to put the place value headers for each number so they can compare and order the numbers. For the older ones discuss how many times bigger each digit is than one in a different column. You could even do some mega-maths by working out the cost per person of the Olympics or how many cars, trains or planes would be needed to transport the spectators to the spectacle.
Activity Two – Measures
Year 4 to Year 6
At the Olympics, everything will have a measure, be it the number of seconds taken for the 100m sprint or the weight lifted by the giants of the jerk and lift. You’ll have the points for the decathletes or the distance achieved by the javelin throwers. These are great for comparing, converting, ordering and finding differences. They’re also good for estimating. Many children won’t have much of an idea how long it might take to run the 10,000m so you can ask them to guess by giving clues. Perhaps give them help by getting the fastest in the class to run a hundred metres and ask them to multiply it up by 100.
One of my favourite activities is to set the children a maths problem where logic is also required. Try this one…
Fast Freddie runs the 100m in 10.09 seconds; Rapid Rajiv does it 0.5 seconds faster. Swift Sandhu is 0.16 seconds slower than Rajiv. Blistering Bernie’s time was halfway between Rajiv’s and Sandhu’s times. Speedy Sam’s time was 0.08 seconds slower than Bernie’s. Who won the medals and what were their times?
In this activity, the children will have to get to grips with the number representing the time getting bigger as the times slow. This is anathema to their concept of numbers where bigger is better.
Use the events which are scored by length to calculate equivalents in different units, so, for example: How many centimetres are the same as a long jump of 8 metres 35 centimetres? Again, you can do a similar activity to the ordering one for the 100m which can be differentiated by the numbers you use.
Activity Three – Area and Probability
Year 5 and Year 6
Whilst it seems an improbable combination, these two concepts come together neatly in this activity. This is a good one for those who need extension activities in maths and involves them combining different skills.
The archery and shooting events use targets comprised of concentric circles, each covering a different area.
Ask the children to decide which they think is the easiest to hit and which is the hardest.
They can investigate their answers practically by using different sized hoops on the ground and trying to land bean bags in them. Statistically, it will be easier to land them in the bigger circles. Then place the rings inside each other and repeat the exercise. Do they get the same results?
Now you can investigate the statistic mathematically by calculating the area of each part of the target. Begin with the bulls-eye, using the formula πr^2. Now the thinking skills come in…
How would you calculate the area of a ring? The answer of course is to take the area of the inner circle away from the area of the outer circle.
Having calculated the area of each ring, ask the children to use the areas to calculate the probability of landing the arrow, bolt or pellet in each section. They should present their answers in the form ‘twice as likely’ etc.
Does this information correlate to the data they collected practically?
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Year 1 to Year 6
The number 2012 means more than just a year to most people for 2012 is the name most people give to the London 2012 Olympics. There are a mass of really big numbers involved in the games from the number of tickets sold, the number of countries competing and of course the cost of staging the games. To get children to understand the size of numbers, get the children to investigate them, completing the chart for the activity. You can then compare them to each other using place value.
Begin:
Ask the children what the biggest number is that they know, some will say millions, some billions or trillions. You’re going to get the unusual ones like zillions or the monster godzillions!
An interesting discussion point is why the children say that the biggest number begins with the last letter of the alphabet. Is there a connection or is it just coincidence? You’ll find some bright spark will mention infinity although as Toy Story slips from their memories, it’s becoming less prevalent. Infinity is a great number to talk about. Can you have a number that is ‘infinity plus one’ or infinity minus one? What is the number and how do you write it?
Activity:
There are lots of websites from the BBC News to the official 2012 website and they’re jam packed with statistics. A lot of children find researching information difficult, especially when looking for written information within a block of written information. Finding statistical information is easier as they’re looking for numbers within a block of text so quick scanning will throw up the numbers, meaning they’ve only got to identify the context from the surrounding words.
Begin by asking them to find some commonly available information such as:
How many countries are involved in 2012?
How many competitors will take part?
How many tickets have been sold?
Ask them then to find any other statistics in the information they discover about the games.
Make a class wall display with the numbers they’ve found, adding a medals table so they can keep tabs on the successes of each country.
You should try to put the place value headers for each number so they can compare and order the numbers. For the older ones discuss how many times bigger each digit is than one in a different column. You could even do some mega-maths by working out the cost per person of the Olympics or how many cars, trains or planes would be needed to transport the spectators to the spectacle.
Activity Two – Measures
Year 4 to Year 6
At the Olympics, everything will have a measure, be it the number of seconds taken for the 100m sprint or the weight lifted by the giants of the jerk and lift. You’ll have the points for the decathletes or the distance achieved by the javelin throwers. These are great for comparing, converting, ordering and finding differences. They’re also good for estimating. Many children won’t have much of an idea how long it might take to run the 10,000m so you can ask them to guess by giving clues. Perhaps give them help by getting the fastest in the class to run a hundred metres and ask them to multiply it up by 100.
One of my favourite activities is to set the children a maths problem where logic is also required. Try this one…
Fast Freddie runs the 100m in 10.09 seconds; Rapid Rajiv does it 0.5 seconds faster. Swift Sandhu is 0.16 seconds slower than Rajiv. Blistering Bernie’s time was halfway between Rajiv’s and Sandhu’s times. Speedy Sam’s time was 0.08 seconds slower than Bernie’s. Who won the medals and what were their times?
In this activity, the children will have to get to grips with the number representing the time getting bigger as the times slow. This is anathema to their concept of numbers where bigger is better.
Use the events which are scored by length to calculate equivalents in different units, so, for example: How many centimetres are the same as a long jump of 8 metres 35 centimetres? Again, you can do a similar activity to the ordering one for the 100m which can be differentiated by the numbers you use.
Activity Three – Area and Probability
Year 5 and Year 6
Whilst it seems an improbable combination, these two concepts come together neatly in this activity. This is a good one for those who need extension activities in maths and involves them combining different skills.
The archery and shooting events use targets comprised of concentric circles, each covering a different area.
Ask the children to decide which they think is the easiest to hit and which is the hardest.
They can investigate their answers practically by using different sized hoops on the ground and trying to land bean bags in them. Statistically, it will be easier to land them in the bigger circles. Then place the rings inside each other and repeat the exercise. Do they get the same results?
Now you can investigate the statistic mathematically by calculating the area of each part of the target. Begin with the bulls-eye, using the formula πr^2. Now the thinking skills come in…
How would you calculate the area of a ring? The answer of course is to take the area of the inner circle away from the area of the outer circle.
Having calculated the area of each ring, ask the children to use the areas to calculate the probability of landing the arrow, bolt or pellet in each section. They should present their answers in the form ‘twice as likely’ etc.
Does this information correlate to the data they collected practically?
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Primary - using The Olympics in Literacy
Activity One – Following tweets
Year 4 to Year 6
Tweeting is one of the least known but most popular internet communication methods and enables the world to find out what is happening to famous and not so famous people during their day.
In the run up to the Olympics, athletes will be tweeting about their preparation and during the games, their nerves, fitness, anticipation and their response after they’ve taken part in their events. It’s like following their progress as a friend rather than just an onlooker. Almost all of Britain’s and indeed the world’s athletes have twitter accounts and it’s easy to follow them. Some of their twitter addresses are given below but you may well have a local athlete taking part. Gemma Spofforth is a former pupil from our school and the children will be following her efforts this summer. Your local newspaper will be following athletes from your area in the run up to the event and it’s worth asking the athlete if they can spare the time to come into school and talk with the children.
After the visit, you can then set up your computer or mobile device to receive tweets from them.
You can ask the children to use the tweets you receive and expand them into a piece of diary writing that can be added to each time they tweet!
@beckadlington
@dwainchambers
@mo_farah
@j_ennis
@chrishoy
Activity Two – Reporting
Year 3 to Year 6
There will be a number of key events at the Olympics; from the opening ceremony to events like the 100m sprint, the marathon and other events.
Prior to the events show the children examples of sports reporting on different events. Together highlight the key aspects of them including the language used and the structure.
The structure is quite simple as reports usually begin with the lead up to the event, talking about who is expected to win or to discuss the potential of key competitors in the event. Next, the reporting follows the event chronologically, identifying key events as they happen and finishes with the effect of the result on the competitors or their team or country before looking forward to the next event.
Using the template that accompanies this activity, ask the children to watch an event, either during school time or at home and write a newspaper report.
Activity Three – Explain how it works
Year 2 to Year 6
Many people watch events at the Olympics without realising what the focus of the events are. Whilst it’s simple enough to understand what’s happening in a sprint, it’s more difficult in a relay race when specific rules have to be followed. The same is true of perhaps show jumping, gymnastics or judo.
This activity asks the children to work on writing instructions and a clear explanation of an event at the Olympics.
Ask them to choose an event they are familiar with, or even one they would like to know more about, and to research the rules before writing a set of instructions together with rules for that event. Many of the events will lead to chronological instructions and you should encourage them to use the language of chronology such as first, next, then, finally etc.
Finally, to check their work they can swap with a friend and watch the event after reading the partner’s instruction. It will be interesting to see if the explanation works!
Activity Four – The Journey to Success
Year 3 to Year 6
This activity allows pupils to practise work on biography by focusing on an Olympian.
Use a short biography from a children’s book or a child friendly website to highlight and discuss the format of biographies. The children should note that they are almost always written chronologically.
Use one or more additional biographies to identify content that is common for both and list them ready for their biographies.
They should choose from a list of Olympians selected by you or possibly one of their choice and research facts about them.
Try to get them to focus on what led the Olympian into their particular sport.
Ask them to compile a biography using the format they have picked out from the samples and, when complete, read them out to the class and ask them how well they compare with the examples.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Year 4 to Year 6
Tweeting is one of the least known but most popular internet communication methods and enables the world to find out what is happening to famous and not so famous people during their day.
In the run up to the Olympics, athletes will be tweeting about their preparation and during the games, their nerves, fitness, anticipation and their response after they’ve taken part in their events. It’s like following their progress as a friend rather than just an onlooker. Almost all of Britain’s and indeed the world’s athletes have twitter accounts and it’s easy to follow them. Some of their twitter addresses are given below but you may well have a local athlete taking part. Gemma Spofforth is a former pupil from our school and the children will be following her efforts this summer. Your local newspaper will be following athletes from your area in the run up to the event and it’s worth asking the athlete if they can spare the time to come into school and talk with the children.
After the visit, you can then set up your computer or mobile device to receive tweets from them.
You can ask the children to use the tweets you receive and expand them into a piece of diary writing that can be added to each time they tweet!
@beckadlington
@dwainchambers
@mo_farah
@j_ennis
@chrishoy
Activity Two – Reporting
Year 3 to Year 6
There will be a number of key events at the Olympics; from the opening ceremony to events like the 100m sprint, the marathon and other events.
Prior to the events show the children examples of sports reporting on different events. Together highlight the key aspects of them including the language used and the structure.
The structure is quite simple as reports usually begin with the lead up to the event, talking about who is expected to win or to discuss the potential of key competitors in the event. Next, the reporting follows the event chronologically, identifying key events as they happen and finishes with the effect of the result on the competitors or their team or country before looking forward to the next event.
Using the template that accompanies this activity, ask the children to watch an event, either during school time or at home and write a newspaper report.
Activity Three – Explain how it works
Year 2 to Year 6
Many people watch events at the Olympics without realising what the focus of the events are. Whilst it’s simple enough to understand what’s happening in a sprint, it’s more difficult in a relay race when specific rules have to be followed. The same is true of perhaps show jumping, gymnastics or judo.
This activity asks the children to work on writing instructions and a clear explanation of an event at the Olympics.
Ask them to choose an event they are familiar with, or even one they would like to know more about, and to research the rules before writing a set of instructions together with rules for that event. Many of the events will lead to chronological instructions and you should encourage them to use the language of chronology such as first, next, then, finally etc.
Finally, to check their work they can swap with a friend and watch the event after reading the partner’s instruction. It will be interesting to see if the explanation works!
Activity Four – The Journey to Success
Year 3 to Year 6
This activity allows pupils to practise work on biography by focusing on an Olympian.
Use a short biography from a children’s book or a child friendly website to highlight and discuss the format of biographies. The children should note that they are almost always written chronologically.
Use one or more additional biographies to identify content that is common for both and list them ready for their biographies.
They should choose from a list of Olympians selected by you or possibly one of their choice and research facts about them.
Try to get them to focus on what led the Olympian into their particular sport.
Ask them to compile a biography using the format they have picked out from the samples and, when complete, read them out to the class and ask them how well they compare with the examples.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Monday, 30 April 2012
Primary - The Olympics
The Olympics are nearly upon us so time to limber up, stretch those imaginations, aim to beat personal bests and become champion learners.
In planning meetings in school there have often been quite heated discussions over whether we should ‘follow the curriculum’ or respond to the world around us. To me the answer is quite simple. Even if it wasn’t good teaching practice to have an awareness of current affairs, the children we teach are aware of what’s happening around them and will want to find out more. It’s the basic tenet of all learning. If your teaching doesn’t give at least a nod towards what is happening in the world then certainly older children are going to wonder why their education is so restricted to a defined curriculum.
Arguments against it are weak; some say it’s like the Victorian ‘object teaching’ where a teacher would bring in an object and then teach a week’s work based around it. Others worry about squeezing in the curriculum they have to cover before the end of the year not realising that with careful planning, the elements of the topic can be integrated with the year’s curriculum.
And so we come to this year’s big event… the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The games have a great philosophy behind them. Thousands of years ago the ancient Greeks gave men from the different city states the opportunity to compete against each other fairly and in an atmosphere of celebration and peace. After a gap of nearly two thousand years, the traditions were revived in 1896 and the games have been held every four years since, apart from during the two world wars.
This year the Olympics are extra special as, for the first time in a generation or more, they’re being held in Britain. Since the decision was made granting London the right to host ‘2012’, the country has been gripped by Olympic fever and already schools have been involved in helping to make 2012 the best Olympics ever.
Now it’s time to get the Olympics into the classroom or onto the sports field and use role models such as Beth Tweddle, Usain Bolt and Rebecca Adlington to inspire children to be the best in their field.
The topic of the Olympics can give us plenty of ideas for teaching across most subjects and pupils will love learning about the event as the big day arrives when the games begin.
We’ve put together some fun activities that use aspects of the Olympics to inspire learning from finding out who would win the Olympics of the natural world to understanding the maths of the games.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
In planning meetings in school there have often been quite heated discussions over whether we should ‘follow the curriculum’ or respond to the world around us. To me the answer is quite simple. Even if it wasn’t good teaching practice to have an awareness of current affairs, the children we teach are aware of what’s happening around them and will want to find out more. It’s the basic tenet of all learning. If your teaching doesn’t give at least a nod towards what is happening in the world then certainly older children are going to wonder why their education is so restricted to a defined curriculum.
Arguments against it are weak; some say it’s like the Victorian ‘object teaching’ where a teacher would bring in an object and then teach a week’s work based around it. Others worry about squeezing in the curriculum they have to cover before the end of the year not realising that with careful planning, the elements of the topic can be integrated with the year’s curriculum.
And so we come to this year’s big event… the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The games have a great philosophy behind them. Thousands of years ago the ancient Greeks gave men from the different city states the opportunity to compete against each other fairly and in an atmosphere of celebration and peace. After a gap of nearly two thousand years, the traditions were revived in 1896 and the games have been held every four years since, apart from during the two world wars.
This year the Olympics are extra special as, for the first time in a generation or more, they’re being held in Britain. Since the decision was made granting London the right to host ‘2012’, the country has been gripped by Olympic fever and already schools have been involved in helping to make 2012 the best Olympics ever.
Now it’s time to get the Olympics into the classroom or onto the sports field and use role models such as Beth Tweddle, Usain Bolt and Rebecca Adlington to inspire children to be the best in their field.
The topic of the Olympics can give us plenty of ideas for teaching across most subjects and pupils will love learning about the event as the big day arrives when the games begin.
We’ve put together some fun activities that use aspects of the Olympics to inspire learning from finding out who would win the Olympics of the natural world to understanding the maths of the games.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
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