Olympic Links to Learning

Countdown to Salt Lake City

There are many lessons to be learned from the Olympics.  History, vocabulary, decimals, and sportsmanship are just a few of the subjects you’ll find lesson plans for at this site.  There is the Winter Olympic history year by year (grades 3-12), the Olympic Glossary (grades 3-12), create your own classroom Olympic games (grades K-12), Venn diagram activities (grades 3-12), Olympic decimals (grades 3-8) and much more.  The list at the bottom has suggested lessons on the net for grades K-12.

Source:     Education World

Web Quest Adventures

These adventures are designed for group activities in the classroom or out.  Several students get together and by researching, answering questions, and forming opinions; they begin to understand challenging concepts.  This translates to an educated analysis and an increased knowledge of the world around them.

Olympic Games of Ancient Greece

Go back in time to the first Olympic Games in Ancient Greece in the year 776 B.C.  Use the links provided to answer the questions.  You are also allowed to use any outside resources including textbooks, library references, and online resources.

Source:     New Mexico State University

Olympic Quest 2002

Choose from seven different classroom adventures from a variety of activities for grades 1-10.  Each ‘task’ includes a breakdown of the content, a detailed description, content area standards, and National Educational Technology Standards (NETS).

Source:     Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

Lesson Plans

An Educator’s Guide to the Olympics

This guide to the 2002 Winter Olympic Games was created for K-6 educators. It contains fact sheets, questions, activities, worksheets, and lesson plans to help you incorporate the Olympics into your classroom curriculum.

Source:     The Education Department of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic Winter Games and the Paralympic Winter Games of 2002

Olympic Activities

Learn about the state hosting the Winter Olympics… Utah!  Find all kinds of related activities such as coloring pages, facts, a medal math count, word searches, and questions to answer.  Read about the rings, flag, history, and goals and find plenty of fun activities for the classroom.

Source:     abcteach.com 2001

Lesson: Winter Olympics

These lesson plans use recent New York Times articles as starting points for examining important topics in fun new ways.  Over 20 lesson plans for grades 6-12 are available and range from the Olympics to sports in general to the achievements of teen athletes.  You can even learn about the geographic history of the Olympics and explore American athletic icons.

Source:     The New York Times Company

Learn & Play Olympic Sports Curriculum Guide

The Olympic Games concept is thematic and interdisciplinary. The curriculum guide provides flexible plans addressing the California State Education Framework for Grades 3, 4 and 5 in Language Arts, Social Studies and Geography, Mathematics and Science, and Physical Education and Health. The documents are all in PDF format and download when you select the document that you want from the pull-down menu.

Source:     The Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles

Just for Fun

2002 Olympic Winter Games

From parks and ski slopes to athletic venues, here's your passport to great pictures and stories from the Winter Games.  Check out the feature stories, pictures of tomorrow’s medallists today, take the photo tour of Salt Lake City and beyond, or send an Olympic themed e-mail postcard to someone special.

Source:     Eastman Kodak Company

Further Resources

Official Site of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games

Visit this official site of the 2002 Winter Olympics.  Select ‘Sports’ and you can choose from the 15 Winter Olympic sports to find in-depth information.  Choose ‘Schedule’ and find information on the opening and closing ceremonies, events by date, sport or venue, medal ceremonies, the Olympic Art Festival, the concert series and Paralympic Winter Games.  If you want to learn more about the athletes you can view their biographies and hear them explain in their own words what it’s like to be in the Olympics.  Below are a couple of examples of what you’ll find.

Olympic Torch Relay

Locate the history of the torch relay, statistics, and links to related articles.

Source:     2002-SLOC

Figure Skating Basics

This is an interactive presentation with jumps, spins, footwork, and presentation demonstrations. 

Source:     2002-SLOC

The Education Site for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games

Here you will find the Olympic Torch Relay Map and information on the Paralympics.  There is an interactive tour of the continents, student related activities, and teacher created curricular resources.  In the sports section learn about the equipment used, training, and the science/math concepts involved.  Besides all that there is news, programs, schools, lesson plans, and a place to learn more about the 13 Olympic venues.

Source:     Utah Education Network

2002 NBC Olympics

Choose from 15 sports for news, special features, detailed schedules, athlete biographies, and venues.  See the schedule of TV listings, a breakdown of each sport and hear Olympic hopefuls talk about their particular sport and the challenges they face.

Source:     2002 NBC/MSNBC.com

The Official Website of the Olympic Movement

This is your direct connection to athletes (heroes, Olympic medal winners, Olympians), Sports (on the program, recognized sports, Olympic sports of the past), Olympics (all the games since 1896, Salt Lake City 2002, future games), culture (Olympic Museum Lausanne, memorabilia, celebrate humanity), news (press releases, weekly highlights, IOC calendar), and the Organization (structures, missions, facts and figures).

Source:     International Olympic Committee

The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games

When were the first games?  Were the athletes amateurs or pros?  Were women allowed to compete?  How political or commercial were the games?  Find the answers to these questions, take an online survey, and use the glossary of terms to help you better understand the Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games.

Source:     University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology

The Topic: Olympic Games

The basics are described here in ‘easy’ or ‘harder’ to read formats.  Also available are links, project ideas, websites for kids by kids, websites for teachers, Words 2 eXplore, and lots more.  Check out the section on previous Olympic events.

Source:     Annette Lamb & Larry Johnson, 42eXplore: Thematic Internet Integration

Team USA

Meet the members of the US Olympic Team here.  Select a sport, learn all about the teams, and read the answers to 10 questions asked of specific athletes.  Get general information, the rules history, and equipment.  Check the glossary for added reference.

Source:     USOC-United States Olympic Committee

Olympic Movie

This site, which has been designed especially with youngsters in mind, is the perfect introduction to the Olympics.  Watch the movie and learn all sorts of interesting tidbits about the history, ceremonies, and more.  Take the quiz at the end to see how much you learned.

Source:     2002 Brain Pop LLC