Students
'Catch Olympic Spirit'
August 25, 2004
Plano ISD students and their teachers are taking advantage of the
learning opportunities presented by the 2004 Olympic
Games currently underway in Athens, Greece. Check out
these bright ideas recently reported by our faculty
and staff.
Andrews Elementary School Counselors
Focus on Olympics to Teach
Students Goal Setting
 The
counselors at Andrews Elementary are focused on the Olympics as a
way to teach goal setting. As a part of classroom
guidance the counselors go into the classrooms and
tell the stories of perseverance
and hard work experienced by all Olympians. The newspaper
clippings and magazine articles about these US athletes
are displayed outside
the counseling office. Goals and the skills necessary
to complete a goal are discussed with students. In
addition, fIrst grade students at Andrews have been
keeping up with the Olympic medals. At calendar time,
they make a tally mark for each medal and keep up with
a graph comparing
the number of each medal type.
-reported by counselors Marla Nunally and Kim Carson and first grade
teacher Sarah Eubanks
Counselor Marla Nunally is pictured
reading about the life of Olympian Wilma Rudolph to
first grade students of Angela Leonard.
Armstrong Middle School Students Learn Olympics History, Participate
in 10 'Olympic Events'
Every day, students at Armstrong Middle School discuss the Olympics.
The students are learning the history of the Olympics
and discus the events from the previous day. Next
week, students will participate in their own school
"Olympics." The students will be divided into six-to-eight
countries per class, and all students will participate
in 10 events, including 100 m dash, speed skating,
beach volleyball (no swimsuits!), arm wrestling, 400
m dash, football throw through a tire, obstacle course,
tug of war, high jump and
shuttle relay.
reported by Jan Thomas, Carl Bailey, Cathy Diggs, PE teachers
Boggess 4th & 5th Grades Learn Olympic Theme Song
Fourth & fifth
grade
students
at
Boggess
are singing and signing the Olympic Theme song. They first read it, recognize
that it has a question and an answer phrase,
practice the solfegio and
hand signs then sing it. I then play the music
for them afterward. Many of the children recognize
the melody as they read it and
are very excited. I have had many write it
down (rhythmically and melodically) so that they can
sing with the Olympics being
televised nightly.
-reported by Jeanie I. Mundy, music specialist
Daffron Active Learning Class Studies Olympic Symbols
The Active Learning classroom at Daffron Elementary uses thematic
units designed to help students become familiar with
a specific theme, topic, or event. The teachers tie
skills, subject matter and activities to an identified
topic. This is the third week they have used the Olympics
as the theme, studying symbols
such as the torch, rings, medals and laurel wreath
crown. Students made the symbols during craft
time while experiencing a variety of textures,
objects and tastes. The students
also chose pictures to paste on
their Olympic mural.
-reported by Shannon Shaffer, Active Learning Classroom teacher
Forman Students
Earn Gold During 'Reading Marathon'
Students in all grades at Forman Elementary
tracked their reading with a reading marathon to see
how many minutes they
could read in one day. Winners for the week were Ms.
Sanders' 4th grade class (pictured) who stepped
up to the challenge to "go
for the gold" with 300 minutes read on a single day. They were
awarded gold medallions and ribbons for their efforts.
-reported by Mary Elam, Forman Library Media Specialist
Forman Elementary fourth grade students
of Julie Sanders proudly wear their gold medals earned
during the school's Reading Marathon.
Harrington Elementary Students Study Wilma Rudolph,
Create PowerPoint Presentations about Olympic Stars
Fifth grade students and teachers
are discussing the story of Wilma Rudolph who was the
first American woman to win three gold
medals at a single Olympics. Students are creating
a variety of projects, researching their favorite Olympic
star and creating PowerPoint presentations to honor
them. They are also creating collages.
-reported by Becky Crouch, fifth grade teacher
Huffman Students Track Olympics Through "Newspapers in Education"
Program, Complete Scavanger Hunt Online
In Mrs. Barlow's language arts classes at Huffman Elementary School,
students have been following the 2004 Olympics through
editions of The Dallas Morning News, provided through
the "Newspapers in Education" program. Following
a prescribed set of instructions, students have found
information about the athletes and their backgrounds
and drawn conclusions about character traits necessary
to achieve their goals.
During another activity, students
accessed the official 2004 Olympics website (www.athens2004.com),
where educational information is available. Following
instructions on the "Scavanger
Hunt," they learned about the history of the Olympics, famous
athletes in history and the various venues, torches
and mascots throughout the ages. Throughout this week,
students will be working
on an alliterative poem that has to do with one aspect
of the Olympics. "We have had some very interesting
discussions about the events and
athletes' accomplishments, as well as their disappointments," their
teacher said.
-reported by Christine Barlow, Huffman fifth grade team leader
Hughston Fifth Graders Journal About Athletes
The Hughston Elementary School fifth grade language arts class of
JorJa Landauer is writing journal articles about Olympic
athletes. They have chosen an athlete they are especially
interested in, discussing why. Then, the class discusses
the characteristics that led to that athlete's success.
Students then followed
up with a writing about what sport they would like
to participate in the Olympics
with and how they would achieve that goal. The class
is following that study with readings of other famous
Olympians and discussions. In guided
reading groups, students tie that to other famous
people such a FDR and how he overcame obstacles to
become president of the United States.
-reported by JorJa Landauer, fifth grade teacher
Meadows Elementary Children Learn New Song,
Serve as Reporters of
Olympic News Events
'Knock at the Door' Popular with Third Graders
For their
third grade music lesson, children at Meadows Elementary
School are learning a traditional children's
song, "Knock at the Door." The song contains the
leap from so to re, the first melodic objective in the third
grade music curriculum. Students
then listened to a fanfare by the composer,
Arnaud. The melody of the fanfare is the same tune as the children's
song, "Knock
at the Door." It is also the tune most often
played on commercials for the Olympics! (so mi mi
so
mi, re re so so mi do, etc.) The
lesson was shared with other elementary music
teachers in the district during the past few weeks.
-reported by Karen Gentry, music specialist
Reading and Writing Strengthened as Students 'Report' News
Fifth grade students at Meadows Elementary are "reporters on
the scene," reading
what other reporters are writing about the Olympic
Games and then writing their own newspaper articles.
The project is supported by Scholastic
News online. Students select from a list of topics, complete
a worksheet as they explore
and read various articles.
- reported by Stacy Lane, Meadows fifth grade teacher
Mitchell Elementary School PE Students
Share Stories of Current Olympic Events
The PE teachers at Mitchell Elementary are having the students bring
in articles related to the Olympics for a sharing time at the beginning
of each class to discuss the past evening's events. With that activity,
teachers share a brief history of the events and results of the 2004
Olympics, including updated medal count which are recorded on the
bulletin board. The students are bringing in articles/pictures to
display. To begin the Olympics, the PE teachers had students play
Olympic-themed games to get it all kicked off.
-reported by Cheryl Kool, PE teacher
Plano West Senior High Teachers Engage Students
in Hands-on Olympics Activities
Marketing Class Designs Cereal Box Covers
In their Sports & Entertainment Marketing class, students at
Plano West Senior High School are creating cereal boxes with the Olympic
gold medallist on them. They will have to design the cereal box to
promote the product and the athlete. They will have to use marketing
concepts that have been discussed in class and create the box with
all of the correct concepts.
Fashion and Merchandising Students Design Garments for Their
Own Olympic Opening Ceremony
Fashion II students at Plano West elected countries to study prior
to the Olympic Games' opening ceremonies. They researched their country's
culture, colors, climate, etc. and created a story board with their
original design for the 2004 Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies outfit
for their particular country.
They were required to illustrate dimensionally as well as develop
flat drawings of all of the garments that country would wear. Fabric
swatches as well as cultural beliefs were included in their story
board. On Friday, August 13, students made formal presentations to
the class. They watched a taped broadcast of the 2004 Olympic Games
Opening Ceremonies to compare the students' work with the actual outfits
worn by their countries on the following Monday in class. The project
was a huge success, reported their teacher.
-reported by Robin Zost, Sports and Entertainment Marketing teacher,
and Jodi Miller, Fashion II teacher
French Students Study Olympic Traditions
French Advanced Placement students at Plano West Senior High read
a selection in French about myths and realities concerning
Olympic traditions, followed by trivia with
all the sports in French.
-reported by Sally Schneider, Foreign Language Department
Renner Spanish Classes Warm Up with Olympics
Students at Renner Middle School have an Olympics wall that they
use daily as a warmup activity. In the Spanish curriculum,
students are reviewing how to tell someone's name,
where they are from, their nationality and how to make
nouns and adjectives agree in Spanish. "We use the
wall each day to tell those things and others about
medal winners. We give the following information:
His/her name is: Se llama Carly Patterson.
His/her sport is: Participa en el deporte de "gimnasia"
His/her medal is made out of: Su medalla es "de oro"
His/her country of birth is: Su país de nacimiento es los Estados Unidos
His/her nationality is: Es estadounidense
He/she speaks (language): Habla inglés
In
a later assignment students will bring in a picture
of someone who they will describe in both written
and oral assignments. Their
presentation will include the information contained
on the Olympics wall, as well as other review topics
(age, pastimes, physical description,
family, favorite foods, etc.).
-reported by Eileen Cunningham, Spanish teacher
Robinson
Middle School Special Education Language Arts Students
Participate in Olympic-Themed Activities
"I thought the olympics
in Athens was a perfect way to start off
the school year and a great way to get to know
the kids," reports Mary Reece, Robinson MIddle School
Special Education Resource Reading/Resource Language
Arts teacher,
who started off the school year with her bulletin boards
all done in Olympic items: rings, torch,
medals, etc. The study included:
Olympic
Flag: Using photocopies of the flag, she had them
color the flag as they learned what the
rings stood
for and what the colors represent. They
are now on display in the hallway. Olympic
History: Each student made a folder with their name
on it and any other olympic
designs they wanted to draw. She provided to
students informational sheets having to
do
with
either
the ancient
or
modern Olympics. Students read these
as a class and
discussed
the differences. Olympic Flame: Using
a worksheet with a drawing of the cauldron and
flame, students came
up with words that rhymed with flame,
torch, jump and race. Olympic
Poetry: Students
wrote three types of poetry:
acrostic, sensory and a newspaper poem.
All
poems were typed in a large font and posted on
a display in the hallway. Vocabulary/Spelling: Throughout
the several weeks of the Olympic Games, students
are expanding
their vocabulary by spelling and using "olympic
words." Sports
Paper: In the higher-level classes,
students were expected to choose
a sport from the
Olympics and write a paper on that
sport and present their papers to the
class. One student in the class has participated
in the Special
Olympics, so she shared her
experiences and stories. Sports
Tracking: Students have been
encouraged to watch what they can at home and discuss
what they saw in class. As a class we track all
of the medals
won by
the different USA teams and they
are listed on a big
grid on one of the class chalkboards.
Students research results on the Internet. Books,
Magazines, Newspapers, etc.: About
six books on the Olympics
are on display
in
the classroom.
Students
also bring in magazine and newspaper
articles
to share
with the
class.
-reported by Mary Reece, Robinson Middle School teacher
Schimelpfenig Middle School Students Study Olympians' Texas Home
Regions, Technology Used at 2004 Olympics
Students Study
Texas 'Home Regions' of Olympians
The 160 students of Colleen Cole, seventh grade Texas History teacher
at Schimelpfenig Middle School are researching Texas Olympians and
discovering from which region of Texas they hale. "We are studying
the four regions of Texas so this is a way I can bring the Olympics
home," said Ms. Cole. "They're doing this research as a
warm up. It's been so rewarding to watch the students' enthusiasm
as they discover how many Olympians train and live in Texas, especially
in our own Coastal Plains region. We've compiled a list of twenty-one,
and we're still counting."
-reported by Colleen Cole, seventh
grade teacher
Class Studies Technical Aspects of Olympics
Students in Terri Richards' Technology Panther Tech. class, have
studied many technical aspects of the Athens games including:
- special traffic lanes for the athletes and tourists
to use during the games (equivalent to our HOV lanes)
- retinal eye scans, finger print scans
- videotapes of athletes so that they may be studied
for best form and efficiency
"Discussing current events is my favorite time with my students," said
Terri, who teaches about 150 students a semester for
only the semester. She has to get to know her students
quickly and current events are
one of the best ways to do so. "Each class gets better and better,
word gets out what has been discussed early in the
day," she
said.
-reported by Terri Richards, Panther Tech. Class teacher
'Wall of Fame' Provides Time for Student Sharing
 In the physical education gym hallway at Schimelpfenig Middle
School is a "USA Wall of Fame" with
updated pictures
of the USA olympics participants. Before and after
class, the students have an opportunity to see,
read and discuss the various sports and athletes. "They
show a lot of excitement, especially if they saw the
event take place on their TV," say their physical education
coaches.
-reported by Pat Stevens, health / PE / athletics teachers
Schimelpfenig Middle School students
Rui Wang, Katie Walker and Ashley Garlanger are pictured
by the school's "Wall of Fame."
All Grade Levels at Thomas Elementary 'Go for the Gold-Read' Through
Schoolwide Reading Incentive Program
At Thomas Elementary, students are involved in a "Go For The
Gold -Read" reading
incentive program. Along with participation in the
Accelerated Reader program, students have formed seven
teams with Olympics-based titles such as Sprinters,
Wrestlers, and Swimmers. Every nine weeks, teams are
judged for best participation in various events like
"most non-fiction books read" or "most 90%-100%
comprehension on the books they have read."
At the
end of the nine weeks, one student from each grade
level who qualified in an event will receive a gold
medal and ribbon! During the nine weeks, teachers complete
gold paper circles to award special recognition
for students who show outstanding
reading ability. They write the student's name
and what he/she was observed doing, such as reading
in lunch line and checking out a
chapter book for the first time. Students' names
are announced on Friday and posted on the AR
Award Winners Wall.
A torch travels
through the school, staying in the classroom that
shows outstanding reading for one week. The
torch is walked to the class with it
illuminated (it a flashlight/fan combo) and take a
photo to show on the school's Channel 100.
-reported by Kim O'Bryon, Thomas CTA
Several Schools Participate in Mini Metric Olympics
The third graders at Hughston Elementary School and fourth graders
at Wyatt Elementary School report that they either have participated
in or are looking forward to participating in Mini Metric Olympics
activities. Students demonstrate skills in estimating and measuring
in metric units as they take part in the various events, including
the Cotton Ball Shot Put, the Right-Handed Marble Grab, Big Foot Perimeter
Measure, and the Paper Straw Javelin Throw. The mathematical Olympians
first estimate their score and then measure their efforts in metric
measurements. In keeping with the tradition of the Olympic Games,
students take great pride in their accomplishments!
-reported by Julie Seymour, Hughston; and Lisa Yancey, Wyatt; and
Mary Jeanne Higbee, Boggess
Send news for this site to:
Mary Gorden
Communications Department
mgorden@pisd.edu
(469) 752-8030
|
