Today we kicked off our two-week-long Olympics unit!

First things first…we prepared our “passports.” All of the pertinent information needed to be filled in: Name; Nationality; Date of Birth; Place of Birth; Date of Issue; Height; Weight; Eye Color; and Hair Color. The children had fun measuring each other and taking turns hopping on the scale. They also colored the venue “stamps” for their passports, but they had to give them back to me when they were done, as I’m in charge of “immigration.”

We discussed a bit of Olympics history…where they were first held, where the name “Olympics” comes from, and when the modern Olympics began. We also learned about the creation of the Olympic rings, and what they can mean. And since we were discussing the Olympic rings, we also made our paper plate rings, which have been added to our “Olympic wall.”

Today’s read-aloud was G is for Gold Medal, which was helpful to Turkey and Bunny, because their assignment in their workbooks was playing the “alphabet game,” with the Olympics as the theme. They breezed through most of the game, but Q and Y gave them some pause. Z was unusually easy though…being big fans of Greek myths, they both wrote Zeus!

We did a bit of map work, too. We spent some time talking about the different parts of the United Kingdom, and locating them on the map. We also talked a bit about the Commonwealth, and some of the member nations. Finally, we found all of the countries on our medal chart on the map. Even I needed a little help to locate Kenya!

We won’t have a big craft each day, but we’ll have pictures to color, worksheets to do, stories to read, and more Olympic facts to learn. And every day, the children will earn at least one new “stamp” for their passports. It’s going to be a fun two weeks!

Today’s Passport Stamps: “Official” Passport Stamp and Olympic Rings