The Home Page Network

The Unified Arts/Specials Teachers at Canton Elementary completed a collaborative activity with the third-grade students in a variety of activities based on the Summer International Olympics to help encourage pride for our country and always supporting each other. In Music class, students learned the National Anthem. In Art class, students used a variety of materials to create a torch that had a battery-operated candle to represent the Olympics Opening Ceremony torch lighting event. In Library class, students chose a country to represent in the Olympics and then researched that Country. In Gym class, students learned about Summer Olympic events and competed against each other in the various sports. The culminating activity for this project was to have all third-grade students come to the gym on two dates. The first, Thursday, April 24th, was to create an opening ceremony activity that involved each of the teams parading into the dark gym with their lit torches. This was followed by them singing The National Anthem together. Each class was encouraged to dress the colors of the Country that they had selected or red, white and blue. On the second date, Monday, April 28th, classes combined to announce the event winners and congratulate the country with the highest amount of medal placement in the sporting events. Select students also read some facts about their country they represented and made it a simple closing ceremony event.

To promote the activities and to obtain family feedback to use for the project, teachers sent home a survey in February. Many families’ response showed that many of them do not watch the Olympics as a family, some were due to network broadcasting and not using a television in this technology driven environment. Teachers did receive feedback on their nationality and family heritage responses from several families, which was one of the questions on the survey.

The students loved learning about the history of the Olympics and how they are contributing to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.

This project allowed the teachers to learn more about students and their home lives. Students were able to make a personal connection to their learning, while being excited to participate, and they loved the connection between the activities they did in their various Special classes.