TeachersFirst's Olympics Resources
Winter or summer, the Olympics provide teaching opportunities across the curriculum for students of all ages. Browse these options for curriculum connections to light the Olympic flame in your classroom.
Explore all of our resources related to the Olympics.

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Pierre de Coubertin in Search of a Sustainable Stadium - The Olympic Museum
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): architecture (62), olympics (41), sustainability (38)
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for use during any Olympic Games, but is also a great addition to any unit on the environment. Have students explore on their own to learn more about the thought process that goes into designing and constructing a large building. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare and contrast areas before and after the construction of the stadium. Challenge students to create a presentation using Slides, reviewed here, to present their view on the proper placement and design of a stadium located near your town. Older students or more experienced technology users could use Sway, reviewed here, for this presentation. Sway creates unique multimedia projects using text, images, and media. Change the look of your Sway using the Mood and Remix tools to change the color palette, layout, and fonts.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Ready or Not, Let the Games Begin - Esri
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): maps (208), olympics (41), pollution (47), south america (35), sports (77)
In the Classroom
If you like this resourse, you can create a similar story map using Odyssey, reviewed here, to create your own stories for any subject, perhaps an overview of the Olympics at the end of the games or a profile of a notable Olympic athlete. View this story together with your class, then divide students into groups to learn more about Brazil and South America. Include this site with your current events discussions as you compare security threats across the globe, pollution issues, or health concerns such as the Zika virus.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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USA Today Rio Olympics Guide - YouTube - USA Today
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): olympics (41), south america (35), sports (77)
In the Classroom
Share videos with your students as you follow the Summer Olympic games from your classroom. Use the "how to watch" sports videos as a model, then have students create their own videos describing how to watch their favorite sport. Share their videos on a site such as TeacherTube, reviewed here. Research Olympic athletes and their countries, then have cooperative learning groups create podcasts sharing news about the Olympics. Use a site such as podOmatic, reviewed here to complete a podcasting project.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Fractions of a Second: An Olympic Musical - The New York Times
Grades
3 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
View this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector and listen together to the different spacings of finishes by event. Challenge students to create timelines of finishes for other Olympic events (with music, photos, videos, and more) using Timeline JS, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Winter Olympics: Sport by Sport - ESPN
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Share this site with students to provide an overview of Winter Olympic sports, the history, and some of the key figures in each event. Have groups of students create a simple infographic sharing their findings using Easel.ly, reviewed here or Venngage reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Innovative Classroom - Innovative Classroom
Grades
K to 5This site includes advertising.
tag(s): bulletin boards (13), classroom management (131), counting (58), density (18), fractions (160), gettysburg address (13), heat (15), holidays (142), human body (90), map skills (55), martin luther king (40), olympics (41), painting (57), place value (34)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site for use throughout the year. Explore the center activities to use in your classroom. Search lessons for ideas to incorporate. Print behavior and classroom management ideas for use with students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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History for Kids - history-for-kids.com
Grades
K to 6This site includes advertising.
tag(s): boston (10), california (15), dinosaurs (38), england (51), gold rush (14), greece (25), landmarks (17), myths and legends (21), olympics (41), romans (32), vikings (10)
In the Classroom
Make history (and mythology) come alive in your classroom with a little rhythm and rhyme! Use the poems to supplement your instruction while even adding tambourines, clapping, tapping, or toe tapping reaching all learners. Share the actual poem on your projector or interactive whiteboard. If you want students to have a hard copy of the poem (to use as a study guide), print it out. Otherwise, save paper and share the link on your class website. If you can't find the history or mythology topic you are studying, it is time for your students to make their own rhymes. Enhance learning by having students use the formate for one of the History for Kids poems and create their own poems with photos and images using Elementari, reviewed here. This tool allows adding audio and text to a picture. To find Creative Commons images for student poems (with credit, of course), try Pikwizard, reviewed here. Have a poetry day featuring what you have studied in history. Be sure to add your students' projects to your class website or blog. Gifted students will enjoy the challenge while struggling learners will enjoy the reinforcement of the main ideas.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Olympics: Math Puzzles and a Game - Lets Play Math!
Grades
1 to 8This site includes advertising.
tag(s): charts and graphs (162), data (136), estimation (34), logic (162), mean (20), median (16), mode (13), olympics (41), operations (73), sports (77)
In the Classroom
Explore previous medal counts with your students and ask them to predict this year's counts and graph as the games occur. Compare all three sets of data to find trends and abnormalities. Have students create online posters on paper or do it together as a class using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard, reviewed here, or PicLits, reviewed here. Create posters of favorite Olympic athletes, sports, or competing nations. Create a link on classroom computers to the Math Playground Olympics game and challenge students to find out how much they know about the Olympics.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Science of the Olympic Winter Games - Nantional Science Foundation
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): olympics (41)
In the Classroom
Share these videos on an interactive whiteboard or projector, being sure to have student use the whiteboard tools as you pause the video so students can draw lines to illustrate forces and other concepts. Have student groups watch different videos and report back on the theoretical science AND the actual results from that sport, connecting the science concepts to the actual results they see in competition. Use a video annotation tool such as MoocNote, reviewed here, for easy sharing with the class. Even younger students can benefit from the videos as an overview of more advanced concepts, provided you preview vocabulary, then stop and discuss more challenging words during the video. Your students will want the link to this site, so share it on your class web page. You can also embed the videos right in your web page, blog, or wiki. Have students write about the embedded piece, adding their own commentary of the actual Olympics based on the video.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Official Website of the Olympics - Olympic.org
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): olympics (41)
In the Classroom
The possibilities at this website are endless. Use your interactive whiteboard or projector to share the MANY videos, information about the athletes, and many other activities. Use the site for research purposes about specific athletes or sports. Have students create multimedia presentations about events, athletes, or countries using this site. Create a class Olympics Wiki! Not comfortable with wikis? Have no wiki worries - check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Classroom Olympics - AIMS Education Foundation
Grades
1 to 5tag(s): creativity (92), mass (17), olympics (41)
In the Classroom
Use this FREE and READY TO GO resource to have the Olympic Games in your classroom. Print off the certificates for your students. Invite students' families to the games (if space permits).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Create Your Own Classroom Olympic Games - Education World
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): measurement (124), olympics (41), sports (77), statistics (108)
In the Classroom
Bring the Olympics into your classroom. Share these "ready to go" sports with your students. Then have students try to invent their own Olympic games to share with the class. Why not video and share the Olympics using a site such as TeacherTube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Olympic Sports - Myvocabulary.com
Grades
4 to 10tag(s): olympics (41), sports (77), vocabulary (233)
In the Classroom
Share the puzzles on your interactive whiteboard or projector or make them available as links on your teacher public page. Have students (or groups) create their own illustrated dictionaries of terms using a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here. As you add more vocabulary lists during the year, have them select their favorite 6-10 terms from each list to add to their "book."Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Gateway to the Summer Games - EdGate
Grades
2 to 8In the Classroom
Use this information to enhance your Olympic unit. The lesson plans and activities require very little preparation. Challenge your students to research the various countries that have hosted the Olympics in the past and create multimedia presentations to share on your interactive whiteboard or projector.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Word Search Puzzles - Primarygames.com
Grades
1 to 5tag(s): christmas (38), earth (178), earth day (60), easter (9), fall (10), holidays (142), kwanzaa (13), labor day (6), olympics (41), spelling (93)
In the Classroom
Share a search on your interactive whiteboard (use student FINGERS to circle the words!). Or make it a center as one of several options for spelling and vocabulary. Your students may ask you to include the link on your teacher web page so they can try some from home, as well.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Archaeology's Ancient Olympics Guide - Archaeological Institute of America
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): greece (25), greek (33), greeks (29), olympics (41), sports (77)
In the Classroom
Use this site for a jigsaw activity on the culture importance of the festival of Olympia in ancient Greek society. Have students work with partners and read the interviews about Beijing.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Science and the Olympics - WhyFiles
Grades
4 to 10In the Classroom
Why not do an eight day unit based on this website. Highlight a new category each day on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Or divide your students into small groups and assign each group one of the eight topics to explore. This site would tie into social studies, health, physical education, technology, and other subject areas.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936 - Smithsonian Holocaust Museum
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): german (48), germany (26), olympics (41), world war 2 (138)
In the Classroom
Use this site to spark a discussion and study of the role of the Olympics in politics and foreign policy (especially during an Olympic year as an extension of your study of current events). You may want to share some of the video clips on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Why not have a class debate about the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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