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I'm starting to brainstorm ideas for Winter Olympic activities. I'm curious if anyone else has ideas or experience schooling around an event like this. My husband says it's my justification for watching hours of Olympic coverage during the school day...

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About 2 weeks before EVERY Olympics, we do a weeklong unit study.

We study a bit about the host city & country, & prior years' hosts, finding the cities on the world map.

Then compile a list of the 16 major sporting events, grouped into 5 days worth of topics:

      Speed-skating, Cross Country-type skiing, Luge, Alpine, and Ice-centered events.

Usually you can get lots of info from the official website:  www.sochi2014.com/en

It's also fun to compare the various gold medal designs over the years.

And follow the Torch's relay path--this time it went up to the Space Station.

 

Thank you (truly) for the reminder to get this planned out for January!

 

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For the 2010 Winter Olympics, we did a very nice lapbook study that I purchased from CurrClick. I'm usually not one to buy stuff like that, but we really enjoyed it. It was for grades 2-7 and was by "A Journey Through Learning." Parts of it were specific to the 2010, but it covered history, the events, torch relay, etc.

 

Erica in OR

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We didn't start homeschooling til the beginning of 2012 and are still trying to figure out all the things I want to incorporate and how to make that happen.  Thanks for the reminder about the Olympics!  Anyone with additional ideas or resource suggestions, I am definitely "listening" in.  I was thinking of getting Chariots of Fire.  Any other movies that involve the Olympics?

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I know there are several movies about the US Men's Hockey Team gold medal game in 1980.

I'm sure there are youtubes of famous Olympic moments.

This is a great idea.

 

Another thing I discovered this morning is that 6 new events have been added to 2014 Olympics:

Ski half-pipe, Women's ski jump, biathlon mixed relay, figure skating team event, and luge team relay.

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We didn't start homeschooling til the beginning of 2012 and are still trying to figure out all the things I want to incorporate and how to make that happen.  Thanks for the reminder about the Olympics!  Anyone with additional ideas or resource suggestions, I am definitely "listening" in.  I was thinking of getting Chariots of Fire.  Any other movies that involve the Olympics?

 

Not exactly a classic, but we liked the movie Cool Runnings about the Jamaican bobsled team trying to make it to the Olympics.

 

Erica in OR

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TeachersPayTeachers has a free download for a lesson plan involving kids creating their own Winter Olympics sport....(along with 9 other free downloads regarding other subjects) available right now; you have to be a member, for those who don't know, but membership is free).

 

And Teacher Vision apparently has a slew of lesson plans and support material for the Olympics, including some specific to 2014, but I haven't had a chance to look any of it over yet.  There is a yearly membership fee, and a lot of the material is geared to a classroom setting, but I have been able to adapt things to a homeschool setting in the past.  I forgot to check here for possibilities earlier but will try to dig through over the next few days.  If I find any good gems I will post it.  If you are a member, most of the materials on the site are free and there are TONS and TONS of different lessons and support materials for zillions of different topics and subjects (some more useful than others).

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I posted this during the summer Olympics: please don't forget to include information about the Paralympics during your Olympic study. The Paralympics are for ELITE athletes with PHYSICAL disabilities, held two weeks after the Olympics using the same venues. The Paralympics does not get near the media coverage the Olympics does, but I can assure you these athletes work just as hard, have just as much heart, and your children will be better by learning about these athletes and realizing those with disabilities can do anything.

 

Zimom

Mom to a possible future Paralympian

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Amanda Bennett's Unit Study on the Winter Olympics 2014 is ready!!!! It's only $5 for a few more days!!!!!! http://www.unitstudy.com/Olympics2014.html

This. Only $5 through the 11th. It has a seperate (free) lapbook component as well. Lots of info about Russia and the different sports. Links to videos. Includes an upper and lower level. Looking forward to it!

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I'm not sure if it was this one or not, but I remember one special we got  that showed the athletes nude as they competed... We turned that one off..  So just be careful...

Thanks for the warning!  I plan to screen it this weekend.  I don't think they competed nude in the rebooted Olympics, but I know they did in the original.  Hopefully, this is just showing how the Olympics got started again without any inappropriate visuals regarding the original Olympics...I will post either way once I find out.

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Not exactly a classic, but we liked the movie Cool Runnings about the Jamaican bobsled team trying to make it to the Olympics.

 

Erica in OR

 

Found it on clearance and bought it for $5.  Thanks!  I had forgotten about that movie.  My son LOVES comedies.

Amanda Bennett's Unit Study on the Winter Olympics 2014 is ready!!!!  It's only $5 for a few more days!!!!!!  http://www.unitstudy.com/Olympics2014.html

 

Buying it tonight.  Awesome!

 

I posted this during the summer Olympics: please don't forget to include information about the Paralympics during your Olympic study. The Paralympics are for ELITE athletes with PHYSICAL disabilities, held two weeks after the Olympics using the same venues. The Paralympics does not get near the media coverage the Olympics does, but I can assure you these athletes work just as hard, have just as much heart, and your children will be better by learning about these athletes and realizing those with disabilities can do anything.

 

Zimom

Mom to a possible future Paralympian

You are absolutely right and I feel really terrible that I had not thought of this.  I have a cousin in Special Olympics, and would love to incorporate that, too.

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Knowledge Box also has an Olympics lap book study that is available on Currclick for $1. Sorry, I can't link it on the iPad.

Here's the link...

 

http://www.currclick.com/product/89369/2014-Winter-Olympics-Lapbook

 

A Journey Through Learning has one for $1 also...

 

http://www.ajourneythroughlearning.net/wiol20lawist1.html

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Thanks for that link to all the Olympic educational resources.  Wow.

 

And here is a pdf of all the Winter Game gold medals (1924 to present):

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.olympic.org%2FAssets%2FOSC%2520Section%2Fpdf%2FQR_2E.pdf&ei=d0rUUtLZBYze7AbIr4HwCA&usg=AFQjCNER9mBASC_4U2l6st8cnYC0P_GSPQ&bvm=bv.59026428,d.ZG4

It's a 1.5 MB download

 

Found this book at the library:

Freeze Frame: A Photographic History of the Winter Olympics (2006)

http://www.amazon.com/Freeze-Frame-Photographic-History-Olympics/dp/B005B1LIIQ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1389644248&sr=8-5&keywords=freeze+frame

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I'm SO excited about this now.  I bought Amanda Bennett's unit study for the olympics, and it has a TON of video links embedded in the document (several per day, mostly very short videos, <2 minutes long).  My husband's chromecast just arrived for his birthday and I'm super thrilled.  I put the unit study document in my dropbox folder so I can access it from my phone. There, I just click on the link and set it to "cast" over to our tv.  We can all sit around, watch it on the tv, then switch over to the book or whatever.  I can't wait to get started, no clustering around a too-small laptop screen in the kitchen, just comfy couch and hanging out. 

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Does anyone know how to watch the Olympics if you don't have a TV?

 

How to watch online?

 

Alley

I'm not an expert, missed last Olympics. But now I have Aereo, which allows you to watch broadcast tv on your computer or on a TV using roku or similar device. Aereo is not in all areas yet, though. Skitter is similar, I think. Btw, Aereo is $8/month.

 

Some people here used a tunnel app (Bear Tumnel?), which allows you to act as though you were in Britain, where Olympic coverage is not so restricted.

 

It makes me mad that NBC has so much control over Olympic broadcasts.

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We started the amanda bennet unit study this week. its very good but be aware that if you are not in the US some of the video links can't be played outside the country. No big deal really...I just substitute the american stuff for Australia stuff and study our own Olympic Heros rather then the American ones. Today we watched Cool Runnings to go with the bobsled study.

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