Research the Olympic Games and a host city

Ms. Brown with information retrieved from Microsoft in Education website

The Learner will Study the history of the Olympic Games, Research one summer or winter Olympic

Games hosted by a specific city, Create a brochure in Microsoft Office 2007

to present their findings and, Present your final project to your class.

In this lesson

Integrated Language Arts &Geography lesson

This Microsoft in

Education lesson has

been made appropriate

for 8th grade middle

school students.

This lesson will cover

at least 4 to 5

45 minute class periods.

Software and materials needed

Microsoft Bing or other online

encyclopedia

http://www.bing.com/maps

Olympic Games student hando

ut

How to create a theme-relat

ed brochure in Microsoft Of

fice Word 2007 (instructions

and video)

www.olympic.org

encyclopedia.com

The Learner will research the history of the

Olympic Games and the various cities and

countries that have hosted them.

The Learner will discover some of the sports

featured in the Olympics.

Objectives

The Learner will create a six-panel brochure

that showcases the culture and history of a

specific host city for the Olympic Games.

Learning outcomes

Lesson Introduction

The Olympic Games

The Olympic Games

The Olympic Games are an international sporting event held every four years (a period of time known as an Olympiad). The first modern, international Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece, in 1859.

What comes to your mind when you think about the

Olympic Games? How many countries can you name that have hosted the

Olympic Games? How many sports can you name that are part of the

games? Can you think of any significant world events related to

the Olympic Games? What well-known athletes come to mind?

The Olympic Games

The Olympic Games

Even though the four-year Olympiad period coincided with these years, no games were

held in the years 1916, 1940, or 1944.

Why not?

Let’s list our thoughts on the

overhead projector.

The actual reasons were because of

World War I

And World War II

The Olympic Games

Since 1896, there have been 29 summer games and 20 winter games.

As of 2010, the Olympic Games have been hosted by 41 cities in 22 countries.

The 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing, China.

The 2010 Winter Olympics were held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and the 2012 Summer Olympics will be held in London, England.

In this activity, you will work in groups, or

pairs, to create a brochure about the games in Vancouver or those of a previous

Olympiad. You will choose, or be assigned, either the

summer or winter games for this project, and then research the sporting events and

the host city for those games.

Student Activity

You will receive two handouts:

Step 1: "Research the Olympic Games and

one set of games in one host city"

Step 2: "Create a brochure for your Olympic

Games host city"

Student Activity

How Will You Be Assessed

Was all the necessary information included?

Were there spelling or grammatical errors?

Were proper capitalization and punctuation used?

Was accurate information presented?

Were all of the areas covered in sufficient detail?

Was the information interesting to read?

Were the pictures and graphics appropriate to the information?

Was the overall design of the words and pictures attractive?

When you have finished your

brochures, we will present your them individually to the class, grouping them by geographical region.

After all presentations have been presented, we will host a travel seminar where all groups or pairs will display their brochures around the classroom.

Your classmates will browse through all of the brochures and then vote for the city they would most like to visit or for the specific games they would most like to attend.

Then, you will assess your own and your classmates' brochures according to the assessment checklist you have received.

Conclusion

Lesson Two

An Olympic Investigation

The Learner will investigate the connection between sports

and politics related to the Olympic Games

Objectives

The Learner will create an avatar reporter report how the

Olympic Games serve as a symbol of international

cooperation, what makes them vulnerable to groups

wishing to make political statements to the world, and

what they believe such acts do or don't accomplish.

Learning outcomes

You will investigate the connection

of sports and politics by researching important political

events that have canceled, disrupted, marred, or otherwise

marked the Olympic Games (World War I, World War II, the 1936 Berlin

games, or the 1972 Munich games, for example).

An Olympic Investigation

You Will Write A Five Paragraph Essay

About How…

1. the Olympic Games serve as a symbol of international cooperation

2. what makes them vulnerable to groups wishing to make political statements to the world, and

3. what they believe such acts do or don't accomplish.

An Olympic Investigation

The Olympics & World Politics

After writing about the connection between The Olympics and World

Politics,You will create a Voki avatar to report what you have learned.

Lesson Three

A Marathon In Sandals

Collaborate with other

students and compare the

differences between ancient,

modern, and current day

Olympic Games.

Objectives

The learners will create a

Commercial presentation

using Windows Live Movie

Maker.

Learning outcomes

Think about the differences between the ancient Olympic Games, the early modern

games, and the current-day version. If the I Olympiad had commercials, what would they

be about?

Working in groups of 4-5 students, make a list of what this commercial will include.

A Marathon in Sandals

Watch the link to

Tell a story with Windows Live Movie Maker

Create a brief presentation using Windows Live Movie Maker showing how the first Olympic game commercials would appear.

Include pictures and audio found and saved through Microsoft Office tools or Yahoo, Google, or Bing Image Searches.

Cite your pictures using APA style formatting. Have one teammate type and save this information using Microsoft Office Word.

A Marathon in Sandals

Now, watch the link to

Tell a story with Windows Live Movie Maker

Although this video discusses how to make a movie about your day, you will use this

program to create your group commercial.

A Marathon in Sandals

Find one activity that sparks your interests.

Be sure to research the information using the

same websites used in the primary lesson.

When you complete each assignment, turn-in

your assignment in the Extension mailbox.

If you finish before your classmates

See the Extension Folder for the following assignments

If you finish before your classmates

Create a Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 presentation to convince the International Olympic Committee to consider their town or city as the next Olympic Games venue.

Study the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, with special attention to the geography of the Pacific Northwest; Canadian history, culture, and government; and First Nations People in British Columbia and the role of aboriginal peoples in the games.

Research the history of women's participation in the games. Write a five paragraph essay on the information you discover. Type your essay using Microsoft Office Word 2007.

Use Bing maps to pinpoint all of the cities that have hosted the Olympic Games since the inception of the modern Olympics and then analyze the visual data. What trends do they observe? What reasons are there for these trends? What recommendations would they make for future Olympic Games’ locations? Students can also read the Olympic Committee's process for choosing host cities.

Research the role of physical education in ancient Greek culture and the history of physical education in North America, and then write an essay linking or comparing the two. Type your essay using Microsoft Office Word 2007.

See the Extension Folder for the following assignments

Microsoft in Education

http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/plans/Pages/index.aspx?q=Critical%20Thinking&t=Critical%20Thinking

Microsoft in Education http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/how-to/Pages/tell-story.aspx

Pictures via Yahoo Image Search http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/how-to/Pages/theme-related-brochure.aspx

Voki Voki.com

References