How much do you know about the Olympic Games?

This month in China, the best athletes in the world will match skill and endurance in a series of contests called the Olympic Games.

The games in Beijing will have 302 events in 28 sports. Almost every nation sends teams of selected athletes to take part. The purposes of the Olympic Games are to foster the ideal of a "sound mind in a sound body" and to promote friendship among nations.

The Olympic Games began in 776 BC at Olympia in Greece. The games were held in the wooded valley of Olympia in Elis. Here the Greeks erected statues and built temples in a grove dedicated to their chief god, Zeus.

At first, the only Olympic event was a 200-yard dash, called a stadium. In 724 BC, a two-stadia race was added. Gradually, more events were added, and in 708 BC, the pentathlon became an official event. The pentathlon consisted of five events that required different athletic skills: running, wrestling, leaping, throwing the discus, and hurling the javelin. In time boxing, a chariot race, and other events were added. The victors of these games were crowned with wreaths from a sacred olive tree that grew behind the temple of Zeus. The winners marched around the grove to the sound of a flute while admirers chanted songs written by poets of the era.

The modern Olympic Games are named for athletic contests held in ancient Greece and made international in 1898. The Winter Games were added in 1928. World War I and World War II forced cancellation of the Olympics in 1916, 1940, and 1944, but they resumed in 1948 and are held every four years.

BookCarts are really lesson plans with teacher-selected resources for each inquiry-based learning activity. A BookCart can provide all the information and directions that students need for an assignment in one place--accessible both at school and at home.

ProQuest editors have created a BookCart that you can copy and use with your students so that they can learn more about the Olympics. This BookCart has more than 20 articles and websites that provide relevant and interesting information on the Olympics--"Olympic Games." It includes four examples of essential questions for critical thinking and suggested student directions for a report.

You can copy this BookCart and more than 70 other models from the ProQuest Carts collection. (Learn more.)

• Logon to the eLibrary Elementary Teacher Edition.
• Click the BookCart Admin link in the Teacher Edition.
• Click the ProQuest Carts tab.
• Click the Folder Elementary BookCarts.
• Scroll to page 2, then click the copy icon in the Actions column next to "Olympic Games."
• Return to My Local Carts.

To edit the BookCart for your students to use:

• Click the new BookCart Title (it will include the prefix "Copy of").
• Delete "Copy of" and then type your first and last name in the Author boxes.
• Type any brief and specific directions for your students to use in the Description box or create another essential question.
• Scroll down and click Save.

Pathfinder:
Click the Topics tab, type Olympic Games, click search, then cxplore the 12 topic choices that appear.

Your students should cite at least three resources from the search and create either a written report of about 100 words or an oral report of two minutes, using note cards or posters.

The report or presentation should address at least three of the following essential questions for critical thinking (you can create others):

• Why are the Olympic Games held?
• What are the most exciting Olympic events and why?
• How do the modern Olympics differ from the Ancient Olympics (for example, the role of women, the events, the countries involved)?
• What Olympic events would you add or drop to make them more interesting?
• Who are your favorite Olympic athletes and why?

Oral reports help students to share knowledge with each other, develop confidence in presenting their ideas, meet state standards, and develop essential language arts skills.




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