Olympics Lesson Plan: Culture

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Olympics Lesson Plan.

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Olympics, and supports the standard of understanding the historical importance and social impact of this international cultural event. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ask students:

• Which Olympic event would you most like to see and why?
• What do you think it takes to be an Olympic-level athlete?
• If you were to compete in the Olympics, which sport would you choose and why?

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

• Read the description on the Olympics topic page.
• Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
• Have students read one of the following Related Reading articles: “Famous Faces” or “Way Back When”. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
  

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Students take the Olympics Challenge and Quiz, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about the Olympics while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs. 

• Make-a-Movie: Produce a mini-documentary about how the cultural significance of the Olympics has changed over time.
• Make-a-Map: Create a timeline of events from Olympic history, beginning with its Ancient Greek origins.
• Creative Coding: Code a digital museum exhibit featuring symbols and figures from Olympic history.
• Primary Source Activity: Examine and analyze a photo from the 1936 Olympics.

More to Explore

Time Zone X: Olympics: Place historical events in chronological order in this interactive timeline game.

Culture Unit: Continue to build understanding around traditions and events with more BrainPOP topics.

Teacher Support Resources:

• Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students to stop, think, and express ideas. 
• Learning Activities Modifications: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.