Clinton students travel back in time to experience thrill of Olympics

November 26, 2024

Clinton Elementary School students transported themselves back to 776 B.C. this fall when they held their own version of ancient Greece’s most popular festival.
 
Dozens of Comets went time traveling on the playground during the Clinton Second Grade Olympics. They threw rubber balls for the shot put, launched rubber sticks for the javelin and cheered for each other in relay races as teachers and family members looked on.

 
Ariana beamed as she handed the baton to Reada near the corner of the playground. She then exchanged wide smiles with Mae as they watched the next runners move toward the school building. Both said they were having a good time during the sunny morning.
 
“This is fun because my family said they would be here, and they were,” Ariana said. “I can’t believe I saw them at school.”
 
“The teacher was telling us about it and it sounded like it would be a lot of fun,” Mae said. “We were all excited for today.”
 
Reada also said he was enjoying his first Olympic experience. He said his favorite part of the day was “foot running” in the relay race with his friends.
 
Which medal did he want to win?
 
“Yellow for the first,” Reada said.
 
Amy Ziegler smiled as she oversaw one of the exchange stations on the relay course. Ziegler teaches English Learners students in second grade classrooms at Clinton. She said the Comets were making their history lessons come to life with the outdoor activities.
 
“It means a lot to them to get to celebrate everything that they’ve learned,” Ziegler said. “They’ve spent this whole unit learning about ancient Greek civilization and learning about the Olympics and how that was a big contribution from ancient Greek civilization, so it’s nice for them to be able to take what they were learning and associate this fun memory with it.”
 
Early elementary students at Lincoln Public Schools are taught social studies concepts each year through the use of short texts, pictures and videos. Students in kindergarten through third grade become familiar with their community, nation and world through a wide variety of lessons.
 
For example, LPS second graders like Ariana, Mae and Reada are learning how to describe characteristics of a good community member and how they help their towns and cities. They studied Lincoln maps earlier this fall to discover what a neighborhood looks like, and they have been gaining knowledge about the three branches of American government.

The Olympics event was tied to the second grade portion of the school district’s Amplify CKLA curriculum. It connected to Lesson 4 (“The Olympic Games”) and Lesson 8 (“Marathon”) of a unit called “Ancient Greek Civilization.”
 
The ancient Greece unit at Clinton fit in well with the curriculum because of the civilization’s importance to modern-day life. Greeks invented the earliest form of a democracy, which is a combination of the Greek words “demos” (people) and “kratos” (rule). The first known democracy in the world took place in Athens.
 
Greeks also developed a festival that was the forerunner of the modern-day Olympics. They held games at Olympia from 776 B.C. to 393 A.D. in open-air buildings. The first events were only held on the track, but pentathlon contests – long jump, javelin throw, discus throw, footrace and wrestling – were introduced in 708 B.C.
 
Ziegler said students enjoyed learning basic facts about the Olympics and how they became a central part of Greek culture. They were thrilled when they realized they would get to spend an hour discovering how it would have felt to compete at Olympia.
 
“They get to experience what the Olympics were like for themselves,” Ziegler said. “They’re having a lot of fun. They’ve been looking forward to it.”
 
Students began the day by taking part in the Clinton Opening Ceremony. They used crayons and markers to make flags and waved them in the air as they walked around one half of the playground.
 
The classes then went to different sections of the playground for their games. Students rotated through all of the events so everyone could try them out.
 
Clinton teacher Emily Bretting reminded her class of the ground rules before they started playing. She said having fun and learning about history were the primary reasons that the Comets were hosting their Olympics. She reinforced the social emotional learning lessons that are taught to all elementary students at LPS.
 
“Are we going to get mad if we don’t finish first?” Bretting asked.
 
“No,” her students said in unison.
 
Ziegler said the high fives and smiles that she saw during the morning made it a rewarding experience to be a part of. She felt Clinton’s time-traveling moments on the playground had been successful for everyone.
 
“It’s nice to see them have fun and cheer each other on and just have a good time,” Ziegler said. “They’re making fun memories at school, which is really neat to see.”

Do you have a story idea? Share it with the LPS Communications Team by filling out this form!

---