March 5, 2018 at 3:35 p.m.
Little Olympians: NCES students participate in PBIS Olympics
Little Olympians: NCES students participate in PBIS Olympics
By Kayla Thomason-
The students were assgned different countries to represent as they competed in eight events - bobsled racing, curling, biathlon, slalom snowboarding, dog sled racing, jump rope relay, cotton ball shot put, and figure skating.
Alex Bontz, principal and fifth-grade teacher, said he was pleased by the students' enthusiastic response to the competition and announced the school will hold more Olympic events in the future.
"We're definitely going to do this again, it's a great PBIS celebration," he said. "We'll do a summer one, our goal is to have that one outside and the winter ones will be inside, and to keep having fun as a school atmosphere."
Bontz said Emily Merryfield, a first-grade teacher, mentioned the idea and the school came together to brainstorm.
Bontz oversaw was bobsledding competition and noted that the children grinning from ear-to-ear and cheering throughout.
"They love it, we talk a lot using teamwork in a four-person bobsled and how hard it is and talk about the real Olympics - they go 80 miles an hour- and slow and steady is kind of winning the race now," he said.
Julie Gerth, 4K and kindergarten teacher, said she loved watching the children have a good time.
"It's a wonderful activity to help review what the Olympics means," she said. "In this class we learned about the color of the rings and their meaning, we went on YouTube and checked out some of the actual events that happened at this prior Winter Olympics."
She said her students enjoyed watching the curling because it was a different sport.
Gerth was originally going to do a snowshoeing event outside, but quickly decided against it due to lack of time with the students getting winter gear on. Instead they chose slalom snowboarding.
"We used some stale marshmallows that I forgot to close up over the weekend and we made our little flags with Play-Doh and we're ready to rock," she explained.
The students, armed with straws, had to blow the marshmallow around their gates down the length of tables and - like in the real sport - they could not miss a gate or fall (in the student's case their marshmallow couldn't fall off the table).
Fifth grader Iain Rumney competed for France and his favorite event was the bobsled.
"It's awesome," he said, adding that watched the PyeongChang Olympics and learned that "you need to be a good sport because one girl wasn't a good sport and she didn't qualify," he said.
Competing or Norway, another fifth grader, Dominick Itzke, reveled in the thrill of victory.
"It's kind of fun and I like it," he said. "It's actually making me feel like I'm a champ."
From observing the Olympics Itzke said he learned a valuable lesson.
"I learned that it's not about winning, it's about respecting the other teams," he said.
The PBIS events are a school-wide fun activity to reward the students for good behavior.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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