Integrating Sport's Day across the whole library curriculum is a great way to introduce various library concepts while supporting a school-wide activity.
The Book:You Wouldn't Want to be a Greek Athlete by Michael Ford. A quick and lively storytelling of this fact-filled book allows you to point out reasons why you would NOT want to be in the Olympics of ancient Greece. Number One reason (requires that you show the picture on Page 16) the all male athletes were required to participate naked. After mentioning that you are guaranteed to have a captive audience.
The Video: 'Sport at Heart', the award-winning film featuring David Beckham, Amir Khan, Sir Roger Moore and other famous British icons is an uplifting promotional video for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The underlying message is that you can always do something to make yourself feel proud and it showcases various Olympic activities set against the exciting backdrop of modern London that many students will recognize. In the library we are now able to download the video beforehand and save it on the hard drive which makes viewing it much more seamless. It is a good idea to show it twice (especially as most of the classes will beg you to)
The Lesson: The series of books titled You Wouldn't Want to be... are located in many areas of the library due to the fact that they cover different subjects and as such have specific Dewey numbers. 3rd-5th grade students find out what books are available using the online catalog, as well as pick a book that would interest them. For the younger students having a few of these books available for them to look at as well as other books about sports makes the library visit more meaningful.
Making the Connection
Here are some handy hints should you wake up tomorrow and instead of going to Sports Day you find yourself participating at the Olympics in 5th Century Greece: 1. There are 5 sports in the pentathlon - but be sure to leave wrestling for last as you may well get injured and not be able to participate any more. 2. Beware of the Deadly Discus. Many Greek legends mention accidents in sports. 3. Don't think that even if you manage to reign victorious you will get any monetary compensation. Just like today, the only prizes are recognition.