Year 8 Olympic Week
By Lisa Dixon | Posted: Wednesday August 17, 2016
This week the Year 8 usual programme was put on hold while we celebrated the Olympics with a sports themed week and alternative programme. Students were split into four groups named after local Olympians - Loader, Shanks, Bond and Williams and students rotated around four workshops for the day throughout the week.
Teachers worked in pairs to plan and organise programmes to cover all areas of the curriculum. Here is an outline of the week....
Ms Suszko and Mr Martin ran a workshop on Nutrition and Exercise - Eating like a Champ! They have been looking at nutrition and training. They examined the nutritional facts of different foods and learnt how to interpret the different aspects of the information. The students also tried different training techniques including HIIT and Strength training, and researched which athlete would use which techniques. A lot of fun was had by all!
Ms Dixon and Miss Napper looked at the Opening Ceremonies and the Olympic message and Legacy. After looking at previous games the students worked collaboratively in groups to plan and create a mood board of ideas around the theme - if New Zealand hosted the Olympic games - what and who would be part of the Opening Ceremony to reflect our history, culture and uniqueness? Creative and artistic skills were also evident as students were asked to create a Mascot of the NZ Olympics or a pictogram with a New Zealand feel.
Check out some of the students work....
Mr Herden and Mr Olsen Olympic Training Day
As part of our Year 8 ‘Olympic Celebration Week’ students were given the opportunity to train like an Olympian for a day. Students worked together in teams to see what sort of distance they could cover on a cross-trainer and rowing machine in two twenty-minute periods. Everyone took on the challenge and pushed themselves to their absolute limits which was great to see. All students also took part in a 500m rowing time trial. Students discovered just how hard it is to maintain a consistent pace on the rowing machine. I think we all have a newfound respect for just how impressive Mahe Drysdale’s gold medal winning performance really was! Students also participated in a relay challenge of varying distances to finish off the day. It was really impressive to see students physically pushing themselves to their limits during all challenges. Everyone took on the Olympic challenge and got a taste for just how hard our top athletes train. We just might have some future Olympians among our students at Balmacewen!
Mr Tarapi, Mrs Quelch and Mr Rowe -
The History / Issues rotation was a hive of activity. Each group was named after a famous Dunedin Olympian and the first activity was to research their name sake. It was great to have our very own Dunedin Olympian, Jonathan Duncan come in and share his 2000 Sydney experiences. It was a very inspiring presentation with the messages he gave being applicable to all aspects of life. The students were impressed by the hard work he needed to put in to achieve his Olympic dream. Viewing golden moments in our Kiwi history, researching the issues surrounding the Rio games, and participating in our very own indoor Olympics were the main activities that each group participated in. Ask your child to teach you how to flip bottles!
Image Gallery
