Let The Olympic Games Begin!

I love the Olympics! To be completely honest it is the only time I watch sports. I have quite a few students this year that are very eager to start reading chapter books, especially the Magic Tree House series. For a first grade student the biggest challenge after word recognition is reading comprehension and stamina. I decided to create a unit to use as an enrichment piece for small group instruction, that would include the current events that are going on in the world. The unit was designed to accompany the Magic Tree House Book #16, Hour of the Olympics. It includes comprehension questions for each of the ten chapters, character maps, a character map writing activity, a map skills activity, four non-fiction close reads that tie in social studies elements, a compare and contrast activity, two comprehension tests with keys, an olympic sports log, a narrative writing prompt and an opinion writing prompt, an olympic craft and a gold medal graphing activity. This unit was also created with both the Summer and Winter games in mind, so that it could be a resource for either one. This is a great way to include current events and non-fiction into a whole group read aloud or small group instruction. This could also be used for literature circles. Check out some of the unit pictures below and let the games begin!