Years F & 1

Wow the Potato Olympics were super intense, but a whole lot of fun. 

On Monday we had our 100m sprint and cross country events. For the 100m sprint, we used a piece of cardboard as our ramp and the students let their athletes go to the top and see how far they would roll. We used 10 sticks as our informal units of measurement and they had to count how many tens sticks to figure out how far their athlete went. We decided to head outside and use the hill for a cross country event. The students had a chance to have a couple of practice rolls and then we started. We have learnt all about making sure that it is fair and making sure not to go before we hear the word go. 

On Tuesday we had a very serious weightlifting event. We had a five minute warm-up where the students got to practice stacking weights on top of their athletes and finding the best surface to stack them on. After practice, we got into the main event. Each coach and athlete had 2 attempts at seeing how many weights they could stack on top. There was so much concentration in the room and it was so quiet. They all supported and encouraged each other and had fun. 

On Thursday our event was called archery. Students had to roll their athletes from the start line and aim for one of the three circles on the floor to score themselves points. On the first roll, they all discovered it is not very easy to roll some of their potatoes in a straight line and always make sure they don't roll too hard or too soft. They had the chance to have five rolls and there was so much noise in the room you could tell they were all on the edge of their seats. 

Our last and final event of the Potato Olympics was diving. We filled an ice cream container with water and the students dropped their athletes into the water and we measured the splash they made. 

It has been a great deal of fun having the Potato Olympics this week and the students gave all the activities a great go. I think the athletes have well and truly earned themselves a break. 

During art on Thursday we had a go at making our own Olympic Torch. We decorated the torch and created a flame to go on top. The students did a great job and they look great sitting in the sun.