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PIERCETON - The Olympics kicked off early for third-graders at Pierceton Elementary School, and they didn't even have to travel to Nagano.
Ending their reading-class study of ancient Greece, the five third-grade classes held their own Olympic games Thursday, complete with opening ceremony, seven races and a closing awards ceremony.
In the opening ceremony, students marched into the gym in Olympic tradition, bearing the flag and a torch. The races included a chariot race, discus throw, long-jump, a marathon and relays. During the awards ceremony, the event winners were announced and given "medals" as they stood on risers on the gym stage. The torch was extinguished and taken out of the gym to signify the end of the games.
The Olympics were the last activity in the students' reading-program study of Greece. The new reading curriculum combines traditional reading skills with creative activities and fun.
Pierceton Elementary is one of only two schools in Indiana and only 20 in the country that have implemented a new reading program by Saxon publishing. Teachers say the program helps reinforce many of the elements of reading the students learn.
All five classes began using the reading program this year after piloting the Saxon math program several years ago.
"There are a lot of skills to it," teacher Julie Underhill said. "They read one story every day and do a lot of activities."
For the pilot program, the teachers keep a journal of their activities and work to give the publishers feedback on what works with the children. Pierceton Elementary principal Ruth Jones said they hope the fourth-grade reading program will be completed for next year so the children who began it this year will be able to continue without interruption. The curriculum will eventually be made for grades 2-6.
"I have seen kids grow more in reading," Underhill said. She said they have better reading, language and writing skills, as well as "lots of fun activities."
Underhill said the reading program involves the students with geography and map skills as well.
"I've seen the kids grow more with skills," she said. "They're becoming very good readers."
Ninety-four students this year have studied Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece and will go on to study Rome, Western Europe, the United States and Australia.
Students Adam Nicodemus and Kelly McKinney agree that the reading program is fun. McKinney says she enjoyed learning about the Egyptian mummies and pyramids, while Nicodemus said he liked the Greek characters. The classes even learned all the Greek gods and goddesses.
Underhill said the students have reading homework every night and reading conferences every day for at least 40 minutes. In the conferences, they work on language, English, writing and map skills using geography, proverbs and stories. The class also shares a conversation time, telling what they are learning in a more casual environment.
"I am very, very impressed with the reading program," Jones said. "I think the math [program] has done wonders. I'm so glad they made a language arts program."
