Pupils at Heritage Middle School made some special memories last week during the second annual Seventh Grade Olympics, where they had the opportunity to participate in a series of events involving intellect, athletics and artistic abilities. Last year’s event generated so much positive response and unity among teachers and students that they decided to do it again. The idea started with educator Jake Thuman and before long, the entire seventh grade staff was involved. In addition to creating a fun week for Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) classes, educators were also able to incorporate multiple areas of curriculum. Social Studies classes focus on Greek culture this time of the year and Language Arts pupils read materials relating to Greek Mythology. The Olympic Games were designed around these two content areas, but also included a touch of math and science.
Each SSR class was assigned a god and the objective of the Games was for pupils to participate in different events to “honor” those gods through contests like Trivia, Minute to Win It, a relay race, and a banner competition. During the Closing Ceremony on October 6, teachers dressed up like the gods their SSR represented and were joined by administrators in costume as winners were announced before a raucous lunchroom filled with laughing students.