• Become familiar with current events

• Realize patterns of events that occur in the news at major sporting competitions

• Compare and contrast previous Olympics to the current Olympics

• Analyze news articles from a previous Games to those from the current Games

• Synthesize the patterns and types of stories written into a newspaper about a future Games

• Some familiarity with the structure of a newspaper and the different types of articles. These skills can be taught during lessons.

• Internet research (helpful but not necessary)

• Access to new sources from previous Olympics, through the Internet, newspapers, or magazines

• Paper for newspaper final product or desktop publishing software

• Current newspapers to collect current events, provided by school or by home

Discuss the role of the media at the Olympics and the kinds of information they provide to readers.  Be sure to talk about the different types of media that provide current events to the public.

Ask students to begin making a collection of news articles about the Summer Olympics.  These articles should span a large variety of topics and would be best if gathered from a variety of resources (i.e. magazines, newspapers, the Internet). 

Divide students into small groups.

While students are collecting articles from the current Games, they should also begin researching news from a previous Olympics. Encourage different groups to concentrate on different Games to provide material for classroom discussion.  Students should gather as many articles about a particular Games as possible.   (This may take two-three days.)

In their small groups, students should examine these articles and begin to categorize them based on self-selected or class-selected categories (i.e., political issues, human interest, event outcomes, general Olympics, etc.).  Once the categories have been determined, students should begin fitting their articles into the categories, and focusing their future research on articles that match the defined categories. 

Pose these three questions:

• Why do the same categories of information surface?

• Is there a particular category that outweighs another? 

• What possible conclusions can you make from this?

Based on what students have researched in small groups and have discussed in class, ask them to project into the future and create an Olympics-based newspaper. The newspaper should feature articles that fit the categories they identified earlier. Content can be as creative and varied as desired, however, the articles should reflect similar categories.

To produce the final product, a finished newspaper, students can use a desktop publishing program, or build the newspaper by hand using folded, large construction paper.  All newspapers should include a title, color pictures, and a table of contents. The newspaper should be logically organized.

This lesson could be as complicated or as simple as needed. It is intended to be a small group activity. While students are collecting their current events, instruction could be provided about the writing differences between feature articles, human interest stories, and sports stories.  This will ensure that students have a level of understanding prior to the writing component.

The writing of the newspaper could be as lengthy or as simple as needed to accomplish the objectives.  I would anticipate about a week to write, revise, and publish a final newspaper for this lesson (not including the gathering time).

Access to the Internet is not necessary, but is very helpful particularly when accessing old news records. Online newspapers are a very helpful tool for this assignment.

The New York Times : The New York Times Web site provides archived news articles. Users will need to register with the site, but will not be charged.

CNN/Sports Illustrated : This Web site focuses on the Olympics. It includes news and articles from the 1996 Atlanta Games and an Olympic Almanac.

• Computer(s)
• Internet Connection
• Desktop Publishing Software
• Internet Web Browser

• Collect current events articles.  Watch one event on TV and write a news article about it.

Gifted Students:

• Watch current events on TV and write a news article about a current Olympic events.  Record a newscast of an Olympic event.