Since 1924, ski jumping has been one of the exciting sports at the Winter Games. However, until 2014, only men were able to compete in the sport. This year, history will be made when women will be allowed to participate in ski jumping for the very first time! It took female athletes, including American Lindsey Van and Jessica Jerome(and other women athletes from around the world), to sue the International Olympic Committee for gender discrimination to get the organization to change their ruling on the issue. Now, world female ski jumpers such as Sara Takanashi(Japan), Jessica Jerome(USA), Atsuko Tanaka(Canada),Carina Vogt(Germany), Irina Avvakumova(Russia), Sarah Hendrickson(USA and 2013 World Cup Champ) and Lindsey Van(USA), will be athletes to watch beginning on February 11th,when many of these women and more will be competing in ski jumping at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia!
Extension Activities:
A. Think of three descriptive adverbs to describe your feelings as you ski down a 10 story ramp going about 60 mph just before taking flight into the air.
B. Write a paragraph describing your first ski jump at the winter games.
C. The sport of ski jumping began in the country of Norway. What do you know about Norway? Write a fact about the country(note:not that they started the sport of ski jumping). Look up Norway at this link: http://www.timeforkids.com/destination/norway Write a travel postcard pretending to visit Norway and write 3 specific things learned about Norway in your postcard.
D. Women athletes worked to get the IOC to change their ruling on the ban of women competing in ski jumping at the olympic games. Is there an issue that you feel strongly about? What is it? Why do you think this needs to be changed in some way?
If you are planning to discuss the historic games,which began in Greece,with your students, you may find my web quest of value to use in your classroom. The web quest uses informational text for each of the 10 web questions. Lots of fun facts are also included as well as extension activities. Click here to learn more:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Winter-Games-2014-are-coming-A-WebquestExtension-Activities-1021833
Additionally, the 2014 Winter Games would be a great opportunity to introduce your students to the country of Russia. I have developed a resource which contains 11 web questions, fun facts, lots of extension activities and a map activity which you may find of value, too! Click here to learn more: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Russia-Country-in-FocusWebquestExtension-Activities-914233
Learn about the country of Greece, home to where the games originated:
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