Third-grade student Danielle Emery tries to balance a yardstick on her hand while tapping her nose three times with the other hand during Friday’s Olympic Games at the Oxford Elementary School.
Oxford Elementary School fifth-grade student Maegan Hewey tried to balance soda cans while other students look on during the school’s Olympic Games on Friday.
OXFORD — The second annual Olympic Games at Oxford Elementary School kicked off Friday morning with a colorful opening ceremony and games.
“Everyone picked a country, but there couldn’t be two classrooms with the same country,” explained sixth-grade student Destiny Powell, who wore a green felt hat representing Germany. Powell said she wanted to represent the European country because of a German skater she admired in an Olympics.
The games were an opportunity for the students to learn about various countries, the history of the Olympics and unity, tolerance and sportsmanship, said Melissa Guerrette, a grade-five teacher at the school and member of the Oxford Olympic Committee.
The students in grades kindergarten through six started the day with a parade of nations and opening ceremony where the “torch” was passed to the students representing Canada. Students then spent the day representing their classrooms’ countries in a variety of games, including relay races and an obstacle course, before closing ceremonies in the afternoon.
During the past few weeks as the students studied the countries they selected to represent, Powell said those who selected Germany heard Principal Alan Struck speak to them in German.
“Our principal lived in Germany for three years and taught us some German words,” she said.
Canada representative Brianna Abbott, also a sixth-grade student, said as representative of the host city for this year’s Olympic Games in Vancouver, the class was challenged to pick out things that represent Canada to show other students. In addition to learning Canada’s cultural dances and singing the song “Oh Canada,” Abbot said each student picked a province in Canada to study.
During the day, parents, who were invited to watch their children in the games, also participated in a workshop about bridging the gap between school and home.
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