Not all the Olympic athletes are in Italy for the Winter Olympics.
Some were at Almor West Elementary School in Lawton, where Makerspace teacher Tina Llopis staged the school’s version of the games, including ice hockey, figure skating and bobsledding — along with a few nontraditional winter sports such as volleyball, cornhole and ping-pong.
The participants didn’t really care if the games were peculiar to the Winter Olympics; they just wanted to have a good time. And having a good time they were.
Llopis said she was approached by a teacher who planned to do a lesson on the Olympics and asked Llopis if she had any STEM-related activities. Llopis did some quick research and came up with some suitable games. Hence, Almor West’s version of the Winter Olympic games was staged for two days during the students’ Makerspace time. Fifth graders served as referees who taught other students how the games were played.
Llopis said she chose games that were relatively easy to play and inexpensive to set up.
At one end of the room was the bobsled course where students sent small baskets with stuffed toys inside down the track, which consisted of two white plastic box lids taped together with one end propped on chairs to make a ramp. Students could push the baskets of stuffed animals down the ramps to see which side was faster.
In the center of the room was the ice skating rink where students were encouraged to show off their best ice dancing moves. But first, they had to shed their shoes and perform in their socks. A few chose to leave their shoes on and strap “skates” to their feet — paper plates with masking tape for straps.
“It’s like skating on the ice. It’s slippery,” Kassidy Graciano, fourth grader, said as she spun around.
Perhaps the most rambunctious game was ice hockey. The puck was made from a balled up cloth held together with rubber bands and foam sticks served as hockey sticks. The referee dropped the puck between two students and then tried to stay out of the way as sticks went flying as each tried to hit the puck into a basket turned on its side to serve as the net. Students scrambled to hit the puck, often rolling around on the floor or body checking each other. In other words, pretty much like a real hockey game.
One of the tamer games was a version of cornhole where students stood behind a line and tossed a wadded up cloth into a basket.
Elsewhere, two homemade versions of ping-pong were set up on tables. A long piece of Styrofoam served as the net and ping-pong paddles were made of small hardback books wrapped in plain brown paper. Students had to use their paddles to bat a ping-pong ball back and forth. Or wherever it happened to fly.
Parker Padilla, fourth grader, who had played ping-pong, bobsled and ice dancing, said ping-pong was his favorite. As for what sport he might like to try in the Winter Games, he said he wouldn’t mind taking a run on a bobsled.
“I feel like it’s a lot of fun; it’s racing,” said Padilla, who plays softball and football. “I think it’s really cool they did this for us.”
Yael Salcedo, fifth grader, was one of those acting as a referee and was helping with volleyball and ice hockey.
“We are making sure they don’t get hurt and they have fun,” Salcedo said. “We explain the rules of the game. The first graders are fun. They are really nice.”
Zhariella Badershall, fifth grade, also was helping supervise some of the games.
“I think it’s really fun,” Badershall said. “I think they learned that there are different kinds of Olympic games. Some things may sound weird, but are really fun.”
Unlike the real Winter Olympics, everyone who participated in Almor West’s Winter Olympics was a winner, receiving a sucker as their gold medal.