Olympics teach life lessons to Babler Elementary students

Teachers are taking advantage of the Winter Olympics in their classrooms. Fifth graders at Babler Elementary School have spent the last few weeks reading, writing and talking about the sports and athletes in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

"Luge is not just any sledding," said Austin Wright, a student. "It's not just sledding. It's a race that's 1,300 meters long on 3.8 centimeters of ice."

The Winter Olympics aren't new, but many of the students didn't even know that such sports existed until they started reading about them.

"I'm getting to know about freestyle skiing and it sounds interesting," said Tanika Cole, a student.

Arguably, most people are familiar with the Summer Olympics with its signature track and field and swimming events. But as these Babler students learned, the winter games have been around since 1924. The first competition was in France and it's been repeated just about every four years.

Drew Moser says in addition to his class work, he plans to watch the Olympics every day. "I picked snowboarding because I like snowboarding in my backyard and I think its fun," said Drew.

Educators hope that students will get a lot of the research project. The students will learn about setting goals and that it takes hard work to achieve those goals.

"It gives them long range goals and that's something we do every single day," said Paul Godwin, Assistant Principal at Babler Elementary. "We focus on learning goals whether it is per day, per week or per quarter. So, it kind of gives them big, real world approach of education tied into athletics as well."

Students in other local school districts, including St. Louis City, are working on Olympic themed projects.