Winter Olympics spark math activity at Lewes Elementary

Students in Missy Snyder and Shannon Phile’s fourth-grade classes at Lewes Elementary School recently transformed their classroom into an Olympic arena, using the excitement of the competitive games to strengthen their measurement skills through creative, hands-on activities.

Inspired by the Olympic spirit, students competed in three themed events: Downhill, Dancing and Diving, each designed to reinforce math concepts in length, time and volume.

In the Downhill event, students placed their “potato athlete” at the top of a ramp and let it roll. Using a meter stick, they measured the distance from the bottom of the ramp to where the potato stopped, recording results in centimeters. The gold medal went to “Karen Jr.,” the potato that traveled an impressive 300 centimeters.

During the Dance event, potato athletes were spun on a flat surface and timed to see how long they would rotate. Students carefully measured time to the hundredth of a second, cheering on their competitors as they practiced precision and accuracy. The gold medalist, “Sonic,” spun for 3.91 seconds.

The most anticipated event was Diving. Potato athletes plunged into a container filled with 1,000 milliliters of water. After each splash, students measured the remaining water and subtracted that amount from 1,000 to determine how much water had been displaced. The event ended in a four-way tie for gold, with each winning dive displacing just 50 milliliters.

“Our goal was to make measurement meaningful and memorable,” said Snyder. “By connecting math skills to something exciting like the Olympics, students were fully engaged and eager to apply what they’ve learned. Seeing their enthusiasm and their careful attention to accuracy was incredible.”

Through friendly competition and collaborative learning, students strengthened their understanding of measurement while experiencing the joy of learning in action. At Lewes Elementary, fourth-grade math students truly earned the gold.