New Zealand Olympians!

Today was exciting for Ilam school children as we waited outside school to cheer and support the athletes from New Zealand that went to the Olympics in London. It was a beautiful, clear, sunny day. We waved New Zealand flags and blow up sticks in support as they passed us on their tour buses.

Here is a poem about the Olympics written by Caitlin Brown:

Twinkling eyes and a mysterious smile,

lining up to run a mile.

Breathing in and breathing out,

people walking all about.

Looking out from side to side,

if you don't win at least you tried.

Standing on the winner's block,

hearing the ticking of the clock.

Puffing cheeks

and sweating neck,

I've won a gold medal,

now that's a start.

Medal Making

What, with the London Olympics about to start, we have been getting into the swing of things and learning about the ancient ones. We've also each adopted a country that we are going to track during the Olympics. This week, we are making medals from plaster of paris then engraving them with our own ancient or modern designs. For homework, we need to find a ribbon with colours that relate to our adopted country.

Spooning plaster of paris into our molds

Sanding our medals

Scraping the designs using a nail

Finished medals

Based on the women's "Heria Olympics" in ancient Greece with symbol in the middle representing the Goddess Hera, Queen of the gods. The blue and white ribbon is based on the modern Greek flag. The blue represents the blue in the waves and the white, the foam crests.