The weather was wonderful. The pool was pristine. The swimmers were psyched. Let the long-awaited swim gala begin!
After some brief welcoming words by Mr. Collins, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Serge gathered the third grade girls to the blocks for the first freestyle event. One after another, in a steady stream, swimmers showed off their strokes and skills – breaststroke, backstroke, and butterfly.
After a series of lengths, the swimmers switched to widths, adding kickerboards and noodles to the mix. A few people got especially fancy, doing somersaults and such around their noodles.
The swim gala was a perfect event to end our month of risk-taking and our unit on struggle. For some, swimming was a brand new skill; for others, it was a skill to be strengthened and stretched. For all, it was an opportunity to grow.
Multiple Sources
- Benefits of Swimming – Livestrong.com
- 16 Values of Swimming
Challenge: Fun with Figurative Language
Think about how you could describe aspects of swimming or the swim gala using figurative language. Add your examples to our figurative language padlet.
Upon returning to the classroom, we had an opportunity to visit the third grade classroom to see some performances related to their creativity inquiry. After seeing a few presentations, the groups split so that both groups could share other projects more personally. Half of our class hosted half of Mrs. Fischer’s students, allowing us to share our symbols of struggle and survival. A second session was held later in the day, enabling everyone to see and share.
