Build Background

• Draw a word web on the board with the word Olympics in a large center circle. Draw two more circles labeled Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics. Have students tell why the Olympic games are held at different times. If necessary, explain that different types of events are held in different seasons. For example, snow skiing takes place during the Winter Olympics, while swimming takes place during the Summer Olympics. Ask students to tell what they know about other games or sports that take place during the Winter Olympics. Attach smaller circles with the information students provide. Repeat for the Summer Olympics.
• Add a third circle labeled Athletes. Tell students that the describing word for men and women, or athletes, who compete in the Olympic Games is "Olympians." Have them repeat the word. Ask students if they know the names of any athletes who have participated in the Games.     

Preview the Book

Introduce the Strategy: Retell

• Give students a copy of the book and have them preview the front and back covers and read the title. Discuss the word legends. If necessary, explain that the word can have more than one meaning. One meaning is a story that has been handed down through the ages. Another meaning is a person who has become famous because of an amazing accomplishment. Have students tell which definition they think will fit this book.
• Direct students to the table of contents. Read the titles of the chapters. Ask students to repeat the names of the athletes with you. Ask students what they think the word legend refers to now, after they have read the chapter headings. Ask students what they know about any of the athletes listed.
• Preview the rest of the book with students, looking at photos and other graphic information.
• Show students the glossary and index. Explain the purpose of each.
• Tell students that good readers often pause at the end of sections of the book to mentally retell the most important facts they have read so far. Explain that they can underline important facts as they read to help them when they retell the information.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• As you preview the book with students and discuss the photos, introduce any vocabulary you feel might be difficult for students. Ask the students to talk about what they see in each picture. Provide opportunities for students to say the new vocabulary words, talk about their meanings, and use the words in sentences.
• Reinforce new vocabulary and word attack strategies by referring to the pictures. For example, ask the students to point to the photograph of Mark Spitz on page 6. Read the first paragraph on the page with the students. Ask students to find the bold word (feat). Ask them to pronounce the word based on their knowledge of sound/symbol association. Tell students that this is a word that sounds like another word, but has a very different meaning. Write the words feat and feet on the board. Read the paragraph again and ask students to guess at the meaning using clues in the sentences that come before and after it. Ask students to look at the picture and decide which meaning of the word makes sense in the sentence. Repeat with other vocabulary words if necessary. Remind the students to use what they know about sounds and letters to pronounce new words and to use the context to figure out the meanings of the words.
• Encourage students to add the new vocabulary words to their word journals.
• As students read, they will use a variety of reading and word-attack strategies. For a review of additional strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read the book and think about how they can retell what they read.

Student Reading

• Guide the Reading: Have students read to the end of page 6. Tell them to think about what they will want to tell someone about each Olympian. If they finish before everyone else, they should go back and reread.
• Have students retell facts to a partner about one of the athletes they have read about.
• If necessary, model retelling the facts from the section of the book.
• Think aloud: I read that a runner from Ethiopia named Abebe Bikila ran 26 miles in his bare feet. He won the race, and he set an Olympic record. The next time he ran in the Olympics, he wore shoes, and he set another record.
• Ask students what other kinds of athletes they think they might read about. Have them read the remainder of the book to find out. Remind them to mark the most important facts so they can tell them to someone else.

    Tell the students to make a small question mark in their books beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

Reflect on the Reading Strategies

• Word Attack: Ask the students what words were difficult for them. Ask how they figured out the words. Reinforce any strategies used, such as sounding out the word and verifying by context and/or picture clues. For example, point to the word medals. Remind them that they can look at the two parts of the word: med and als and sound out each part. They can think what word would make sense in the context of the sentence. Ask what words give them clues about the word and its meaning.
• Comprehension: Discuss how thinking about retelling the most important facts about each person in the book keeps them actively involved in the reading process, and helps them understand and remember what they read.
• Discuss additional strategies students used to gain meaning from the book. 

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Facts and Details

• Introduce and Model: Review or explain that many books are about one thing. Show students the book and ask what the topic of this book is (People who have become famous because of medals they won in the Summer Olympics.). Direct students to the table of contents. Explain that each chapter in this nonfiction book contains facts and details about a famous Olympian. Tell students that a fact is something that is true or something that really happened. Explain that a detail tells more information about the fact. As an example, have students look at the Introduction. Read the second sentence: In modern Olympics, more than 10,000 athletes from 200 countries compete in over 300 events. Reinforce that this is a fact and it can be proven. Have students read the next sentence. Explain that this is a detail because it tells them more information about what the athletes do in the games.
• Check for understanding: Have students look at the third chapter. Have them identify a fact and a detail about Daley Thompson.
• Discussion: Ask students why they think Abebe Bikila ran without shoes. Ask if they think Mark Spitz should have bragged that he was going to win six gold medals, and to explain why or why not. Ask them to tell why they think he didn't brag when he competed in the 1972 games.
• Tell students that they will now be able to complete a fact web using the facts and details they learned about Olympic athletes.
• Independent Practice: Have students complete the fact/detail worksheet. Discuss their responses.

Word Analysis: Greek Roots

• Explain that many of the words we use in our language have their origins in the Greek language. Tell students that if they can recognize these Greek roots they can often figure out the meanings of new and difficult words.
• Point out the word kilometer on page 5 and explain that the word kilo comes from Greek and means “1000” and the word meter comes from Greek and means “measure.” Discuss how knowing the Greek roots in the word help students understand the meaning of the word.
• Point out the word decathlon on page 7 and the word marathon on page 5. Explain that athlon comes from the Greek and means “contest.” Discuss how recognizing the Greek word can help them understand the words marathon and decathlon.
• Write these common roots and their meanings on the board:

graph = write
tele = far
phon = sound
photo = light

Have students discuss the meanings of the following words, using what they know about the meaning of the Greek roots in the words: telegraph, telephone, television, photograph, phonograph.

Grammar and Mechanics: Types of Sentences

• Have students find the first sentence on page 4. Read the sentence and ask students to tell what it means. Review or explain that a sentence is a group of words that tells a complete thought. Remind students that a telling sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period.
• Have students read the first sentence on page 5. Tell students that the writer wanted to show strong feelings so he put an exclamation mark at the end. Explain that this is an exclamatory sentence. Have students repeat the word. Tell students that an exclamatory sentence begins with a capital and ends with an exclamation mark.
• Have students find the first sentence in the second paragraph on page 14. Ask them how this sentence is different from the sentences they have just looked at. Review or explain that some sentences are questions; they ask something. Asking sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a question mark.
• Ask students what is the same for every type of sentence (begins with a capital letter).

Have students go through the book, using a different colored pencil to underline each of the three types of sentences. Discuss their responses.

Vocabulary: Compound Words

• Write the word barefoot on the board. Point out that the word is made up of two smaller words and is a compound word.
• Explain that some compound words are made by joining two words with a hyphen, such as in the word long-distance. Some compound words are made up of two individual words that are not joined, such as the word long jump. Write each example on the board and discuss the meanings with students.
• Give students the compound words worksheet. Challenge them to find examples of the three types of compound words in the text and record them on the chart in the appropriate column. Words they will find are: countryside, something, football, ponytail, bitterfly, everyone, dark-haired, high jump. Ask students to work with a partner to look in familiar books in the classroom to find other examples of compound words. Have them add these to their charts.
• Have the students share the words they found. Create a class chart of the three types of compound words they found. Encourage students to add words to their personal chart and the classroom chart as they discover them in future reading.

Independent Reading

• Allow the students to read their books independently or with a partner. Partners can take turns reading parts of the book.

Home Connection

• Give the students their books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.
• Give the students their worksheets to take home. They can complete them with the help of their parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Writing

• Provide print and Internet resources for students to research other Olympic medallists. Tell them they can choose a person who won a gold, silver, or bronze medal. Have them write a brief report, using the book as a guide. Tell them to illustrate their report. Bind the reports together in a book titled "Olympians Through the Years."

Social Studies Connection

• Provide resources for students to research the Paralympic Games. Discuss why the Games were started, who competes and why, and how the athletes train. If possible, have a physically challenged athlete speak to the group.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• use the reading strategy of retelling to understand and remember important facts
• identify facts and details in text
• recognize that many words have Greek roots
• identify telling, asking, and exclamatory sentences
• recognize different types of compound words