Popcorn Olympics in the Library or Classroom

During the 2018 Winter Olympics I was the school library media specialist at a middle school.  I was looking for a way to drive more students into the library while increasing community bonds and connect to the Winter Olympics.  I found some ideas online to use popcorn in mini-competitions and award competitors who do the best. What I liked most about this is that athleticism had nothing to do with the events and if a student didn't want to compete, they could send someone else to fill in for them and the rest of the team could cheer each other on. 

Here is a copy of the slideshow I shared with the teachers. 

First, I assigned one country to each CAT class, which was our advisory, seminar or homeroom classes.  In an elementary school this could be each classroom or grade level.  After classes were assigned their country, the teachers let them decorate their doors in honor of their countries. So students who wanted to made signs, printed flags and maps and put the colors of their assigned country up in their rooms. 

Next, teachers shared the 5 different popcorn events that students could enter. Each country could enter one student per event and the teachers submitted their names through a Google form.

Students could practice the events on their own time and when they were ready they came to the library to do their event.  This was in a middle school setting so I was always available for the events.  If I do this with elementary students, I would have the competitors come down in heats to compete during a morning meeting or other scheduled time.  It could even work during library classes.

Each day I'd post the leading countries on Schoology and outside of the library.  On the last day we had a "closing ceremonies" where I awarded the top 3 finishers with medals, candy and a photo.  The countries who were in the top 3 of each event won a popcorn party.  During the day when the Winter Olympics were being televised we showed the highlights on the library screens and students enjoyed seeing the athletes compete.  Some even were cheering on the athletes from their assigned countries during the popcorn olympics!

There are many variations on this that only focus on reading challenges, but if you wanted to only do events and promote books about countries and athletes, you can do that, too.  If you have more ideas please drop them in the comments below!