Wacky Olympics

It's a tradition here in Newtok that the Thursday before school ends Wacky Olympics are held.

It's a day filled of fun, wacky games that every student enjoys.

Notice how I italicized student. I was so disappointed when I found out that teachers did not get to participate. 

But before the games could officially start, we did a trash pick-up day.

At 9'oclock, when every student was done eating breakfast, they grabbed gloves and a trash bag, went outside, and divided and conquered the trash in Newtok. 

^^ Haha. Obviously some kids weren't that into it.

^^ I'd say the kids did an awesome job! 

So after an hour of trash pick-up, we headed back to the rooms with our teams. 

The great thing about the Wacky Olympics was that Georgianna and I had a team that ranged from Pre-K to Seniors. It was a good mix! 

Working on our team poster: The Warriors!

The competition:

The Wacky Olympics had seven events:

// The Human Pyramid

// Balloon Relay

// Zoo Relay

// Marshmallow Toss

// The Adult Water Race

After Naomi found out I was disappointed about not participating, she let us have this event as our competition. Thanks Naomi!

// Apple Pass

// 3 point shoot out

// Human Pyramid

The first event was the human pyramid.

I felt like our group got up there really fast. Now, we didn't hold it long, but at least we built it fast! The team who could build it the fastest won the event.

// Zoo Relay

The Zoo Relay consisted of four races.

We started out with the joey jump - this is where an older students holds a younger student and they hop across the gymnasium.

I know it's blurry but you can tell he's mid hop and he's holding a pre-school girl.

Once they pass the green tape, the next teammate seal hops across the gym floor to the other side.

Once they cross the green line, four teammates work together in what's called "The Lilly Pad" and relay back to the other side of the gym.

These four students take two pads and travel across the gym floor, stepping on the pads only. If they touch the floor, they have to go back.

Once all four students cross the green line, that was the signal for the next teammate to "elephant walk" back across. The elephant walk looked like this: 

They also couldn't bend their knees as they walked across. Quite hilarious!

Once they crossed, this signaled the last leg of the relay - the crab crawl.

And please tell me who didn't love doing this as a kid?!

The team with the fastest combined total of these four races won the event.

// Apple Pass

This was a hilarious event. It started with a student running down and grabbing an apple from a string - with their mouth. Once they did that, they transferred it back to their teammates, putting in underneath their partner's chin. They had to do this without using their hands. I didn't take much pictures, except when students tried to bite the apple in the beginning. Too funny! The team who passed the apple between their four teammates the fastest won the event.

 

// Marshmallow Toss

The students stood in a line and had to count how many each student caught in their mouths.  The team with the most catches won that event.

// Water Carry

This happened at the exact same time as the marshmallow toss. The teachers took turns racing to a small bowl of water, scooping out the water, and transferring it back to pour in their cup. The teachers who collected the most water at the end of 3 minutes won that event for their team.

// Balloon Race

This event had four students participating from a team. They set up four balloons in a row. The first person had to pop the first balloon then race back to tag the next person to go. The second person raced to the second balloon and popped that and raced back to the third. This lasted until the last person came back across the line with their last balloon popped. They could pop the balloons anyway they wanted. We had kids that stepped on them, used their fingernails, sat on them, and even tried to pop it by laying down on them. The team with the fastest time won this event.

This was my team getting ready to participate:

^^ Notice my two boys in the back - they were really into it, obviously.

The best part of the entire day happened because of that little boy in the front of the line on my team. I thought he knew what to do, but as soon as they said go, he took off as fast as he could, and literally popped every balloon on the floor, including the other team's. I have never seen so many balloons pop so fast like this kid running and stepping on them. It was the most hilarious thing.

It all happened so fast I didn't get a good picture of it. This was him determined to get that last balloon that slipped away from him. Because, even if you aren't doing the relay the right way, you might as well finish what you started, right?? Too funny - the whole gym was laughing!

// 3 Point Shoot-out

The very last event was a 3 point shoot-out. 

Of course, Newtok's Wacky Olympics would end with basketball!

We chose an upper hall student and a lower hall student to participate in this. They had 2 minutes total to shoot and make as many 3's as they could. The team with the most 3's won the event.

Since there was 8 teams, after each event, each team got a 1-8 depending on how well you did that event.

8 was the best and 1 was the worst. The team with the most points at the end, won.

I did NOT know this. I thought it was the opposite.

Now, some would say I'm a little competitive. Alright, alright… I'm A LOT competitive. 

The whole day as I was checking the scoreboard and I would see 7's and 8's and 6's on our team's row.

I tried to keep my composure - although I think there was a few times I was the psycho coach.. whatevs. So after seeing those numbers, I didn't think we stood a chance.

So when Grant was announcing who placed, I didn't really pay attention.

Turns out - we got SECOND place!

I couldn't believe all day I thought we were losing, and we actually ended up 2nd place.

I guess I can be wrong… sometimes.

(Just so everyone knows, I was okay with not placing, like I thought the entire day!)

The Wacky Olympics turned out to be a great, fun day for everyone.

This was a great way to end the school year with every student coming together and working together!