Will the USA Hockey Team capture another miracle on ice? Will snowboarding superstar Shawn White maneuver a halfpipe three-peat? Who will be America’s next sweetheart?

All of these questions—and more—will be answered when athletes from all over the world hit the slopes, rinks and hills of Sochi, Russia to participate in the XXII Olympic Winter Games.

For sports fans like me—and many of our students—the next few weeks will be an exciting time as we cheer on our favorite skiers, skaters and bobsledders to the gold medal stand! I don’t know about you, but I just can’t seem to get enough!

That said, why not capitalize on the Olympic hype by using the educational activities listed below to tap into your students’ interests as they discuss and/or learn about one of the most celebrated sporting venues of all time.

» Sochi 2014: The official web site of the Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games… Stayed tuned in to all of the latest info related to the Games of the XXII Olympiad.

» NBC Sochi 2014: You won’t want to miss the unprecedented coverage of the Winter Games via live TV as well as top news, highlights and related stories located on NBC’s site dedicated to the 2014 Olympics.

» The Best Sites for Learning About the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics: Compiled by Larry Ferlazzo, this site is the most comprehensive list of educational resource on the web!

» Winter Olympics 2014: A Pinterest board filled with all things Olympics.

» Resources for the Sochi Olympics: A collection of reviewed resources from TeachersFirst was selected to help teachers and students learn about the 2014 Olympic Games.

» Olympic Games—Resources for Teachers: Lessons, printables and activities as well as info about historical events that have occurred during the Olympic Games, biographies about famous athletes and much more!

» 12 Olympic Lessons & Classroom Activities: Check out some teacher-favorite, Olympics-inspired lesson ideas, classroom management techniques and fun classroom activites from TeachHUB.com.

» Olympics Lessons and Teacher Resources: Tons of lesson plan ideas to learn about the Olympic Games from HotChalk.

» The Perseus Digital Library Project: An exhibit that can be used to compare ancient and modern-day Olympic sports. Visitors can also tour the site of Olympia as it looks today, learn about the context of the Games and the Olympic spirit and/or read about the Olympic athletes who were famous in ancient times.

» Olympic Challenge: A collaborative project in which students (or schools) can compete against one another in a series of Olympic themed challenges. This site is actually based on the 2012 Summer Olympics, but the activities can be adapted accordingly. Since the challenges were tech-related, I thought they were too cool not to share!

Classroom Connection:

If you have a few minutes in the day to light the Olympic torch, use these teaching and learning resources to guide the way to medal-winning lessons.