Gertrude Ederle Challenge Activities


Challenge Activities- America’s Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle

Day 1:

What adjectives does a sports writer use to describe a sports event?  How do the words add to the excitement or drama of the event?

      1.   Make a list of six adjectives sports writers use to describe various sports events.

  1. Next to each adjective write a note about whether the adjective portrays the

action in a positive or negative way.

Day 2:

Make a list of people who were the first to do something.  Which person do you most admire?

  1. Make a list of five famous firsts.
  2. Choose one person and write five questions you would like to ask that person. 

Your questions should focus on what this person was the first to do, why they

Wanted to be first, and how the goal was reached.

Day 3:

How is a sports report in a newspaper different from a fictional story about sports?  From an expository nonfiction article about a sport? 

  1. Compare a newspaper sports story and a selection about sportsfrom a different genre such as expository nonfiction, realistic fiction, or poetry.
  2. Use a Venn diagram or other organizer to compare and contrast ways the two genres are alike and different.
  3. Think about how each selection is organized, what it tells about the sports event, and whether it includes facts, realistic events, or fantastic things.

Day 4:

Why do people try to break records?  What records in the Guiness Book of World Records do you think can be broken?

      1.   List five unusual feats that have been listed as world records.

      2.   Search the internet with the keyword Guiness World Records and Amazing Feats

            to get information.

     3.   Choose your favorite feat and tell why you think it can be broken..

Day 5:

Why do we need heroes?

      1.   Make a list of three people you think are heroes.

      2.   Choose a hero and write a paragraph about why heroes, and this one in

particular, are important.