Along with millions of people all over the globe, fourth and fifth grade students at Austin Catholic Elementary are busy following the Olympics.

The ACES students are not just keeping up with the 2010 Vancouver games though. They are also studying the first games of ancient Olympia, Greece that date back to the eighth century B.C., the early modern Olympic games that began in Athens in the 1890s, through the current era of the Olympics. Marnie Leif, an ACES teacher, has used the Olympic games to link the learning of history, geography and current events throughout her more than 20-year career.

“We do this every time the Olympic games come around,” she said. “Each time it is a little different, and the students always really enjoy it.”

For the past couple of weeks, all three fourth and fifth grade classes — about 50 students — have studied the history of the games as well as the history of competing countries.

“Each student selects a country, that they study and follow it throughout the games,” Leif explained.

On Friday, ACES hosted their own mini-Olympics complete with an opening ceremony, a parade of nations and an award presentation.

Students competed in scooter relays to mimic the luge and bobsled events; floor hockey games; a sock skating relay to mirror ice skating events; and a snow-hill race stood in for skiing events.

For the rest of the games the individual students are encouraged to follow their selected country and the athletes, pinning coordinating medals to flags in the school’s hallway each day.

Since students are not expected to watch each event at home, Leif said, they spend some class time in the computer lab researching outcomes of games.

“They are very excited about their countries and how they are doing,” she said. “This has been a great opportunity to make them aware of some countries that they knew relatively little about.”

It has also been a team-building exercise as each classroom designed a class flag and chose a class national anthem before the mini-Olympics Friday.

One class selected “We Are The Champions” by Queen as their anthem, showing a competitive and confident edge that would later prove effective when they won the gold.

“The kids are having fun with it,” Leif said. “It is always nice when you can involve students in current events.”