The Olympics are almost here. Even if they aren’t a big focus in your classroom, they’re part of the broader world students are growing up in—and that makes them a useful, familiar context to draw from when it fits naturally into instruction.
In Humanizing Mathematics PreK–5, the Olympics aren’t a unit or a theme. They simply appear now and then as real-world situations—ones that help students make sense of numbers, time, patterns, and comparisons in ways that feel grounded and timely.
Here are a few examples you might try in the coming weeks.
Reasoning About Change Over Time
Students are often asked to add and subtract within 100, but what they really need is a reason why the quantities are changing.
In a 2nd-grade independent practice task, students examine how the number of Olympic events grew over time and use an open number line to represent that change. The work isn’t about remembering dates—it’s about showing how numbers increase and explaining how they know.
Making Sense of Time
Time is a tricky concept for many elementary students—especially when it’s treated as abstract.
In this lesson, students reason about elapsed time using the length of a fencing match, asking how much time remains partway through the competition. Instead of working through a worksheet, they’re making sense of time in a real situation—one they can visualize as the match unfolds.
The context introduces fencing as one of the oldest Olympic sports, dating back to the first modern Games in 1896, and highlights athletes like Ibtihaj Muhammad, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist and the first American Muslim woman to compete in the Olympics while wearing a hijab. As students reason about time, they’re also learning about the people behind the sport—keeping the math grounded in a human story.
Comparing Scores and Explaining Thinking
Building on the same fencing context, another task asks students to compare scores from a match and determine how many more points one team earned than the other.
Students work with final scores from the U.S. and Italy:
- U.S.: 45 points
- Italy: 30 points
The question is straightforward: How many more points did the U.S. team earn than Italy’s team? What matters most isn’t the answer—it’s how students show or explain their thinking.
Some subtract.
Some count up.
Some use a number line or mental math.
The shared sports context gives students something concrete to reason about while they practice explaining and justifying their strategies, reinforcing that there’s more than one way to make sense of a comparison.
Reasoning About Differences Across Ages
Another task invites students to reason about differences by comparing the ages of two Olympic gold medalists.
Marjorie Gestring was the youngest Olympic gold medalist, competing in diving for the United States at just 13 years old during the 1936 Olympics. At the other end of the spectrum, Oscar Swahn became the oldest Olympic gold medalist, winning the shooting event for Sweden at age 64 at the 1912 Olympics.
Students are asked a simple but powerful question: How much younger was Marjorie Gestring than Oscar Swahn when they won gold? They then solve the problem in two different ways.
Some students subtract.
Some count up.
Some use number lines or break the numbers apart.
The math focuses on finding the difference between two quantities, but the context helps students anchor that thinking in real people and real extremes—showing that there’s more than one way to reason about the same situation.
Noticing Patterns That Actually Matter
Patterns show up everywhere in the Olympics—from events to schedules to seasons.
This lesson asks students to notice and explain patterns in Olympic years, pushing them to justify their thinking rather than just continue a sequence. The math stays front and center, but the context makes the pattern feel purposeful instead of abstract.
Using Measurement to Tell a Deeper Story
Some math tasks invite students to work with measurement while also learning about the broader context surrounding an athlete’s achievement.
In this lesson, students learn about Jesse Owens, a Black American athlete who competed in the 1936 Olympics during a time when racist beliefs were widely accepted and promoted. Owens chose to compete anyway—and went on to win four gold medals in track and field.
Students focus on one of those victories: Owens’s gold-medal performance in the long jump. Given the recorded distance of his jump, students are asked to round the measurement to the nearest tenth of a meter and explain how they know.
The math centers on measurement and rounding, while the context helps students see that numbers can represent moments of real significance. It’s another example of how Humanizing Mathematics keeps the mathematics rigorous while grounding it in human stories.
Why These Moments Matter
None of these lessons require teachers to stop what they’re doing or teach something extra.
They work because:
- The math is already part of the grade-level expectations
- The context feels timely and familiar
- Students have something real to connect their thinking to
Moments like these show up throughout Humanizing Mathematics PreK–5—where the math stays central and the context does just enough work to support understanding. The Olympics happen to be a timely example, but the larger goal is always the same: helping students make sense of mathematics through situations that feel real and accessible.
For teachers, that often means small shifts rather than big changes—choosing a problem that invites more explanation, a context that supports discussion, or a structure that gives students room to show how they’re thinking. Over time, those moments add up to a math classroom that feels more connected, more human, and more responsive to the learners in it.
Watch Brooke Powers, Managing Director of Academics, and Tywana Fulford, Sr. PreK-5 Specialist, share more about what makes Humanizing PreK-5 Mathematics different on Math 4 All.