Fifth Graders Celebrate a Fun-Filled Olympic Day

Squeals of laughter and cheers rang out in Fox Lane Stadium last week as fifth graders from across the district celebrated the 22^nd annual Fifth Grade Olympic Day. The event aims to ease fifth graders into the transition to middle school. They get to meet future classmates while having fun in what amounts to a massive field day.

“Today is a special day,” said Assistant Director of Health, Physical Education and Athletics, Mike Tomassi. “We have five different elementary schools, but they all feed into one middle school and one high school. I went to Bedford Hills and went into middle school not knowing anyone from the other schools. But you know what? To this day, some of the kids I met in middle school are my closest friends.”

Teams were made up of students from different schools and they were encouraged to get to know each other.

“These guys all went to different elementary schools and they’re friends,” middle school PE teacher Joe DiMauro told fifth graders at his station. “Olympic Day was the first time they met. Try to pair up with someone you don’t know.”

Most of the events required teamwork—from figuring out how to spell words like “fox” with their bodies to tug of war.

“Giant ring toss was fun because we all had to work together and we got pretty far,” said Edie Levine, a Bedford Village Elementary student.

Natalie Gleason, also from Bedford Village Elementary, enjoyed giant ring toss for the same reason. “I liked that we worked as a team. We won one and we lost one,” she said.

Jade and Lulu from West Patent Elementary and Bedford Village Elementary were just thrilled to be on the same team. The two met in camp and have kept in touch.

“We texted each other and were like, oh my gosh, what a coincidence!” Jade said.

There were also older students on hand to help. Senior ASPIRE (A Senior Program for Internships, Research, and Enrichment) students interning with the physical education department assisted in running stations. Eighth graders were there as well, helping and talking to students about middle school.

During halftime, when students took a break, eighth graders split up and answered any questions fifth graders had.

“You’ll have four minutes to get to each class and there will be teachers pointing out where to go,” an eighth grader told a student who was worried about getting to class on time. “You won’t get in trouble if you’re a minute late.”

Another fifth grader wondered about physical education and the different things they do in middle school.

“You have a bunch of options,” an eighth grader responded. “Like, sometimes you can choose to go to the ropes course or go to the gym.”

The middle schoolers were patient and empathetic, answering questions honestly while putting the younger students at ease. They also looked back at their own Olympic Day experiences fondly.

“I remember when I did Olympic Day,” said Christopher Maldonado-Coatl. “The fox tail station was my favorite.”