Woodland Middle School studies Greek mythology in team competition

It’s all Greek to them! Sixth-grade students at Woodland Middle School in the East Meadow recently competed in the Festival Games.

The literary-themed activity was inspired by “The Lightning Thief,” the first novel in Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series. The sixth-grade class was divided into four teams representing famous Greek gods, including Ares, Athena, Hades and Poseidon. Teams then faced off in challenges mirroring those that Percy Jackson took on in his mythical adventures.

Each team created flags, cabins, amusement park rides and statues related to their god in an efort to add an authentic flair to the event. Teams earned points for these items, in addition to the points earned in the games, based on their creativity and originality. The judges of these novelties, designated the “Cloven Council of Elders,” consisted of Woodland staff and administrators not associated with the day’s festivities.

Kicking the games off, the students competed for the best costume award. They dressed as gnomes and displayed their amusement park rides in the Garden Gnome Emporium.

Students tested their knowledge of Greek mythos in the “It’s All Greek to Me” trivia competition. Following that, the four teams contended for superiority in a game of capture-the-flag and, after, challenged each other’s mathematical prowess during the “I Should Have Vaporized My Math Teacher” event. They concluded the day with “Olympian Family Feud,” where they tried to figure out seventh-graders’ most popular answers to questions based on Riordan’s novel.

At the end of the games, Team Hades was awarded a trophy for earning the most points.

—Brian Stieglitz