Sarah Wassner Flynn - National Geographic Readers: Gymnastics (Level 2)

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Sincerely,

Mariam Jean Dreher
Professor of Reading Education
University of Maryland, College Park

Sarah Wassner Flynn

For Eamon, Nora, and Nellie.
My heart flips for you! S.W.F.

Copyright and 2021 National Geographic
Partners, LLC.

Published by National Geographic Partners,
LLC, Washington, D.C. 20036. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without written
permission of the publisher is prohibited.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and Yellow Border
Design are trademarks of the National
Geographic Society, used under license.

Designed by Nicole Lazarus, Design Superette

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4263-3812-0
Reinforced library binding ISBN:
978-1-4263-3813-7
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4263-3815-1

The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge
the expert content review of this book by Annie
Heffernon, vice president of the Womens
Program, USA Gymnastics, as well as the literacy
review of this book by Mariam Jean Dreher,
professor of reading education, University of
Maryland, College Park.

Publishers Note

Gymnastics skills require plenty of practice!
Do not try any of these moves without proper
training and adult supervision.

Photo Credits

AS=Adobe Stock; GI=Getty Images

Cover, ssj414/GI; cover (background), dynamic/
Shutterstock; top border (throughout), hypergon/

GI; vocabulary art (throughout), Iamnee/AS;
1, Iain Scott Photography/Alamy Stock Photo;
3, Michael Gray/AS; 5, Iain Scott Photography/
Alamy Stock Photo; 6, G. Dagli Orti/DeAgostini/
GI; 6-7, Vladimir Wrangel/Shutterstock; 8-9,
Bettmann/GI; 9, ullstein bild/ullstein bild via GI;
11, nycshooter/GI; 13 (UP), _italo_/AS; 13 (LO),
JackF/AS; 14 (UP LE), Mike Kemp/Alamy Stock
Photo; 14 (UP RT), Alex Bogatyrev/Shutterstock;
14 (LO), Jiang Dao Hua/Shutterstock; 17
(UP), Francois Nel/GI for BEGOC; 17 (LO LE),
Dominique Douieb/GI; 17 (LO RT), master1305/
AS; 18 (UP), Alex Koch/AS; 18 (CTR), Paul
Vathis/AP/Shutterstock; 18 (LO), Simon Bruty/
Sports Illustrated via GI/GI; 19 (UP), bmcent1/
GI; 19 (CTR LE), HAYKIRDI/GI; 19 (CTR RT),
Ashmolean Museum/Heritage Images/GI; 19
(LO), Yolandagarciafoto/AS; 20, oleg66/GI; 21 (LE),

SDI Productions/GI; 21 (RT), Robert Kneschke/
AS; 22, Ezra Shaw/GI; 23, Patrick Smith/GI;
24, Thomas Barwick/GI; 25, CasarsaGuru/
GI; 26, Alistair Berg/GI; 27 (UP), RichLegg/GI;
27 (LO), CasarsaGuru/GI; 28-29, Dan Mullan/
GI; 30 (UP), Thomas Barwick/GI; 30 (CTR),
bauhaus1000/GI; 30 (LO, diving board), wellphoto/
AS; 30 (LO, pencil), rvlsoft/Shutterstock; 30 (LO,
brick), Shawn Hempel/Shutterstock; 30 (LO,
notebook), Mark Thiessen/NGP staff; 31 (UP
LE), katatonia82/Shutterstock; 31 (UP RT), Greg
Trott/GI; 31 (LO LE, bars), huaxiadragon/AS; 31
(LO LE, pommel), caluian/AS; 31 (LO LE, rings),
mehmetcan/AS; 31 (LO LE, beam), polhansen/
AS; 31 (LO RT), mehmetcan/AS; 32 (UP LE),
polhansen/AS; 32 (UP RT), Robert Decelis Ltd/GI;
32 (CTR LE), Allison Zaucha for the Washington
Post via GI; 32 (CTR RT), Dan Mullan/GI; 32 (LO
LE), Bettmann/GI; 32 (LO RT), Alex Bogatyrev/
Shutterstock

National Geographic supports K12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources.
Visit natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

In a gym, a boy runs across a
bouncy floor. He flips in the
air and lands on two feet.

Nearby, a girl is on a beam. She
kicks into a handstand. As she
balances, she does a split.

Running, flipping, and balancing:
Gymnasts use these skills to perform
in different events. Sometimes
it seems like they
can fly!

EVENT: A gymnastics
contest that takes
place on a certain
piece of equipment

Many different ancient
(AYN- shunt) cultures practiced
gymnastics. Artwork from thousands
of years ago in Egypt and China
shows people doing tumbling moves.

Human figures
do handstands on
this 1,800- year- old
Chinese vase.

In ancient Greece, soldiers
(SOLE- jurz) used gymnastic
moves to get ready for war.
They would practice jumping
on and off their horses.

This stone carving
is from an ancient
temple in Luxor, Egypt.

Whats a gymnasts
favorite season?

Spring!

People in ancient Greece also
competed in the first Olympic
Games. The ancient games included
gymnastics events! Back then, only
men were allowed to compete.

The ancient Olympic Games took
place in Olympia, Greece, from
B. C. to A. D. The modern
Olympics began in 1896.

OLYMPIC GAMES:
A series of sporting
events that began
in ancient Greece.
Today, athletes
from all over
the world
compete.