Delaware County Reading Olympics

1. Delaware County Reading Olympics

2. “To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.” - Victor Hugo Logo designed by Katey Sponheimer from Springfield High School The Delaware County Reading Olympics is presented by the Delaware County Reading Council and Delaware County intermediate Unit.

3. What is Reading Olympics? • A celebration of reading • A unique opportunity for students that love to read and discuss literature • Montgomery County Intermediate Unit Overview Video • http://movie.mciu.org/readingoly/overview.html

4. Value of Reading Olympics • Promotes reading • Provides students with the opportunity to celebrate their love of literature • Develops self-esteem and leadership skills in participants • Promotes the importance of peer collaboration and teamwork • Provides all types of students with the opportunity to be a “winner”

5. How is DelCo ivolved? • Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties rotate the responsibility of creating the book lists and the questions for the competition. • Three Divisions: • Elementary (grades 5-6) • Middle (grades 7-8) • Secondary (grades 9-12) • The book lists repeat every 5 years • Minor changes are made to the book lists to reflect student interest and book availability • Trappe Book Center in Trappe, PA offers a 35% discount on all Reading Olympics titles.

6. School Responsibilities • Promote Reading Olympics • Organize and manage teams • 8-15 students per team • Language Arts class • After-school club • Complete in conjunction with school reading requirements (i.e. 100 Book Challenge) • Establish meeting schedule • Purchase Reading Olympics books if they aren’t already available at the school

7. School Responsibilities (cont’d) • Two coaches per team • Monitor student reading progress • Coach 1: accompany team during competition • Coach 2: serve as a score keeper or moderator during competition • Organize transportation to competition • Establish team uniform • Encourage parents to attend event

8. Student Participant Responsibilities • Commit to team meeting schedule • Read approximately 5 books during the school year (based on team of 10 students) • Reading levels of books for elementary competition vary from 4.5 to 7.0 • Maintain brief journal of books • Discuss books and journal entries with teammates

9. Description of the Competition • Held in late spring at one of the County’s large high schools in the evening • Students participate in three rounds • Student rotate classrooms to compete with different teams • Awards ceremony in auditorium • All students are awarded a ribbon • Different color ribbons are awarded based on total points earned

10. Sample Reading Olympics Question SAMPLE QUESTION CARD Full Title:Dealing with Dragons Author: Patricia Wrede Level: Middle/Jr. Question: In the book Dealing with Dragons, how do Cimorene and Alianora make the wizards vanish? Answer: They throw soapy water on them.

11. Organization of the Competition • Competition is organized by volunteers from the participating schools and the Intermediate Unit • Volunteers are needed to: • Organize team check-in • Serve as moderators and scorekeepers • Maintain scoreboard • Troubleshoot during competition • Organize awards ceremony