Delaware County Reading Olympics 2008-2009

1. Delaware County Reading Olympics 2008-2009

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 2009-2010 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