What It Is.
The Reading Olympics is Philadelphia's largest annual reading competition, engaging up to 2000 students from 4th-8th grade from Philadelphia's public, parochial, charter, and independent schools, as well as after-school programs.
The goal of the Reading Olympics at the DCIU is to increase the quality and quantity of books students read for enjoyment. Teams of students collaborate to read forty to fifty books that have been selected by a regional committee. The Reading Olympics are primarily a celebration of reading, rather than a contest. Since the teams generate much excitement about this reading event, the experience is rewarding for everyone involved.
The event includes students of all reading levels (elementary, middle, and high school) who have met the challenge of joining their teams in reading from the selected list of books. The students participate in a "book club" at their school throughout the year in order to prepare for the competition. The majority of titles on the book lists are already included in the school and county libraries. Following the year-long preparation, students will compete in a county-wide competition in the spring of each school year. Students will be asked basic questions about the Reading Olympics books. During the competition, each team competes in three rounds of questioning with three different teams. Teams are never eliminated. At the culmination of the event, each participating student will receive a ribbon. The number of points each team scores will determine the color of the ribbon.
Every year, librarians and reading specialists are invited to take part in selecting the books for the following year’s book lists. Volunteers are then recruited to read the books and create questions to be asked at the events. Chester, Berks, Bucks, Montgomery, and Delaware Counties take turns in coordinating this process and share the lists with each other.
Find SORA on your Google Waffle and add Delaware County Library or another Public Library. Use your library card to check out books.