The Philadelphia Reading Olympics is a city-wide jeopardy-style reading competition in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Organized by educational organization Philadelphia Reads,
the aim of the program is to promote reading for pleasure among students, and encourage teamwork. In the 2012 Reading Olympics, 1,800 students from grades 4 - 8 participated, in 167 teams. The partners of the Reading Olympics are the
Free Library of Philadelphia, the
School District of Philadelphia, and the
City of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
. Funding comes from corporate and foundation grants, and the event is staffed by around 200 community and corporate volunteers.
The Reading Olympics is a reading competition open to fourth through eighth graders from Philadelphia's
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
,
parochial Parochial is an adjective which may refer to:
* Parishes, in religion
** Parish churches, also called parochial churches
* Parochial schools, primary or secondary schools affiliated to a religious organisation
* Parochialism
Parochialism is the ...
,
charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
,
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
and
after-school program
After-school activities, also known as after-school programs or after-school care, started in the early 1900s mainly just as supervision of students after the final school bell. Today, after-school programs do much more. There is a focus on helping ...
s. Teams of up to 12 students collectively read the books on the Reading Olympics book list and work together as a team to answer questions about the books.
The teams meet in May at a
college campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...
location to answer questions about the books. The teams accumulate points for every correct answer during three rounds of competition, earning each team member a blue, red, or green ribbon based on the number of points their team has earned. Corporate and community volunteers act as moderators and scorekeepers.
References
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Education in Philadelphia