Reading_Olympic_Unit

=Reading Olympics Project= //developed in collaboration with Mrs. Ebersole, Mr. Edwards, Mrs. Oren, Ms. Wolset, and Mrs. Dahlstrom// Note: Books highlighted in green will not be in NovelList. toc

Task 1**- Select a Book**

 * 1) **Big Idea:** Databases exist locally and statewide to find materials in various kinds of libraries.
 * 2) **Your task today**: Use the library databases to help you select a book for this project.
 * 3) **At the end of today:** Print a copy of the review for the book you want to read. Put your name on it. Check the book out of the library.

www.umreads.org → High School Library

1. On the library home page, scroll down until you see the button for Reading Programs (bottom row).
 * Click on the link.
 * Read the introductory paragraph.
 * Who selects the books on the Reading Olympics list?

2. From the library home page, click on Online Database Subscriptions. Click on **NoveList** in the **Find a Book** section. When the POWER library interface opens, click on **NoveList** [again] in the **Find a Book** section.
 * Search for a book on the list by either title or author.
 * Look at the subject headings to see what the book is about.
 * Read the descriptions and reviews of the book.

3. If the book is not in NoveList, it is a not a novel. From the library home page, click on Online Reference → **Book Index with Reviews** in the **Find a Book** section. Follow the same procedure as above.

//You may also want to read the responses that Mrs. Ebersole's 10th grade students had to these books. Click here for a link to their class [|VoiceThread].//

4. When you decide what book you want to read, **click on the print icon within the database**.

5. To print double-sided: Print → from Copies and Pages menu, choose Layout → Click the radio button for Long Edged Binding.

6. THIS IS YOUR GRADE FOR TODAY: Put your name, your teacher's name and the period on the printout.
 * For full credit, the page must be printed properly!
 * For full credit, you must highlight at least two things from the database that influenced your decision to choose the book - this can either be a sentence from the review or one of the subject headings.

7. Find the book and check it out.

Task 2 - Find Author Biographical Information


[|www.umreads.org] → High School Library → Online Database Subscriptions
 * 1) **Big Idea:** Databases exist locally and statewide to find materials in various kinds of libraries.
 * 2) **Your task today**: Use the library databases to help you find biographical information about your author.
 * 3) **At the end of class today:** You will have two printouts of biographical information about your author [not book reviews or interviews].

1. The Upper Merion Area High School Library has two biographical subscription databases. Search for your author in these databases.
 * Biography Reference Bank (POWER Library)
 * Biography Resource Center (Gale)

2. If you choose, one of your printouts may be the biography from the author's own **homepage**.
 * Note: this information may not be from a commercial site like a publisher or a library promoting the author's book.
 * For instance, Dave Pelzer's home page is [|www.davepelzer.com]www.davepelzer.com.
 * Please be sure the biography is from the OFFICIAL homepage of the author.

3. THIS IS YOUR GRADE FOR TODAY: Put your name, your teacher's name and the period on the printouts and staple them together.
 * For full credit, the page must be printed properly! Find the print icon within the database.
 * For full credit, you must highlight at least two things from the database that might have influenced the author.

Task 3 - Find a Periodical Article
//Find a current event that has the same theme/topic as your book.// - We'll work in class to modify these examples from your lassmates.

For suggestions on themes in literature, try looking in the index of __Novels for Students__. Use the following path: Library homepage --> Galenet --> Gale Virtual Reference Library --> Literature --> Novels for Students (any volume) --> eBook index [|www.umreads.org] → High School Library → Online Database Subscriptions
 * 1) **Big Idea:** Databases exist locally and statewide to find materials in various kinds of libraries.
 * 2) **Your task today**: Use the library databases to help you locate a news article that expresses a similar **theme** to your book.
 * 3) **At the end of class today:** You will have a printout of an article on your book's theme.

1. The Upper Merion Area High School Library subscribes to several periodical databases. 2. Limit your search to items published within the last year (Feb. 2007 - Feb. 2008).
 * EBSCOHost → MasterFILE Premier
 * eLibrary
 * NewsBank
 * ProQuest

3. Limit your search to full text only.

4. When performing a keyword search, use more than one keyword for better results. For instance, after reading __The Andromeda Strain__, I used the keywords, "pathogen" and "outer space" for my search. I found a great article from the __Washington Post__ entitled "'Superbugs' Could Benefit Humans: Zero Gravity and Radiation Produce Powerful Microbes" which was on the potency of microbes in outer space.

5. Hint: If you are unsure of your "theme," use the subject headings from your NovelList or Book Index with Review printouts to help you. 6. When printing, please be sure to print double-sided.

Task 5 - Movie and Song
//Find a movie and a song that have the same theme as your book.//
 * [|www.imdb.com] - use the Internet Movie Database for ideas for movies on your theme.
 * For song ideas, do a Google search using the keywords of your theme, for example: "love relationships music"