Adventures in the Library

2023-2024 Events

We have had a very busy year at Drew.  Below are just a few highlights!

September:  Grandparents’ Day.  Our students enjoyed bringing their grandparents or special friend to the library to read and to do crafts.  This annual event is alot of fun.  Please plan inviting grandparents to this event in September!

September 15th-October 15th:  We celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with our annual Read-In.

October:  STEAM. We were invited to be in the inaugural program “STEAM IT UP”, cosponsored by AWS, AMAZON and Reading is Fundamental of Northern VA.  The children were given materials to construct a product.  Ms. Black partnered with our Drew STEAM coordinator, Ms. Riddick, during these lessons.  Kindergarten and First Grade read Penny and Her Marble by Keven Henkes and then designed their own maze where a marble sized ball was given to navigate their design.   Second and Third Grade read The Three Billy Goats Gruff and then designed their own bridge that would support three Billy Goats and allow a Troll to sit beneath it.  The Fourth and Fifth Graders discussed structures such as towers.  The students then had to design a tower that would withstand the weight of three to four books of Mrs. Black’s choice.  All of the products were showcased at the Fall PBL event.  We thank all of our Supports and Volunteers.

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November:  We had our bookfair.  The monies raised went to books, materials, and contributing to the cost of  bringing author/illustrator Ms. Carole Boston Weatherford and Jeffery Weatherford to our school in April.

December:  We had our annual “Blizzard of Books”. This event is financially supported by our partners Delta Sima Chi’s of Northern Virginia and Reading is Fundamental of Northern Virginia.  The library was transformed into a Winter Wonderland, Elsa appeared, we had volunteers from the organizations and the community, and every student received a gift of a book.

January:  We had the honor of hosting Amina Luqman-Dawson.  She is the Newberry 2023 Winner of Free Water.  She spoke to our fifth graders.  RIFNOVA gifted every child with a copy of the book in celebration of her visit.

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February:  We celebrated Black History Month with our Annual Read In.  We had APS staff and community members read to our students.

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March:  One Book One School.  This has become an annual event where we celebrate reading as a whole school. This year the book was Judy Moody was in a Mood.  The theme is always economic. This event is sponsored by Capital Bank in the Arlington Courthouse Area.  They purchased a copy of the book for each child.  We had trivia questions, book reviews on the Dragon Den, and Mrs. Black Reads.  This last one is where Mrs. Black chapters of the book every night so that all may enjoy the book.  The Read To Them program also shared a read aloud QR code.

In connection with the theme of economics, all of the students studied economic terms and books.  We also had the K-1 students sign up for a VIRGINIA529 program.

April: On April 6th, Drew had a Special Event at the Shirlington Public Library.  Ms. Jen read to us, we celebrated our new owners of Library Cards from our Spring Drive, and then we had a scavenger hunt with a prize of a new forever book.  We look forward to what has become an annual event.

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We were honored with an award winning author visit by Carole Boston Weatherford and her son, illustrator, Jeffery Boston Weatherford.  Their presentation on Jazz was interesting and engaging for all of the students.

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May: We celebrated Asian Pacific Month with our third Read In.  APS staff and community volunteers visited our students and read books by Asian Pacific authors and/or have authentic Asian Pacific characters.

June: It is inventory time.  We collect all of the books, assess them, then take a counting of all of the books and ready them for the fall.

Thank you for all of the support we have been given this year!  Looking forward to an awesome 2024-2025 year with new “Adventures in the Library”!

Coming Soon!!!!