Dear Parents,

I want to share some exciting news that comes directly from the motivation and interest of our supreme librarian, Mrs. O'Rourke. In January, students in grades K to 5 participated in Reading Makes Cent$, a Virginia 529 program that promotes financial concepts.  In Library classes, students participated in activities that taught a core financial concept.  At home, students read or had read to them 5 books and completed and submitted a reading log.  St. Thomas More Cathedral School had the highest participation rate in our region.  STM School won $500 worth of free books through the Reading Makes Cent$ program! Thank you, thank you! This could only have happened with parent support and we are very grateful that you partnered with STM to achieve this fine recognition.

In other library news, students in 6th grade were invited to participate in the Dialogues of Peace Project, a program sponsored by Bibliotheca Alexandria located in Alexandria, Egypt.  This partnership blossomed from a visit by Karen Leggett Abouraya who wrote  Hands Around the Library, a  true story about  Egyptian citizens banding together to protect the ancient library of Alexandria, Egypt.  Through this project students at both schools read the same books and exchanged opinions and shared information about themselves through videographies.  Under the guidance of Mr. Mendoza, STM Art teacher, students also created self-portraits that were photographed and emailed to their partners in Egypt. Today in a culminating lesson, the 6th grade students held a Skype session in which they met each other and asked questions.  What a wonderful experience!  I thank all the instructors who helped to make this possible. This took much coordination between both schools since the students in Egypt had to stay at school later (there is a 6 hour time difference) and the STM teachers had to reschedule classes. But it was worth it!  The objective of the Dialogues of Peace Project is to create friendships across borders through literature, artwork, and writing.  I think we can call this a great success!