LEARNING RESOURCES CENTRE (LRC)

Our Learning Resources Centre is a dual-use room containing library and computer areas.

Students are encouraged to sign out their favourite library books by way of our L4U automated library program. We do carry a full collection of Fiction and Non-Fiction books, along with numerous reference manuals. The SAC has recently approved $ 8000 for Library books and $ 5000 for Accelerated Reader books.

We are also very excited about our library. We welcome Mrs. L., our new librarian, who come comes to us with a strong computer and library background. She is accessioning many new books for our eager readers and will be ordering new ones. Our grand reopening is scheduled for February 12, 2009, and will include talks by our resident author Joseph Simons.

Our School District has also partnered up with the Edmonton Public Library. All students at St. Marks have been sent home a Youth Library Membership Form whereby students will be given free library cards to borrow books, DVDs and even video games free of charge. Parents, make sure that those forms are returned.)

Also, every month students have access to Scholastic Book Orders whereby students can purchase popular high quality reading books for their own home libraries. The 8As have even started their own Book Club which runs Thursdays during LA.. St. Mark has caught Literacy Fever!!!!!!

The LRC is also fitted with 33 Pentium IV student workstations (with LCD monitors). An education server gives the student the ability to save their work to the server, avoiding the use of diskettes. These workstations are equipped with Encarta Reference Suite, containing the Complete Canadian Encyclopedia. As well as CD Rom and text information, students have access to the Internet through a High Speed connection.

In total St. Mark has two computer labs in operation, with 64 networked computers available for student use. In addition, numerous classrooms also have pods of student workstations. All computers are equipped with the complete Office 2003, Encarta, All The Right Type, Accelerated Reader, and The Learning Equation (Math). Students may also take tests from various online providers.

LITERACY UPDATE

Our second residency in the AISI cycle IV: Literacy Strategies for the 21st Century began On Wednesday, April 21. St. Mark once again was partnered with one literacy and one multimedia consultant. Teachers were involved in call-back inservices to learn what 21st century tools and strategies are and how to implement them in various scenarios. During the residency the 4 core teachers and consultants discussed and practiced how to apply what they have learnt to their individual class settings. Funding from this project has enabled us to purchase and use our new 10 notebooks, 5 SMART document cameras, and a SMART slate. Our students and staff are becoming well equipped knowledgeable 21st century learners!

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