Building
History
1958: Classes begin. The first and second grades meet in the Annex, which now houses the Parish Office. Older grades meet in the church basement.
1962: Construction of a one-floor school with gym is completed. During the construction, some classes meet in the old Acme building on Shore Road.
1999: A second floor is added to the school.
December 2005: The school is expanded again, adding space for a multi-purpose room and computer and science labs.
Media Center
Our newly updated Media Center contains almost 5,000 books. The easy reading section contains 1,141 non-fiction, picture, and early chapter books. The general fiction section contains 2,088 books and we are building a young adult section for 7th and 8th grade students. The non-fiction section contains 1,570 books and the reference section, 128 books.
Last year, we upgraded from a manual to a fully automated library system. All books are bar-coded and each student and faculty member has a library card number. All grades from Kindergarten to 8th have a regularly scheduled library period each week. Students are taught a variety of skills, from book care and the Dewey decimal system to research skills including Web site evaluation and bibliography creation.
The Media Center also has seven computers that the students can use to access our online card catalog and the Internet for research purposes.
In addition, the Center houses VHS and DVD movies that the teachers can use to supplement their lessons. We are also amassing a collection of magazines and periodicals for use by students and faculty alike.
St. Joseph's Media Center is also the home of our closed circuit television station, SJRS NEWS. Every morning we broadcast to all the classrooms in grades K-8. Morning announcements include a short lesson in Christian morals by Sister Fran, the news of the day delivered by Student Council members, and occasional pre-recorded clips of class projects and activities.