LAWRENCE — Until recently, children in grades five though eight at Our Lady of Good Counsel School were using 11-year-old science books. Younger students had only kits of science experiments to use.

Today, all 149 students have 2008 editions of the Discovery Channel science series and 30 Dell desktop computers they can use in their weekly classes because of $100,000 in grants from local foundations and trusts.

"We're very excited for all the help and assistance," said Principal Maureen Cocchiaro. "It means hope for the future of our students and our school."

No one is happier than Karen Belanger, science teacher for fifth- through eighth-graders at the school at 526 Lowell St.

"The books are excellent," said Belanger, a teacher for 16 years. "It's a big improvement from before. If you don't have the material and the visuals, you can't have a successful program."

While the students learn the scientific facts, it was hard for them to reconfigure that into charts when they took the Terra Nova test, which Catholic schools students take annually.

"It makes it easier especially for students who come from elementary school and don't have a background in science," Belanger said.

The books come with a kit that includes PowerPoint presentations on fossil reading, identifying leaves and plants. The science books were paid for with a $10,000 grant from the George H. and Jane A. Mifflin Memorial Fund and the DeMoulas Foundation.

The book series also includes work sheets parents can go over with their children and a review sheet students can use several times before going on to the next lesson.

"I've noticed the children are showing more interest in science than before because they are understanding it more and want to go on," Belanger said.

In the computer room, students learn Word and Excel, which help them with research and enhance school projects with graphics. The computers were purchased with money from the Artemas W. Stearns and Josephine G. Russell trusts.

"It's going to make them ready to be successful in high school," Cocchiaro said.

Our Lady of Good Counsel also received money for building repairs, including $30,000 from the Stevens Foundation for thermopane windows in three classrooms and a water recirculator for the boiler with money from the C. Pringle Charitable Foundation.

The Louis B. Cox Foundation donated $1,500 to help needy students pay tuition.

Our Lady of Good Counsel has 149 students, who come from Greater Lawrence, Haverhill and Southern New Hampshire.

Mayor Michael Sullivan, who sits on the board of the Pringle Foundation, toured the school yesterday. He stopped in the third-grade classroom, where students were learning how to subtract. In the second grade, students sat on the rug as a teacher read, "The Art Lesson" about crayons. First-graders were watching an animated film as they learned about respect.

"We know how much the school does for the city and the Tower Hill area," Sullivan said. "We (the foundation) knows it went to a great cause."

Frank Powers, development director, wrote all the grant proposals for the school.

"This will allow them to be as competitive as they can in the marketplace," Powers said.