Sandy Hook Students Moonlight As Meteorologists

By Jeff White

The bright light that reflected off the outside snow and through the window of Kara Richo’s first grade classroom at Sandy Hook School Monday gave the warm feeling of a sunny day. Student attire inside, however, foreshadowed a change in the weather – many changes, in fact. There were some students in shorts and tee shirts, others in bathing suits, and some in parkas, as they presented their weather forecasts to a room full of parents.

It was the culmination of Ms Richo’s month-long weather unit, when students tackled different seasons, precipitation, cloud types and temperatures.

Students were introduced to a variety of weather instruments used by meteorologists, such as thermometers, rain gauges and wind flags. Over the course of the month, students diligently recorded a given day’s cloud cover, wind speed, precipitation and temperature, as they constantly updated their daily weather calendars.

Parents gathered early Monday afternoon in Ms Richo’s room to hear the forecasts. Each student was to prepare an imaginary weather scenario as if he or she was a professional meteorologist. The forecasts had requisite information: current temperatures, precipitation, cloud cover and wind speed for the made-up day. Their presentations had to have the aid of a visual rendering of the weather, with posters depicting fiery suns, fierce winds, or fluffy clouds.

Moreover, like all good meteorologists, students had to give some suggestions concerning appropriate dress and activities given the weather conditions they were predicting. A sunny, warm day might lend itself well to tee shirts while gardening, while a blustery, bone-chilling winter day might require a heavy jacket while ice skating.

In light of this week’s weather, some of the students’ forecasts seemed almost prophetic, calling for frigid temperatures and snowstorms. Still other students opted for wishful thinking, calling for sunny, azure days and temperatures hovering in the eighties, perfect weather for a day at the beach.

By the end of the project, the first-graders had a better understanding of what it meant to be a meteorologist; whether or not it was a demanding profession was a debatable issue as the room emptied out.

Jordon Simons concluded that it was hard work being a weatherman. “They have to go from night to day to forecast; they never get any sleep.”

Megan Preis agreed with her classmate, “because [meteorologists] have to know what weather is coming up.”

“It’s not that hard,” Eric McCabe countered. “All they have to do is say the stuff.”

Occupational revelations notwithstanding, students said they learned much about different weather systems and their inherent dangers. “I learned tornadoes can be dangerous because they are really strong and can hurt people.”

“I like blazing hot sun,” Eric McCabe added.

For others, constructing the visual aids and working through the weather unit were the best parts of the project. “I liked the part when we made the clouds out of cotton balls,” admitted Ava Rojo.

“I liked it when we went outside and did the weather flaps,” said Marissa Cascella.

This is Kara Richo’s first year teaching at Sandy Hook School, after teaching in a neighboring district for the past several years. It was the first time that she thought of using student weather forecasting in her science curriculum. “It went beautifully,” she said.