Foxboro First Graders Get Head Start On Weather Forecasting
BOSTON (CBS) – Recording numbers from weather equipment is something meteorologists do every day.
A group of future meteorologists are getting a head start by learning about the weather in first grade.
"North, east, south, west, never eat soggy waffles!" the first graders recite.
This is one of many clever techniques the teachers teach the students to really understand weather.
"And they're also creating their own weather tools to measure different elements of the weather, and it's great knowing the system that's involved in them," says first grade teacher Rebecca Dardano.
The kids also compare the handmade replicas to the real weather station they have outside of the school.
This is the second year for the STEAM weather program at the Sage School in Foxboro.
"Last year we had done similar experiments and the children went home and actually made their own instruments and they brought them back, it worked, they were so excited," says first grade teacher, Pam Franklin. "Every day that we are doing instruments they're like, I'm going to go home today and we're going to do this, I'm going to find bottles and I'm going to really practice, and really understand the idea."
The data from the outside weather station comes in on a tablet. Then the kids write down the readings every day.
"So that we can really see the climate of the area we are living in. We are also hoping to have a skype session with another classroom in a different part of the country. and see how our data is different form a different region," says Dardano.
The STEAM program is incorporated into all grades at the Sage School. This school year, the entire middle school will try to identify new designs for a sustainable 21st century refugee camps.
For more information about STEAM, visit the Sage School website.