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Welcome
to
Mrs.
Mathey's
Wild
Weather Window
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Welcome to Mrs. Mathey's
Wild Weather Window, a web resource page for fifth and sixth grade
science students here at Erving Elementary School. Students use the
handy links above to access information about the current weather in
their region. Students are currently staying updated on tornado
activity in the central and southern states.
All fifth and sixth graders
completed a unit on meteorology with a focus on hurricanes at the
beginning of the school year. Our student meteorologists continue to
post the weather for our area each morning. Below are a few of the
highlights of our unit.
HURRICANES!
The 1998 Atlantic hurricane
season was the deadliest in over 200 years. Students began recording
data and tracking hurricanes from the very first day of science class
in September. Nine hurricanes and five tropical storms kept students
very busy during September, October, and November. Students also
graphed the wind speeds and barometric pressure of both Georges and
Mitch in order to see the relationship between the decreasing
barometric pressure and increasing wind speed throughout the life of
the hurricane.
Field Trip
News
Erving fifth and
sixth graders sent a big thank you to Channel 22 meteorologists, Adam
Strzempko, John Quill, and Brian Lapis as well as anchor Jerry
Gretzinger for a memorable visit to the WWLP, Channel 22 studio on
Tuesday, Oct. 13. The entire staff was friendly and welcoming. Our
group of 30 eager and excited students toured the station, visited
the meteorologists, and watched a live broadcast. Here are a few
student comments:
"We got to see
a live broadcast. We saw all the cameras and T.V.s. Jerry Gretzinger
was the anchor, and I watched him read off of a T.V. monitor that had
his script on it."
"In the
computer room, there is a switch you can click to make the station
logo show up at the bottom of the screen."
"We watched a
cooking segment. The food smelled awesome."
"I liked being
shown on T.V."
"During the
commercials, the newscasters got up and stretched and
talked."
"I got to see
the director working."
"I got my
barometer signed by John Quill!."
Penpals
Thank you to Ms.
Bosseler's students in Miami for their wonderful letters about
hurricane Georges. In addition to telling us about Hurricane Georges,
some of the Miami students expressed an interest in the powerful
snowstorms we get here in New England.
IN THE
CLASSROOM
In the classroom,
students generated a host of questions about hurricanes, and found
answers during their study of hurricanes. They wondered:
How are
hurricanes formed?
Why does the
barometric pressure drop as the hurricane grows?
What is
barometric pressure?
Why do hurricanes
follow a similar path?
Why is there calm
in the eye of a hurricane?
Why does a
hurricane lose power when it hits land?
Students used the links below to find the answers to these
questions and more!
Individual
hurricane tracking maps, as well as our big classroom map, are filled
up with the tracks of the storms that have formed in the Atlantic and
Gulf areas since the beginning of September. Students have also
tracked the paths of several powerful
hurricanes
from the past.
Wild Weather Links: