Date: Fri 21-Aug-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: MICHEL

Quick Words:

Air-Watch-Taunton-Press

Full Text:

Taunton Press Donates AirWatch Station

BY MICHELE HOGAN

Taunton Press has donated $6,570 to purchase an AirWatch Station for Newtown

Middle School.

Michelle Holda-Vaccaro, sixth grade science teacher at NMS, contacted Janice

Roman at Taunton Press, who was delighted to support this project.

The equipment is expected to arrive on August 24, and be installed soon after.

It will record temperature, precipitation, barometric pressure and wind speed

on the roof on the school, and relay this information directly to the

computers at Channel 8 where it can be used for their weather reports.

Mrs Holda-Vaccaro said that she got the idea from watching "Dr Mel,"

meteorologist on Channel 8 weather. She said that about a dozen schools in

Connecticut were already participating in the AirWatch project, and she

thought it would be useful educationally.

Available for the use of all Newtown schools, the airwatch unit will provide

data which can be used in mathematics, science and technology, as well as in

interdisciplinary units involving social studies and language arts.

Twenty Newtown teachers will be receiving training in using the AirWatch

Station in November.

The middle school also hopes make the information available to the whole

community through uploading the current weather information to a web-site.

Mrs Holda-Vaccaro said "Jan [Roman] was so great. It's a great community

service!"