Date: Fri 21-Aug-1998
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!"