School life / Young meteorologists, past and present
Children Who Give Up Recess to Forecast the Weather
Mississippi students trade recess for a meteorology program. Connecticut third graders miss their TV weatherman on his days off. A first-grade station took requests.
In March 2026 a Mississippi TV station reported that North Woolmarket Elementary and Middle School, in Harrison County, was launching a student meteorologist program. The station's own meteorologist, Sam Lucey, visited to show students how a forecast is prepared and what tools are used. The report said students were trading in recess to learn it.
Recess. I have seen what my children will trade for ten more minutes outside, and it includes their dignity and, once, a sibling.
In Norfolk, Connecticut, a combined third- and fourth-grade class at Botelle School has watched Bob Maxon's NBC 30 forecast every morning for two years, as part of their teacher Nicole Partyka's weather unit. She told the town's news site that the students are noticeably disappointed when he has a day off.
In January 2026, at her invitation, Maxon came to the school. He spent more than an hour on weather concepts and data, told stories about historic snowstorms from his childhood in Oswego, New York, and ventured a prediction about whether they would have school on Friday. The town reported the result. They did.
A meteorologist in a room full of children, asked about a snow day, has the hardest job in broadcasting. He took the question anyway.
Children who love weather start their own stations. A 2008 chapter by two educators describes first graders at a private school in suburban New York who designed and built a weather broadcasting station. Each group took a week. They read the temperature three times a school day and were allowed alarm clocks to remind them. Families could request broadcasts. At home, each child watched the evening weather report and listed the meteorologist's tools. The class rules for reporting included this: "Special" news is encouraged, but must be scheduled separately.
Special news is encouraged, but must be scheduled separately. I would like this rule at my dinner table, where special news arrives during the soup.
The youngest is our forecaster. Every morning she stands at the kitchen window and announces the day. She has been right about rain twice, and wrong about snow every day last winter. Her accuracy has not affected her confidence. Last week she predicted no school on Friday. There was school on Friday.
She has asked to meet a meteorologist. I said they are very busy. She said that they should schedule it separately.
Sources
The public records, school pages and published accounts this story draws on. Where the story imagines a scene or a line of dialogue, that is the column’s telling, not a quotation.
- WXXV: North Woolmarket Elementary and Middle School launching student meteorologist program wxxv25.com
- Karen M. Steuerwalt and Evelyn A. O’Connor: The We Are Reporters Project, 2008, printed pages103–121 files.eric.ed.gov
- Town of Norfolk: NBC30 Weatherman Visits Botelle School norfolkct.org