Meghan Danahey: February 2009 Archives

I found myself completely surrounded by eager 2nd graders at River Place Elementary School Thursday afternoon. They were awesome!

We talked about different cloud types together. For example, Stratus are low clouds that make our sky gray and sometimes bring drizzle or sprinkles. Cirrus clouds are formed entirely of ice crystals because they develop high in our atmosphere where it is very cold.

Cumulus are also lower level clouds that we see on fair weather summer days. They are puffy like popcorn and, sometimes, if you stare long and hard, you can make shapes out of them. I had a viewer in Fort Myers, FL who sent in two photos of cumulus clouds. One looked just like King Kong and the other looked like Elvis Presley.

Sometimes cumulus clouds will grow into tall Cumulonimbus clouds. These can bring beneficial rainfall or even severe weather.

Click here for more kid's cloud stuff

We also talked about Texas weather patterns and how I put together my forecast each day. What a super audience... they were such good listeners and got some pretty tough concepts, like the Dryline!!

The picture at the top is the giant "Thank You" card they gave me after we had to wrap things up. How cool that it's signed by each student? Thanks to you ALL for inviting me.

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I couldn't resist showing a few more Australia pictures, sent to me by our family friends.

While parts of New South Wales are dealing with devastating floodwaters, the heat has been utterly oppressive in other parts of Australia. This recent heat wave in Victoria has caused widespread power outages. Even some trains have stopped running, thanks to tracks buckling in that heat. It's not just the people suffering, though.

We showed you the swimming kangaroo. Now, take a look at this cute little koala.

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It's so hot, even a kangaroo is ready to take a dip in the ocean!! Have you heard this one? Maybe not, but take a look at these pictures from Australia.

Our friend from "Down Under" sent along these photos. Malcolm MacGregor tells me they were expecting 44 degrees Centigrade this last weekend in Sydney and that the mercury climbed above 40 degrees Centigrade in places like Adelaide (far south Australia) early last week. Unbelievably hot for that part of the world, especially coastal areas, even though it is the dead of summer in Australia right now.

I know... some of you are scratching your heads right now thinking "what is 44 and 40 Celsius converted to Farenheit??"

Here is the quick and easy method...To convert Celsius (Centigrade) to Fahrenheit, multiply by 1.8 and add 32. To convert Fahrenheit to Celsius (Centigrade), subtract 32 and divide by 1.8.

An interesting note... kangaroos can swim quite well. They are actually able to move their legs independently under water, which is something that they cannot do on land.

Good news, Malcolm... it looks a little cooler this week! Thanks for the fun pics.

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...In a GOOD way!

I had so much fun at Caraway Elementary School on Friday serving as principal for a day. From the minute I stepped into "my office," it was a valuable experience. I sipped on a freshly brewed cup of coffee as a "fellow administrator" and I went over our schedule for the day. We had lots to do!

First, it was off to the kindergarten classes where teachers and volunteer moms were helping the kiddos celebrate the Chinese New Year. They were hand rolling their very own eggrolls!

Afterwards, the eggrolls were cooked up and smelled delicious! You could smell them all the way to the principal's office. No wonder it was our very first stop! It was hysterical to watch those little ones learn to use chopsticks.

From our yummy kindergarten stop, it was off to visit more classrooms. We simply had to drop in on two teachers who were self-confessed weather gurus, Lindsay Gros and Virginia Gregory-Wilder. Their students were hard at work when we stopped in to say hello and were very gracious about the surprise visit.

We got to read a very special book about the spirit of giving to an eager-to-listen first grade group. A fifth grade class took a time out from their math studies on probabilities to tell us why the Caraway Owls were the best!

I got to do a special weather talk with all of the third grade classes. I think we had a pretty good time together learning about weather and the water cycle. It was especially funny to see Mrs. Shelly Hohmann get up and draw the state of Texas!

It IS about time I mentioned her! Mrs. Hohmann is the REAL principal of Caraway Elementary and she is incredible. She has been at Caraway for eleven years now and she does one amazing job. You wouldn't believe how many hugs she gets in one day!

Follow this link to see my live interview with Mrs. Shelly Hohmann:

I was most impressed by the team spirit shared by the entire staff. From the lovely ladies getting ready to feed hundreds of hungry mouths to the teachers feeding all those hungry minds, the respect and genuine caring for one another and the kids was overwhelming.

I can't foget about those parents, too. They were so good to share their time helping the kindergarteners with those eggrolls. In fact, Caraway has a special resource lounge just for Moms, Dads and Guardians. Interested parents can come in, even bring the smaller children along, to help with school activities and just plain get involved with their child's educational experience at Caraway. Very cool!

At the end of my live shot from the playground, the fourth graders got to get in on the newscast and wave hello. The smiling faces were a perfect way to end the Friday broadcast!

A luncheon followed my "administrator's duties" at the Round Rock Performing Arts Center. I wasn't the only one sent to the principal's office. Representatives from all over the community, from all kinds of different industries in the community, got to stand up and talk about their experiences from the day. What a great way for area schools to pair up with local businesses and representatives, so we can all see how infinitely valuable our teachers and administrators are and what we might be able to do to help them.

Thank you Round Rock ISD for inviting me. Thank you Mrs.Hohmann for being a gracious and fun-loving hostess. And a big THANK YOU students and teachers at Caraway for making me feel so at home as your principal for a day.

GO OWLS!

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