Dexter, Missouri - Third grade teacher, Adam Clark, is what you might consider a person who is obsessed with weather in Stoddard County and beyond. Throughout the school year he and his students have been tracking hurricanes and learning about weather patterns.
Clark is a certified Skywarn Spotter with elite spotter training and loves to incorporate weather into his science lessons at school whenever possible. He taught a lesson using Hurricanes Madeline and Lester one afternoon and the students were quite intrigued by the chances of two hurricanes hitting at the same time.
The students had a few questions so Mr. Clark sent an email to Grant Dade, KFVS12 Meteorologist. To the students' amazement Grant responded and after a few emails back and forth he made a trip down to Dexter from Cape Girardeau to visit with the students and talk about you guessed it, "weather"!
The first question(s) came from a student who wanted to know if it was unusual for two hurricanes to be following such a close path to each other and if it was possible for the two hurricanes to merge and what would happen if they did. The students were talking about the two hurricanes coming towards Hawaii. The second student wanted to know if the two hurricanes did come together, would the storm have two eyes and another student wanted to know if they could wipe out Hawaii.
Grant replied in the email, "As for two hurricanes merging, this would not happen. As storms get close together the outer wind fields will shear the storm apart. For a hurricane to survive it needs to be in a low wind environment. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense because the hurricane produces a lot of wind. But the environment around the hurricane has relatively calm wind. Sometimes hurricanes do move over the basic same path. but what will usually happen is the following hurricane will weaken because the previous hurricane will churn up the water cooling the sea surface temperature. As to will the hurricane devour Hawaii, the answer is no. :-) It is true it could be strong enough to destroy most of the dwellings on the island but the land mass it self would not be destroyed."
Mr. Dade was not only informative and interesting, but had a bit of a comical side to his way of educating. He allowed the students to ask questions and while explaining the answer would use his entire body either jumping or stretching or turning and twisting. He was very animated and even got a few students to help him with wind and tornado demonstrations!
What did we learn from Grant's appearance at Central Elementary? That clouds weigh as much or more than 22 tons and aren't as fluffy and light like a cotton boll. That everything is frozen high in the sky and as the "ice" falls it turns to rain or stays frozen depending on the temperatures. That the thunder is not someone bowling or from clouds running into each other, but that there is sudden increase in pressure and temperature from lightning produces rapid expansion of the air surrounding and within a bolt of lightning. The largest piece of hail was as big as a soccer ball!
It was probably one of the most interesting class sessions this reporter has experienced in more than 30 years! Thank you Grant and KFVS12 for coming to Dexter and talking to students about weather!
The students learned a few new things and got their photo taken with our local weather celebrity! Grant even drove the KFVS12 Storm Tracker down and the students were able to go outside and see the vehicle! It was a great afternoon of learning and fun! Thank you Grant Dade for taking time out of your day to visit Clark's Central Elementary classroom!
Bernie, Missouri - Both kindergarten classrooms of Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Galloway have spent the past few months learning about plants during science class.
Through the donations of many community members, the students have been able to learn hands on about pumpkins, gourds, cotton, corn, and sunflowers.
Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Galloway would like to extend their thanks to the following businesses: Melissa and Jason Shelton, Allen Below Farms and Tatum Stone, and Dustin Neeley Farms
Dexter, Missouri - Gavin Miller, Assistant Principal at T.S. Hill Middle School has been named Assistant Superintendent of Dexter Public School effective, Monday, November 7, 2016.
"The Board has been in the process of hiring an Assistant Superintendent for the 2017 school year," commented Rick Williams, President of the School Board. "We had candidates and were narrowing the list down slowly and that list included Mr. Miller."
"Due to the unfortunate circumstances of placing Mitch Wood, Superintendent, on paid administrative leave we as a Board chose to move our selection process up," continued Williams.
Miller graduated from Dexter High School in 1988 and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Evangel University in 1993. He earned his teaching certificate in 1996. Miller went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Education Administration from William Woods University in 2011 and is currently working on a Specialist Degree from William Woods University.
He has 19 years of education under his belt. Two years he taught PE and Business classes at New Madrid County Central and coached football, wrestling, and baseball. He was at Dexter High School for eight years teaching marketing/COE classes, coached football, girls basketball and was High School Athletic Director. He moved away for six years teaching personal finance and computer apps for four years at Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia, Missouri and then finished with two years as Assistant Principal. He worked at the Bernie school district as high school and junior high principal for two years and was then hired as assistant principal at middle school last year.
He is married to Kristin Miller of 13 years. She is a 7th grade science teacher at T.S. Hill Middle School. They have three children, Madelyn who is 20 years old, Maddox age 12, and Jaxon age 7.
Poplar Bluff, Missouri - Poplar Bluff Junior High students concluded their unit on the scientific method with a rocket launch on Thursday, Oct. 27, at Fred M. Morrow Stadium.
Rocket Day was founded several years ago by retired science teacher Vic Clark, who still returns for the occasion to help operate his homemade compressed air launcher. Eighth graders later make qualitative and quantitative observations about the data.
Prior to the event this year, students watched “October Sky,” which was inspired by Homer Hickam Jr., a NASA engineer, who actually wrote a personal letter to the class after teacher Ashley Woolard connected with him via Twitter.
“Best wishes to you and remember, if you never have dreams, they never come true. Aim high,” Hickam stated and included an autographed self-portrait, which he addressed to Poplar Bluff Schools.
Shown in the photo: Makaya Mitchell launches her rocket under the instruction of Vic Clark.
Article and photo submitted by Tim Krakowiak, Communications/Marketing Director, Poplar Bluff R-I School District
Dexter, Missouri - Central Elementary School in Dexter, Missouri has received a grant from Ronald McDonald House Charities to support the school's Accelerated Reader program.
The money received will be used to fund the AR Reward Program and Reading Week at Central Elementary. Students earning their goals will be treated to a variety of treats including pizza picnics at the park, bowling, skating, and Snowcones.
The program develops reading skills, confirms comprehension by computerized testing and offers motivational rewards to students.
The Ronald McDonald House Charities supports non-profit children's programs in the areas of education, health, and social well-being, and the cultural arts.
The local chapter awarded over $250,000 in grants to projects in the tri-state area.
Students in the photo were the top three readers in each of their grades.
Shown in the photo are April Aldridge, English Teacher and AR Program Coordinator and Shane Brumfield, Ronald McDonald House Charities representative; 3rd grade students: Serina Churchill, Landon Annesser, and Cadence Buenaventura; 4th grade students Jake Parker, Ryan Goode, and Adeline Prance; and 5th grade students Gabe Ingram and Camrin Thurston. Piper Freeman was not available for photo.
