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Kare 11 Meteorologist Belinda Jensen gave a weather presentation to Woodcrest Spanish Immersion second grade students to help connect real-world experience to their classroom learning on weather on Tuesday, October 8.
During the presentation, Jensen gave an overview of her on-air weather routine at KARE 11, shared the six books that she has written for students to increase weather awareness, performed a "Cloud in a Jar" experiment and answered student questions.
I believe weather is the perfect science for kids. It’s so tangible because kids are dealing with weather every day and it impacts their daily lives from how they dress to if they need an umbrella when they go outside. Belinda Jensen, Kare 11 meteorologist
As part of a passion project, Jensen has been giving weather presentations to second grade students for 30 years. A large part of the conversation she has with these groups of students revolves around the six-part book series she wrote to take the uneasiness out of weather through fun and instructional storytelling.
Throughout the series, Bel the Weather Girl goes on adventures to explain different types of weather, including hail, blizzards, tornadoes, thunderstorms, clouds and hurricanes.
“Some kids are really interested in weather and others are anxious about the unknown aspects of weather,” Jensen said. “My goal with these books is to break it down and give them the nuts and bolts they need to understand that weather is a science and not something to be scared about and instead has them walk away more understanding and curious about weather.”
In addition to walking away more knowledgeable about weather, students were excited to appear on an introduction weather segment on the Kare 11 evening news.
“The student enthusiasm and connecting with Belinda Jensen was delightful as I watched students interact with her throughout the presentation,” said gifted and talented specialist Jan Burda. "Knowing how the weather affects our everyday life is an important lesson for our students so it was a wonderful experience, filled with STEM learning.”
