Bob Kovachick may spend his evenings predicting the weather on WNYT News Channel 13, but he spends some of his days helping educate students. Recently he came to Jefferson Elementary School and spoke with third-graders from Jefferson and Woestina.

Words from the Weatherman

Kovachick's presentation allowed students to learn about weather from someone who has spent 34 years making forecasts. Third-grade teacher Stephanie Lazzari helped organize the visit for students, who have been learning about weather and conducting experiments in their classrooms.

"My goal is to bring real life situations into the classroom," said Lazzari. "I thought having a meteorologist visit might help spark more interest in science. Hopefully, a few students will walk away from the presentation and say they want to be a meteorologist when they grow up!"

Students heard about a variety of topics, including clouds, rainbows, tornados, hurricanes, and lightning. They asked many questions such as, "How do you know when it's going to snow in the winter?" Kovachick also spoke about what it takes to be a weatherman and how "green screens" work in the news studio.

Crais Cowsert's favorite part of the presentation was learning about green screens, which allow images to be projected on the wall behind a weatherman. "It just sounds cool," said Cowsert, a Woestina student.

Jefferson student Sofia Pasquarella said she liked learning where to hide if there's a tsunami "just in case I go to Florida to see my uncle and I'm near the beach."

Making New Friends

After the presentation, third-graders from Jefferson and Woestina enjoyed a pizza lunch in the school courtyard, courtesy of the Jefferson PTO. This gave the students, who'll enter fourth grade together at Jefferson next year, an opportunity to spend time with their soon-to-be new classmates.

Woestina student Jenielle Hanford said she really liked visiting Jefferson. "That's pretty neat, getting to meet people that you don't really know," she said.

Expressing a similar sentiment, Jefferson student Ben Burchhardt said, "I think it's fun to get to know them."

Click on the images below to view more pictures from today's special presentation and lunch.