MISSION VIEJO : Forecast for Weather Class Sunny

After peering at thermometers, a barometer and a wind gauge one recent morning, Viejo Elementary School sixth-grader Sarah Connor looked into the sky.

“Those are low clouds,” the 11-year-old said. “Maybe they’re high clouds. I think it’s going to be sunny the rest of the day.”

She then went into Principal Richard Campbell’s office, called local radio station KSBR-FM and, with barely a stammer, taped the noon weather report. She even tossed in a daily weather fact: In 1939, an English rainstorm swept up frogs from local ponds and dropped them on the town of Trowbridge.

Dr. George Fischbeck hardly could have done better.

Sarah is one of 20 Viejo sixth-graders who, as members of the school’s Junior Meteorologists Club, have been taking turns the past three weeks giving KSBR’s weekday weather reports using the school’s newly purchased weather station. It cost $6,270 and was purchased with a grant from California Education Initiatives, a coalition of 10 California corporations that funds education projects.

“The thing the kids like about this is that it is not conceptual; it’s not just reading about science in a dry school book,” said teacher David Dunbeck, the project’s adviser. “It’s hands-on, real-life science. The added fact that they get to be on the radio magnifies their excitement.”

Campbell said the idea for building the weather station, which is in a corner of the school’s playground, came last year. He said it will be used to teach all of the school’s students about meteorology.

“Every classroom will be getting two weeks of weather instruction,” Campbell said. “They will be learning all aspects of meteorology--where rain comes from, what causes the wind, how fronts develop, air pressure.

“Even the kindergartners will receive instruction, at their level,” he said. “Maybe they wouldn’t be able to understand air pressure, but they can learn what causes it to rain.”

He said meteorology instruction will begin in January, after the teachers attend a workshop.

Other students will then be allowed to give the weather reports, with the help of a Junior Meteorologist.

Dunbeck said that while the students are learning meteorology, they will also be learning other subjects as well.

“In math, they can learn charts and graphs and percentages,” he said. “They will be reading and writing reports and stories about the weather. For social studies, they will learn about historical events that were affected by the weather. Even in art, a teacher could bring in pictures that utilize weather.

“Using the weather is going to heighten their interest in a lot of areas,” he said. “In sales, they would call this a great hook.”