Empirical teaching on a stormy day

Last Monday was one of those days which bustle up from Antarctica and inflict their weather on us without consultation.

Sunday had been balmy and springlike, but on Monday morning there was an e mail from Glenavy School, the weather forecast was for gales and storms, don't bother coming in. So I snuggled down by my fire and listened to the southerly gale hooting through with thunder, lightning, rain, hail sleet and anything else it could find to throw at us.

When I reported to Glenavy school on Tuesday the children were bubbling with excitement about the storm. There were books and stories available on the shelf but the high excitement was because their teachers had taken them out into the storm!

They showed me photographs of them, all wrapped up in wet weather gear, and scarves and jerseys and underneath the photographs were the children's impressions of being out in a storm; exciting stuff.

Tangimoana was not at school that day so she drew this picture of what she saw from her bedroom window.