NORTH SALEM

PQ third grader Austin Waldron with a polar bear skin at the recent Monster Storm exhibit at P/NW BOCES, which also examined animal adaptations to weather extremes. Third graders from Pequenakonck Elementary School saw how animals act as meteorologists, and learned about weather extremes and the latest in environmental technology during a class trip to the Monster Storm exhibit earlier this month at the Putnam/ Northern Westchester BOCES campus in Yorktown.

The third graders attended the daylong exhibit to learn about weather, climate change, energy conservation, and how animals – and humans – cope with extreme weather. A hands-on exhibit room showed students how a river forms, allowing them to pour water onto sand hills to see erosion in action. They saw how destructive hurricaneforce winds can be on homes, created tornadoes in soda bottles, and examined the special adaptations animals make to cope with weather extremes.

“We study weather and weather systems, so this ties right in with the classroom work,” says teacher Susan Burch.

The exhibit, created by the BOCES’ Center for Environmental Education, also showcased some effects on the environment of global warming, ways to analyze a carbon footprint, the increasingly popular green roof concept, and ways that students can make a difference by, for example, producing less garbage at lunch. The day also included a talk about Animals as Meteorologists by Environmental Education teacher Henry Myers and, in a separate session, longtime meteorologist Jim Witt explained the human techniques for predicting weather.