Fifth grade students have turned into amateur meteorologists and scientists thanks to the AMS, DASH (Developmental Approaches in Science and Health), and NASA's CERES S'COOL Project.

A natural curiosity of the world around them and inquisitive minds have unleashed a thirst in their quest for learning.

With a few simple materials, most gathered from the recycle bin, these ambitious students have designed, built, and tested their very own weather instruments. It's problem solving at its best.

Now, they can use their own instruments to gather data, instead of relying solely on that information which can be found in the newspaper, on the radio, television, or internet.

They have observed the clouds, then gone on-line and reported their findings at the time of the satellite's overpass to NASA's CERES S'COOL Project at Langley Research Center.

Cotton balls, a glue stick, and a little imagination have transformed a plain piece of blue construction paper into each student's very own cloud chart.

Students have written poems in Language Arts with their newly acquired vocabulary and taken them to computer class where they have used KID PIX, an educational art software, to illustrate their creative writings.

This year began with the building of a sailboat by each student. Everyone was given a milk carton for the hull, and two straws for the mast and boom. The students were responsible for furnishing their own sail, as well as getting their boat to sail, without tipping over, down a five foot piece of guttering filled with water. These wind-driven sailboats have become the basis of our studying the ocean.

From the winds aloft, that blow our weather patterns and drive the surface ocean currents, to the depths of the Antarctic bottom waters, the coupling of the atmosphere and the ocean has provided a vast array of opportunities to explore the wonderful world of science. In this sea and sky connection, inquisitive minds have been hard at work, and they have loved it.