It is the second winter weather watch for North Georgia this year. All Northeast Georgia schools as well as schools in Hall, Cherokee and Forsyth Counties have all closed for Friday bracing for the predicted winter storm warning. Early weather reports show that Metro Atlanta may escape most of the icy mess. Some freezing rain has been predicted for the area but with rising temps, Metro student should not expect the same as North Georgia students.
With winter weather finally hitting the area, following an unseasonable warm couple of months, it’s the perfect time to talk about ways for schools and families to team-up on weather and emergency preparedness. The Georgia Emergency Management Agency’s Ready Georgia has unveiled its Downloadable Teacher and Parent Toolkit promoting emergency preparedness among students. Ready Georgia has an ongoing goal to help student and their families know what to do in any kind of emergency from: tornados, to home fires to winter storms. This new Toolkit brings the lesson to the classroom for students to take home.
Designed to complement the third, fourth and fifth-grade health and/or science curriculums, the free toolkit includes materials ranging from lesson plans teachers can use to educate students about possible disasters to a recommended reading list and kid-friendly emergency preparedness videos. Teachers could link meteorology, earth science and heat energy lessons to discussions about severe weather, earthquakes and house fires. The information is flexible so the hands-on activities can be used in a variety of settings and without specific time constraints. Ready Georgia says the curriculum can also be used by any group or organization that works with children.
The Teacher and Parent Toolkit program has already received positive response among Georgia schools and parents. Ready Georgia tested out the lesson plans in classrooms at a select group of schools statewide, including Kimberly Elementary School in Atlanta and Eastvalley Elementary School in Marietta.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has declared February 4-8 as Severe Weather Awareness Week in Georgia. Ready Georgia hopes schools and families will take this opportunity to learn about severe weather safety measures and to participate in statewide awareness programs.
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