FOX 5’s Joanne Feldman Brings Meteorological Science to Kindergartners

Kindergartners had a front row seat in FOX 5’s Storm Chaser vehicle, a modified Ford Expedition – with extensive technical gear to facilitate TV productions… on the fly… during violent storms.
Local Atlanta’s FOX 5 Storm Team Meteorologist Joanne Feldman brought the truck, along with her expertise, to visit with the entire Kindergarten in the midst of their weather unit. In addition to studying the elements, students are currently learning about cloud patterns and the difference between thunderstorms and tornados. Mrs. Feldman broadened their knowledge by sharing what types of storms Georgia sees the most as well as the importance of safety, regarding floods, tornados, lighting and thunder. She also revealed what it takes to become a meteorologist, why she studied to be one and what she likes most about it.
Later, the students were invited to sit inside the Storm Chaser to see the radar and tracking equipment, press a few buttons and sit in the reporter’s seat. Mrs. Feldman even shot her own video of the students to air during her forecast the following morning.
By bringing the real world to meet the students where they are, curiosity takes hold and passion for new things develop. By interacting with a real, live expert, students gain a stronger sense of the topic at hand, creating memories in the meantime.
K teacher, Mrs. Fennelly, emailed Joanne later that afternoon, to tell her that during recess the students were pretending to broadcast the news and give weather reports, pretending that the trash can was a studio camera. One group of children made a storm tracker van out of tree limbs on the playground then practiced chasing a tornado. To that, Joanne said on-air, “I had a blast and I hope they did, too.
Joanne Feldman is an Emmy award winning and AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist. She grew up in Marietta (a proud graduate of Lassiter High School) and studied meteorology at the University of Georgia where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography. She then headed to the Master’s program in Meteorology at Penn State University on a scholarship from the American Meteorological Society.
Her broadcasting career began when she was one of two graduate students selected to forecast for Penn State’s daily weather magazine, ‘Weather World’ – a show with a following all across the state of Pennsylvania. From there, she headed to Fresno, California to work at KMPH, and later KFSN, as the weekend meteorologist. Not long after making the move to KFSN, she became the news anchor for the station’s top-rated morning show. After a couple of years honing both her broadcasting and forecasting skills, she was promoted to WTVD in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. Joanne spent five years there as the Chief Meteorologist covering tornado outbreaks, an historic ice storm, and numerous hurricanes – including the landfall of Hurricane Isabel in 2003. In 2007 she returned to her hometown of Atlanta.
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