Northville, MI – Students across Michigan practiced what to do if severe weather strikes today as part of the Michigan Statewide Tornado Drill, and teachers say the skills these students are practicing often follow kids all the way home.
For students in the Young 5’s classroom at Ridge Wood Elementary, learning about the weather is part of the daily routine.
“We talk about, OK, the weather, it’s chilly. You might need to put your hat and coat on. And then someone will say, do we need our snow pants? So there’s a conversation all around weather, almost every single day”, says Kim Gall, Young 5’s Teacher at Ridge Wood Elementary School in Northville.
But on this day, that conversation turns to something a little more serious — preparing for severe weather.
Gall adds, “Before the drill, you sat the kids down, and you had a conversation about how important you think it is to make sure our students understand why they are learning this.”
Practicing just a few times a year helps everyone remember what to do when the announcement is made.
”You find a place that... " It is an interior building, an interior room in a building, and being able to protect themselves inside the building", says Amy Terry, Ridge Wood Elementary School Principal.
Because educators say the goal isn’t just practicing the drill — it’s helping students understand why it matters.
“I just had a conversation with a parent the other day whose daughter came home and said, ' Mom, do we have a tornado prepared plan at home? And the mom was not prepared for that conversation. And she said, well, no, we don’t right now, but we can get one. And she’s said, good, we need one at home because we have one at school”, Terry adds.
“Even when we’re talking about something as simple as tornado drill and severe weather safety, that, you know, we really are a bridge for teaching the skills that these kids are taking home”, Kim Gall says about how important it is for students to practice these skills.