Press  >  October 6, 2005 Release

WeatherBug® Achieve Debuts Groundbreaking “Live” Interactive Lessons to Captivate K-8 School Teachers and Students, Boosting Classroom Morale and Performance

Standards-based Science Lessons Use Live Weather Data and Familiar, Real World Interactivity So Students Can Relate To and Fully Grasp Even Complex Science, Math and Technology Concepts in Half the Time

Germantown, MD — October 6, 2005 — WeatherBug®, the leading provider of live, local weather information services, today debuted its newest version of WeatherBug Achieve. Since its initial launch in 1992, the dynamic, interactive standards-aligned program has consistently captivated teachers and students, boosting classroom morale and performance. With 24 new lessons that combine live, real-world information with engaging interactivity, WeatherBug Achieve takes interactive learning to a new level. Using its time-proven student learning and performance track record, WeatherBug Achieve now engages K-8 teachers and students with fun and easy science, math, geography and technology lessons using innovative computer animation.

“We are excited to be rolling out the pilot program to 27 new area schools, as it proved so successful last year,” said Morgan Crimmins, a teacher at Brooklyn PS 104 in NYC Region 7, where the successful WeatherBug Achieve program was documented in a recent case study. “We were so pleased by how Achieve boosted our classroom morale and performance, and we’re optimistic that the new lessons will be even more successful at engaging and educating our students.”

Features & Benefits

“Search & Select” tools based on all 50 states’ standards and curriculum units enable teachers to choose WeatherBug Achieve lessons that work for their classroom’s specific needs and requirements. Because the program is a dynamic, Web-based application, the lessons can be self-taught or instructed by the teacher to the entire classroom, cutting the “time to teach” in half.

Allowing the students to learn at their own pace and interact on their own with the lessons, WeatherBug Achieve gives today’s teachers the rare opportunity to work with individual students or to teach the entire class. Each child works differently, and many times the range of different levels of learning in one classroom makes it challenging for teachers to plan lessons to meet the needs of each child, while still maintaining test scores. Consequently, selecting the right supplementary program to complement classroom text books is crucial and fulfills the promise of “No Child Left Behind”.

Because classroom concepts are reinforced through repetition, teachers are constantly challenged with the task of balancing repetition with new information and lessons that will both engage the students while educating them in the process. By using live and historical weather data and colorful computer animation, the same WeatherBug Achieve lessons can be used over and over again, yet seem new every time, because the different seasons and times of day generate completely different sets of data and camera images. Each lesson concludes with a student quiz, offering students instant feedback and positive reinforcement. Test results are automatically emailed directly to the teacher.

“The sky is the limit with WeatherBug Achieve,” said Bob Marshall, President & CEO of WeatherBug. “As a Web-based program, WeatherBug Achieve offers unlimited access to the program, no preset number of teachers or students and limitless lesson possibilities for the kind of enthralling student-teacher experiences that school administrators and teachers only dream of. Once school teachers and administrators realize the scope and impact of WeatherBug Achieve, they learn to appreciate the program’s value and ROI. As an added incentive, we offer interest free payment plans for up to six months.”

In addition to being fun and practical, WeatherBug Achieve is also easier to navigate than other programs. The new FLASH-based lessons are intuitive, with context-sensitive navigation to ensure a time-saving, user-friendly experience for teachers and students alike.

“I love the new WeatherBug Achieve interactive lessons,” said Shannon Paschall, a teacher at Beach Tree Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia. “My students love the hands-on approach, and I love the fact they they’re able to learn at their own pace in an exciting, interactive way. The best part is that they are real instructions on the standards I need to teach. They are easily differentiated to meet the needs of my class and are so simple to use. I enjoy seeing how my students used the WeatherBug Achieve maps they’ve created on our school’s morning news show. This lets them enjoy their experience as a ‘real world’ meteorologist.”

About WeatherBug Achieve

WeatherBug Achieve (www.weatherbugachieve.com) brings live conditions into the classroom with a tool that is fun and easy for teachers and students to use at all levels. The data is unique, as it is relative to the school and features current, local weather conditions across the country. Under this innovative, hands-on program, student interest level and scores consistently rise along with student and teacher morale. Teachers and administrators credit the program for adding tremendous value to their curriculum and boosting student self-confidence. In the 2004-2005 School year over 250,000 students and teachers logged in to WeatherBug Achieve to learn with real live data and plan interactive lessons where students experience hands on learning.

About WeatherBug^®

WeatherBug (www.weatherbug.com) ensures that individuals, schools, businesses and communities always get the most precise live weather conditions, the most relevant reports, and the earliest weather warnings to safeguard their property and their lives. WeatherBug owns the world's largest exclusive weather network, which has over 8,000 live WeatherBug Tracking Stations and more than 1,000 cameras that generate neighborhood level reports every second versus other weather providers whose data is up to an hour or more old. This network powers various products and services, including: WeatherBug, the number one weather Internet application, with over 60 million downloads, that streams live neighborhood conditions to its home and work users; WeatherBug Media Services, which delivers live weather information to over 80 million U.S. households through partnerships with more than 100 local television stations; WeatherBug Education, which provides engaging weather information and educational tools to schools and colleges, including an online learning program for K-12 schools called WeatherBug Achieve; and WeatherBug Professional Services, which uses the company's unique weather network and software to provide high-value solutions for vertical industries such as energy, transportation, and first response. WeatherBug is a brand of AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc. www.aws.com.

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