Kelli Smith and Liz Weitzell received a grant that provides weather safety kits for all STC fifth grade students. Chronicle Photo/Allison Graham

If Today Show weather man, Al Roker asked what’s happening in our neck of the woods, most Iowans would be pleased to talk about the upcoming spring after a long, cold winter.

At the STC Middle School fifth grade teachers Elizabeth Weitzell and Kelli Smith have just begun a weather unit that will last through the end of the year.

While the warmer temperatures (on some days) are a nice change of pace, we will also soon be entering “Tornado Season”.

Weitzell and Smith plan to teach about weather safety and preparedness throughout their weather units. In order to complement their safety curriculum the two teachers applied for a grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for individual weather supply kits. As luck would have it, they received the grant and will be getting the supply kits handed out to students.

Each fifth grade student will receive a weather supply kit that includes band-aids and a flashlight inside a bright yellow bag. Weitzell is also working with local FEMA rep Mindy Benson, who is the Tama County Emergency Management Director, to add 9-1-1 items to the bags.

In addition to receiving the grant Weitzell’s class will also be recorded for a web video relating to weather safety that will appear on FEMA’s website.