Snowing over the Region

Light snow is now falling over the Washington interior, with rain on the coast. At 6 AM snow totals (based mainly from pictures and cams) seem to be roughly from .5 to 1 inch....perhaps some of you can send in totals as comments.

The latest radar image shows light precipitation over the entire region and you can see the back edge of the frontal precipitation reaching the far NW coast (this is why you need the coastal radar!)

 Our radars are dual polarized, which means they can determine precipitation type.  Here is the precip type for what the lowest beam of the radar at Camano Is. is seeing:  light blue--which means dry snow.

What about temperatures aloft?  The latest data at 6 AM show it is plenty cold enough for snow and clearly will remain so for several more hours.

Based on the radar, looks we have several hours more of snow over the western interior.

 

 

Help The Seattle School District Pick Better Math Textbooks for K-5

Most Seattle elementary schools are using very poor math textbooks:  Everyday Math.  FINALLY, the district is replacing them and you can help ensure that decent books are selected. For the next few weeks the finalist books will be available at the Seattle Schools HQ and you can peruse them and provide comments.   Here is more information on this opportunity.  With information form concerned citizens and parents, a math committee will make recommendations to the district.  

 

Seattle is looking at 8 different programs.  I'm familiar with two of them:  Math In Focus: Singapore Math, and enVision.  Of these two, the Singapore program is far superior in how the math content is developed for the kids, and the clarity of the program for teachers and families.  Math In Focus was adopted two years ago by Highline School District, which has been increasing their math achievement scores relative to the state ever since.  enVision is not a terrible program, but it doesn't have the same focus and teaching to mastery as the Singapore program.  It's like a slightly enhanced version of Everyday Math, which is now confusing Seattle kids on a daily basis.  We don't need any more of that.  Take a look at the books online, or in person at the John Stanford Center.  The top three finalists will be displayed at 5 schools around the Seattle area for detailed review in March of 2014.  The final selection will be in classrooms by fall of 2014.

Seattle math adoption website: http://www.seattleschools.org/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=293767