More Than Just Hot Air Education Program

More Than Just Hot Air is an educational program geared for third-graders. This program was launched a couple weeks prior to the festival when a packet of training material was sent out to all third-grade teachers in Monongalia, Marion and Preston County school districts. The packet included a CD ROM with lesson plans, handouts, coloring sheets, worksheets and a variety of other items that utilize ballooning as a medium for teaching basic skills such as math and science. Additionally each school was provided with a banner to help promote the program. If you are interested in obtaining copies of the material that was provided, please use the links to the right of this page.

On Friday morning the festival will host third-grade classes from throughout the Monongalia, Marion and Preston County school districts. This could be as many as 4,300 children, who will be able to experience the science of ballooning by attending various knowledge ?stations?. The stations will include a program put together by NASA, another by the Carnegie Science Museum. WBOY television (the NBC affiliate) will man their station with their Meteorology Unit and explain the science of weather. Van Anderson, Balloon Meister for the festival and, in fact the originator of the festival some 22 years ago, will provide his ?Ballooning 101? for the third-graders, and we will have a couple of cloud hoppers on hand to demonstrate the ease with which flight can happen! As a bonus for the children, a Native American group will present their own educational ?encounter?. With wigwam, tepee and hunting lodge they will recreate earlier times through storytelling and dance.