Schools have added another "R" when it comes to the curriculum.
Now they teach students how to be Storm "Ready." The message is simple – "Get inside!"
Schools are educating students about severe weather with storm safety drills. The staff at Calwell Heights Elementary in Round Rock makes it a routine to practice.
"We want them, if we have an emergency, not to panic. To know that if I go and do exactly what I've been doing in the drill, we'll get there safely and we'll get out," principal Lucy McVey said.
When visiting schools, meteorologists teach students that the News 8 Austin Storm Cruiser is a tool that helps us forecast the weather.
When severe weather strikes, the Storm Cruiser is inside, and that's where you should be, too.
There are three rules to remember: get in, get down and cover up.
Once you're in a safe room, get down. Crouch under a desk or table. Then cover up. Use your hands to protect your head. Visualize in your mind your own school and rehearse what you'd do.
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Storm safety
Students and office workers need to know the rules if severe weather strikes.
 
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"That's the purpose of the drill, to practice what the teachers have been telling them so that everyone is safe," McVey said.
Severe weather can strike at any time of the day or night, including when adults might be at work in an office building. Here, again, knowledge is key.
"A lot of workers don't even know what to do if a tornado warning has been issued and where to go. So the thing folks should start preparing [for], start looking for those interior offices away from windows that have a lot of walls around them. That's where folks need to go, preferably on the lowest floor of a multi-story building," LCRA Chief Meteorologist Bob Rose said.
When you're at the office you want to go to the lowest floor and seek the most interior room possible, and you want to avoid rooms with glass and mirrors.
The last place you want to seek shelter is inside your car.
