STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — Turn of River Middle School sixth-graders have been keeping their heads in the clouds this school year — and doing a really good job at it.

Students in Brian Butera ‘s science class have spent the last several months observing and recording characteristics of clouds floating over Stamford in a project that has provided valuable data to NASA’s cloud observation program. During a three-month stretch, Butera’s students recorded more than 1,250 observations, which were uploaded to NASA’s website and used to help validate observations made by three of its satellites.