Magic+School

= Magic School Bus =

Post your ideas for your Magic School Bus book. Remember to tell us the title of your book, your name, and link your activity.

Danielle Donovan- The Magic School Bus Has Ants in its Pants The book I was assigned was //The Magic School Bus Has Ants// //in its Pants.// Throughout the book readers learn about how ants work together, and also how they use pheromones to leave messages for each other. I chose a lesson which would target science and also allow the children to work in groups using technology. This will be beneficial to the students because technology is something which students will enjoy using, but they will learn how to better use it as well. Additionally, this lesson offers a range of questions which could target many different age levels. If I was doing this with a fifth grade class I could have them answer the one & two star questions. Overall this will help students learn not only about ants, but about how to use technology, and how to work together as a group.

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Cameron Cleveland - The Magic School Bus: Inside A Beehive

This edition of MSB takes a detailed look into the functions of a beehive. A great activity that could teach children a lot about bees would be to garden for bees. Investigating which types of flowers and plants attract bees locally and providing a place for them to grow near the class can give children an opportunity to observe science in nature and insect behavior.

http://blog.growingwithscience.com/2010/05/honey-bees-science-activities-for-kids/

Nikole Calvo- The Magic School Bus Blows Its Top I chose to extend science to learn more about erupting volcanos and what causes them. Throughout the book we learned about how underwater volcanoes erupt and create new land when the earth’s plates move. Students will create models of underwater volcanoes and then make their own eruptions. This experiment will give students a visual idea of what a volcano looks like underwater. It will also show how the magma can explode in the air and harden to create a new form of land. This activity is hands on and it will give the students a chance to name their own piece of land that they created from there eruption. www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/games/experiments/eruptions.htm

Sam Trostle - The Magic School Bus Gets Cold Feet Because my book dealt with warm and cold blooded animals, as well as clues to finding information, I decided to find an activity that involved both of these things. This particular book is very science based and so the activity fits very well with the story line. In the book the students had to use clues to find Liz, the lizard, while also experiencing what it was like to be cold blooded instead of warm blooded. In this scavenger hunt activity, students on a field trip use clues to classify animals and learn about the different kinds of animals that can be found in different environments. This activity is a solid educational activity because it is an example of hands on learning. Students can see, hear, smell, and touch the animals as they classify them, and it allows students to be up moving, and working together. This activity targets mainly science (classification and animals), but could also target language arts if you included a write up/narrative, math if students counted the number of animals in each classification, and art if students drew pictures or created their own replications of the experience afterwards. Animal Classification Field Trip Activity
 * If a field trip isnt viable, you could go outside and try to find animals (frogs, bugs, squirrels, etc), or you could give students pictures/books/websites of animals to complete the activity.

Kathleen Orlando-- __The Magic School Bus Gets Programmed__ The curriculum areas that I will target based off of __The Magic School Bus Gets Programmed__ are social studies, science, and language arts. I chose to target these areas because it incorporates research to learn more about the computer programs which to many, has become a wonderful tool and part of our daily lives. It then gives students the opportunity to do some creative but scientific thinking and write up a description of a computer software or program based off of the research the students have completed. The students will understand the kind of work computers can accomplish to make life a little simpler and create their own software design in a step-by-step representation. Their writing will be the instructions on how to create the software which is gained from computer science and research. This is a solid educational activity because the research is used to scaffold students’ own ideas to then write up their own creation based on research and personal interest. The following is a link on how to create computer software for kids: [|Animal Classification Activity]

Tammy Bonanno- __The Magic School Bus Expedition Down Under__ __ Expedition Down Under __ exposes the students to a number of animals indigenous to Australia. I will use the text to expand on the big idea: Animals of Australia. In the MSB, Tiki, the student’s guide always mentioned the diet of the animals she found. In our activity we will discuss as a class that all animals need food and that different animals have different diets. Our discussion will include a number of our vocabulary words. The students will then separate into small groups and research the information needed to complete a chart on animal diets. This activity will involve both science and language arts. You can also include social studies if you conclude with a discussion on adaptation as described in the linked activity. It is a meaningful activity because students will be extending the basic information they learned from the text through discussion, research and group activity. It is both didactic and “hands-on” and encourages oral communication and active engagement. Following is a link to the activity; please scroll down to number six: [|Animal diets]

Jennie Rametta – The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten The curriculum areas that this activity targets are science and art. //The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten // is a science-orientated book focused on the concept of food chains. Therefore the activity that I chose is an art activity that focuses around a scientific principle. Briefly, the activity involves students drawing a picture of any organism on an index card. Children tape the index card to themselves and then they form a large circle. The chain should begin with the sun, throwing the yarn to a plant, caterpillar, bird etc. Eventually, the students will have created one large web. Then a discussion will start – What happens if one or more animals become extinct? What happens if there is no sun? The web will begin to become disrupted and break apart as more and more pieces are taken away. This visual representation will perfectly describe not only why the class is learning about the food chain, but also why the food chain is essential in our ecosystem. In addition, this activity will also be very beneficial to kinesthetic learners who need to do a physical activity to comprehend a concept. []

Priscilla Santiago - The Magic School Bus Makes a Rainbow
==== This Magic School bus book explains how a rainbow of colors can appear from a single white light, therefore I decided that Science would be a great subject to begin with. For this activity the students will work in groups to try to figure out how to angle a glass of water so that it catches sunlight to reflect a rainbow of colors on a white piece of paper. This activity will help the students to problem solve and start thinking critically. We would then have a group brainstorm and discussion on refraction of light and how the glass creates these colors. I would introduce my children to the ROY G. BIV acronym, so they can remember the colors of the rainbow. Then I’d like them to draw and color a diagram of this experiment and its’ process. This activity involves science, language arts and art. I believe this is a great educational activity because it is learning about a science topic through a “hands on” demonstration and then conveying what we learned into words and pictures. ==== [|Make a Rainbow]

Amanda Leclerc (Braconi)- The Magic School Bus In The Arctic

The book explains many different forms of insulation for the children as they are "stuck" in the Arctic and are in a cold climate. The Big Idea of this story is to ask yourself how can insulation help us from being cold in the real world? The children can realize that it keeps heat in and not able to escape. This activity experiments with different forms of insulation that the children can make. This is a great tactile activity and helps students who learn visually and by hands on activities. The students will be exposed to an experiment of scientific thinking by using trial and error and experimentation. They will develop a purpose and a goal of forming insulation and use materials to reach that goal. This is directly related to the real world. In New England, we have cold winters. I would use this book and activity during the winter so the students can directly relate it to the weather outside their window, because unfortunately I do not have a magic school bus to go to the Arctic.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/magic-school-bus-arctic

__**Ani Arzoomanian’s MSB Activity**__ I have chosen to conduct an experiment with my students, based on a science curriculum. My class read At the Waterworks. In our Magic School Bus book, we learned about the water cleaning process that takes places in reservoirs. In this process, a substance called alum is used to remove dirt and disease germs from the water. For our experiment, we will clean “contaminated” rain water, mimicking the actions of a reservoir. For this experiment, we will need the following: a container brought in by each student to collect rain, contaminated water (rain), a reaction vessel, powdered alum, stir stick, liquid storage container, and a filtration apparatus. We will collect the contaminated water by leaving the various containers outside during a rain shower. While the rain is collecting in the students’ containers, we will review the process of the “water cycle”, which the book taught us was the process of water evaporating, forming clouds, and then returning to earth as rain or snow. Once 8/10th of a gallon of rain water (contaminated water) is collected it will be poured into a reaction vessel. Then we will sprinkle 1.4 ounces of powdered alum into the water and use the stir stick to mix the contents together. Each child will take turns stirring the mixture, for a total of five minutes. Once mixed, the storage container will be attached to the filtration apparatus. The water-alum mixture will be filtrated. The filter will trap the alum mixture and the clean water will be collected in the storage container. The students will be able to observe the process of alum purifying water right inside the classroom! This activity will not only allow all students to feel involved, but it will show them how their drinking water gets clean and tie in perfectly with our MSB book. __[]__ The idea for this lesson was taken from the above website.

Sarah Barbour MSB Activity After reading The Magic School Bus Sees Stars which brings both art and science to the forefront, I thought that making a mobile that has various stars on it would be an interesting art project that would be good for ages 5-8 which are the ages that would most likely read this book. The book touched on all different types of stars both in the earliest form, middle-aged stars, and stars at the end of their life as well. The lesson plan that I found online would allow for the students to make different sized stars and place them at various distances away from the center which would be our sun. By using what they learned in mathematics the students would be able to put all the other stars at appropriate distances away from the sun. Using what they learned from the other art project they could make them look like a baby star, middle aged star, or old star based on what each star is. They could also highlight the star that they chose to research in the mobile. []

Jenna Caprarelli MSB Activity In the Magic School Bus Book “Ups and Downs A Book About Floating and Sinking” Ms. Frizzle’s class works together to figure out how to get their bus-boat to float or sink. Their goal is to dive into the lake to see if a supposed monster really lurks in the lake. One student throws a banana into the lake but it will not sink. They become confused as to why a slice of bread will float, but when it is crumpled up it sinks to the bottom of the lake. I extended this activity further to science to learn more about density. In the activity, the students will drop candy in a bowl of water and observe what happens. They will take a 3 Musketeers bar and poke it to break the chocolate shell. They will learn that some kinds of candy, such as Kit Kats, 3 Musketeers, and marshmallows have air trapped inside, making them float. This is a solid educational activity because it is “hands on” and will allow students to participate in an activity where they can see why some objects float and some sink. They will predict which candies will float or sink through the process of inquiry and experimentation.

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Victoria Hopkins: The Magic School Bus Sleeps for the Winter In this book, the class and the magic school bus travel to a park to learn about hibernation. Ms. Frizzle talks about how just because a black bear is named that, doesn't mean all black bears are black. The school bus turns into a bear and does everything the bear does, from catching fish, to eating honey from a bee hive. The seasons change fast, and the bears soon go into their caves to hibernate. Ms. Frizzle and the class leave the cave and put on magic classes which allow them to see under the ground and in the water at all the other animals hibernating as well. When the bears wake up, it is spring again and warm outside. I decided to focus on the science aspect of this. I would have the students research what animals hibernate, why they hibernate, if there are different kinds of hibernations between animals, and what the difference is between the animals that do hibernate compared to those who don't. This link would help the students answer these questions: []

Breann Stewart The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds In this Magic School Bus book the bus becomes a ladybug and the students are brought into a plant to learn about the different parts and their functions, how seeds travel, and also how they grow. The lesson I have chosen involves both art and science and could probably be done with grades 2-4. Using a piece of construction paper as a base, the students will glue on the following objects to create a 3-dimensional flower: pieces of brown yarn, brown or green pipe cleaners, green pieces of felt, and a cupcake paper. The brown yarn will be the roots, the pipe cleaners will be the stem, the felt will be the leaves and the cupcake paper will be the petals. Once they have glued their pieces to make a flower they will then label each of the parts and their function. If there is time, the students can also decorate their flowers however they want to. This activity should be creative and fun, while also showing them the structure of a plant. http://www.nylearns.org/module/content/pyb/resources/13597/view.ashx

Kailee Borsay - The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane! This lesson was chosen to best model what a hurricane looks like at a very small scale. This lesson helps students gain a better understanding of the spiral movement in which hurricanes move, what the eye of the hurricane is, and gain insight on how destructive hurricanes can be. Providing a “hands on” activity as opposed to book work will also trigger interest, which will aid in comprehension in learning the parts of their hurricane within the soda bottles. It will also give them control over creating the hurricane answering important questions like “what determines which way the hurricane spirals? What determines how big a hurricane is?” and “why does the hurricane stop”? This project connects to the book because we are creating a model version of a hurricane to observe the different parts as described in the book. By touching on the main ideas of how hurricanes work, we can then discuss how they can be destructive and then move on to the big idea of why it is important to study hurricanes. []

Eric Boynton.-Magic School Bus “Going Batty,” In the Magic School Bus book “Going Batty,” students examine bats and their connections with nocturnal animals. Throughout the novel, the students witness what it’s like being a bat as well as its features. They witness a bat’s echolocation, diet, habitat, and capabilities. I decided to focus on nocturnal animals as well as bats and their environments. Focusing on this field of study, using the link below, I would have students identify and report the different habitats, food, features, and family of each nocturnal animal. The purpose of this activity is to allow students to have a hand on activity that teaches them the different types of animals and their habitats. http://www.ictgames.com/topic/nocturnal/index.html

Caitlin Murphy- The Magic School Bus //Inside the Human Body//

This Magic School Bus book followed the class on a journey through the human body, and informed the reader about the functions of different body parts. For my lesson plan, students will choose a body system that they want to investigate further. They will do research and compose a paper about that particular body system. They will also make a visual representation of the given body system. At the end of the project, the class will create a human body museum, where their projects are all on display. The students will be able to give facts about their system, while learning about the projects that their classmates completed. This plan incorporates science because the students are learning about the functions of the body. The language arts component is involved when the students write their paper about the body part they chose. Their visual representation would be considered an art project. Social studies would also be included when the students create the human body museum. This would be an effective lesson plan for all types of learners, because there are so many different components of the assignment.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/learning-how-body-works

Amy Davis- Magic School Bus Inside the Earth Within my unit, I will be covering Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science, and Art. With the book focusing on different types of rocks and parts of the Earth, the students should be able to identify their surroundings by the end of the lessons. The activity I picked was to complete a chart after taking a walk around each student's neighborhood, with his or her parent. This will help them be able to identify different types of rocks, as well as practice their observing skills. []