Meets Educator Standards Including Common Core—SEE INSIDE
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Grades
K–3
Pairing Fiction and
Nonfiction with
®
History of The Magic School Bus
Scholastic first introduced children around the world to Ms. Frizzle and her magical bus in 1986 with The Magic School
Bus at the Waterworks, written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen. Each book in the series takes students
on a scientific adventure with the wacky teacher Ms. Frizzle and combines factually accurate scientific lessons with
humorous plot lines and beautiful illustrations. The Magic School Bus brings humor and true kid-like curiosity to science
and learning—encouraging kids to “take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!”
“ Children delight in the energy and imagination of The Magic School Bus series. We are happy that the
series continues to attract the support and enthusiasm of parents and teachers too, by encouraging
children to explore, discover, and learn about the world around them.”— Deborah Forte, President, Scholastic Media
“ Just as
Sesame Street
revolutionized the teaching of letters and numbers by making it so entertain-
ing the children had no idea they were actually learning something, so the ‘Magic School Bus’ books
make science so much fun that the information is almost incidental.”— The New York Times
About Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen
Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen, the author and illustrator of the Magic School Bus
books, have collaborated for more than twenty-five years. In 1994,
Scholastic Entertainment, with support from The National Science
Foundation, introduced The Magic School Bus® animated television
series, starring Lily Tomlin as the voice of Ms. Frizzle. Joanna Cole
and Bruce Degen have received numerous awards for their work, the
most recent being the National Endowment for the Arts Foundation
Award for Outstanding Service to Public Education. Joanna Cole
lives in Key West, Florida, with her husband. Bruce Degen lives in
Newtown, Connecticut, with his wife.
Introducing Magic School Bus Presents
Inspired by the work of Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen on the classic series, Scholastic introduced Magic School Bus
Presents, a new nonfiction series that features vivid full-color photographs that are accompanied by illustrations of the
beloved Ms. Frizzle and other familiar characters. The books in this series can be used as companions to the original
Magic School Bus titles and will help further students’ interest in and knowledge of science concepts.
Spotlight on the Author R.6, R.9
As students prepare to read, guide them to think about the author’s purpose for writing the book. Before reading a book
aloud or asking students to read independently, flip through and ask the following questions about the author’s purpose
and text type.
• What do you think is the main purpose of each book?
• Does the book present facts, a fictional story, or both?
• Why did the author choose the type of images in each book?
Frizzle Focus
After reading a book, ask students to distinguish
their own point of view from that of the author,
narrator, or characters.
Photo © Scholastic Inc.Photo © Scholastic Inc.
Text Structure under the Microscope R.5, R.9, R.10
Learning the structure and text features of books will help students know the purpose before they read the text. Students
will form a concept of what the book is about and will better understand the text when reading. Teach students the
differences between fiction and nonfiction books—see examples of these differences below. Flip through both types of
Magic School Bus books and guide students to notice the differences.
Fiction Example
From
The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body
Nonfiction Example
From
The Magic School Bus Presents: The Human Body
Frizzle Fact
Frizzle Fact
Blood speeds around the body —
after leaving the heart, only a
minute passes before the blood
has returned.
23
The
Bloodstream
by Arnold
The bloodstream is also known as the
circulatory system. It connects the body
from head to toe. Except for hair and
nails, there isn’t a single part of the body
it doesn’t reach. All blood passes through
the heart on its journey around the body.
Arteries carry blood away from the heart,
while veins carry blood toward the heart.
Smaller blood vessels are called capillaries.
Blood and Circulation
Blood contains
specialized white blood
cells, pictured above.
These cells protect the
body from germs and
help fight infections.
lood is like an express delivery service for
the body. It is pumped around by the heart
and carries oxygen from the lungs and
nutrients from the intestines directly to the body’s
cells. Then the blood returns to the heart, taking
carbon dioxide gas back to the lungs, where it is
breathed out. Other waste products pass through
the kidneys for disposal.
B
Red blood cells
contain an iron-
rich chemical called
hemoglobin. This
chemical absorbs
oxygen in the lungs.
Your body
makes 17 million
red bloods cells
every second!
Circulation
city!
Go with the flow
The watery part of blood
is called plasma. It keeps
the blood flowing inside
small blood vessels.
The red stuff
Red blood cells carrying
oxygen in the arteries
look bright red. They
turn a darker red in the
veins, once they have
delivered oxygen to the
body’s cells.
Labels:
Detailed information about part of
a picture or illustration is explained
through labels.
Heading:
Text in nonfiction books is
separated by headings, which
summarize the focus of a section.
Caption:
Nonfiction books frequently
contain captions to give context to
the photographs and illustrations.
Characters:
Fiction books usually have
characters. The characters in The
Magic School Bus include Ms.
Frizzle, Arnold, and the other
students in the class.
Story:
Fiction books explain an event that
is not real and usually has a
beginning, middle, and an end.
Dialogue:
Many fiction books contain
conversations, or dialogue,
between the characters. In The
Magic School Bus, the dialogue
sometimes appears in speech
bubbles.
Frizzle Focus
Give students a list of various text features and
ask them to race a partner to find the most text
features in a book!
What a Pair! R.5, R.6, R.7, R.9
Pairing fiction and nonfiction text helps students fully understand a topic. In order to build background knowledge, read
the classic Magic School Bus book first. Then read the related nonfiction Magic School Bus Presents book to teach
content-area knowledge and encourage further exploration.
Use this chart to help students compare and contrast fiction and nonfiction books, or consider creating your own
comparison chart with your students to define fiction vs. nonfiction. Ask students to choose a Magic School Bus book
and the corresponding Magic School Bus Presents title and identify how elements of each fit into these categories.
(Hint: The original Magic School Bus books have elements of nonfiction as well as fiction!)
Fiction Nonfiction
Author’s
main
purpose
Tell a story to entertain Present facts to inform
Text
structure,
format, and
layout
Paragraphs, speech (in quotations or
speech bubbles), a storyline
Headings, captions, labels, table of
contents, glossary, photographs
Contents
Characters and events from the
author’s imagination
Includes factual information about a
topic
Frizzle Focus
Have students look closely at the pictures in The
Magic School Bus classic texts to see which aspects
of the illustrations are true and which are not.
Fiction Example
From
The Magic School Bus:
On the Ocean Floor
Nonfiction Example
From
The Magic School Bus
Presents: Sea Creatures
Anchor Standard: Writing
W.2, W.8 , W. 9 , W.10
Teach students to use writing as a way to demonstrate their understanding of what has happened in their reading and to
convey real and imagined experiences.
Framing It!
Many students need more practice writing informational text. After reading a Magic School Bus book, ask students to
write down important information about the topic, explaining what they have learned. Guide students to introduce a topic
using facts, definitions, and details from the book. Provide lists of linking words, such as also, another, and, more, and
but.
Try these sentence frames to get students started:
This book tells us that…
This section of the book is about…
We should care about this because…
I learned that…
In my own words, I can explain that…
I want to learn more about…
One concept I am confused about is…
Following the Evidence!
Help students convey their understanding of informational text by teaching them to present and organize evidence
clearly in their writing. Guide students to create a title, find the main idea and supporting details, and sum up the
information in a concluding sentence.
Title: Describe what your piece is about using only a few words.
Big Idea: Based on the evidence in the text, describe the main idea of the topic you are writing about.
Supporting Details: Find evidence from the text that proves the main idea.
Concluding Sentence: Write a statement that explains why the information is important.
Title: Harmful Hurricanes!
Big Idea: Hurricanes are very strong storms with winds and rain.
Detail 1:
Hurricane winds can rip trees from
the ground.
Detail 2:
If the wind blows faster than 74
miles per hour, then it is a hurricane.
Detail 3:
Waves during a hurricane are 20 feet
higher than normal waves.
Concluding Sentence: The strong winds and rain of a hurricane can cause a lot of damage if it hits land.
Frizzle Focus
Teach students to paraphrase the main idea and
the key details by summarizing the text in their
own words.
Text-to-Text W.8
As students prepare for college and a career, they need to use more than one resource to conduct research. All Magic
School Bus books contain factual information. Remind students to look at the back of the Magic School Bus Presents
books to learn more about experts and careers in that field and about words and terms used in the book.
When reading the Magic School Bus classic titles, ask students if the text is part of the made-up story or if it is stating an
important fact. Point out that the yellow student reports contain facts.
Encourage students to use cross-text analysis by asking them to answer an important question about the text. Show
students how to keep track of the information and write a final statement. Below is an example to help students keep
track of information found in multiple resources.
Question: Is it possible to dig to the center of the earth? Why or why not?
The Magic School Bus:
Inside the Earth
The Magic School Bus
Presents: Planet Earth
Clue 1
Ms. Frizzle puts a drill on the bus and they drill to the
center of the earth, but since the center is made of
solid metal, I think it would be hard to dig through it!
People in Russia tried to dig the deepest hole, but
had to stop because the drill started to melt! They
dug 7.5 miles down.
Clue 2
The author says it gets hotter the closer they get to
the center of the earth.
The book says that no one can go inside the earth
to see what it looks like.
Clue 3
I know it’s getting hotter since one student says that
they are lucky the bus is air-conditioned!
It says that the outer core is hot liquid iron and the
inner core is solid iron. I don’t think anyone could
dig through that!
Statement
Even though Ms. Frizzle takes a field trip to the
center of the earth, I think it’s too hot for people to
actually go there.
The facts tell us that it is not possible to dig to the
center of the earth!
More Crazy Chronicles
Use The Magic School Bus classic books as a model for students to write their own narrative text. Read the books and
point out features for students to include in their own writing, like dialogue and words that describe the characters’
actions, thoughts, and feelings. Let students practice incorporating these qualities into their narrative writing by
providing writing prompts for the Magic School Bus classic books.
Inside the Human Body
If the Magic School Bus drove around your stomach today, what food would
the class find?
Lost in the Solar System
What other games would your class want to play on the moon?
On the Ocean Floor
Describe what it might feel like to swim with a whale shark.
Frizzle Focus
Ask students to write their own Magic School Bus book. Walk students through
the main plot of the books: Ms. Frizzle takes Arnold and the class on a scientific
adventure! Help them conduct research on their topic using books and the Internet.
Anchor Standard: Speaking and Listening
Looking at the Whole Picture SL.2
Not only must students learn to read the text in books carefully, they must also learn to gather meaning from visual
representations. Graphs, charts, diagrams, and other pictures are frequently found in nonfiction text and help to explain
information more deeply.
Students need practice “reading” visual cues in books. Teach students to ask themselves questions that will help them do
so, such as:
• What do you see in the picture?
• What is happening?
• How does the picture relate to the text?
• Why is this important?
• Explain it to a partner in your own words.
Anchor Standard: Language
True-or-False: Domain Specific Words L.4
The books in The Magic School Bus Presents series contain a glossary of important words from the book. Teach these
words explicitly so students can understand the text more deeply.
1. Give students an index card for each word in the glossary.
2. Ask students to write the word on one side.
3. Ask students to change half the definitions so that they are false. For example, a false definition for desert might
be: a wet area where many plants grow because there is so much rain.
4. Partner students, or allow them to work independently to sort cards into TRUE and FALSE piles.
5. Have students correct the false cards by referring to the text and using context clues if necessary.
6. Ask students to check the glossary to ensure they are correct.
From The Magic School Bus Presents: Wild Weather, p. 17
From The Magic School Bus Presents: Wild Weather, p. 8
Frizzle Focus
Guide students to use these new words in
conversations and in writing so they’ll feel comfortable
using the words through repeated exposure.
DISCUSSION GUIDE
™ & © Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC, THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS and logos are trademarks of Scholastic Inc. Based on The Magic School Bus book series © Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. All rights reserved.
About the Writer of This Guide
Suzanne Lauchaire is a former New York City teacher and reading specialist who taught second-grade students in the Bronx.
She graduated from Manhattan College with a major in Early Childhood Education and Sociology. She received her Master of
Arts from Teachers College, Columbia University, focusing on Applied Educational Psychology. Lauchaire has been associated
with Scholastic for the past ten years, working for both the media and education departments, and most recently as a free-
lance writer. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
The Magic School Bus
Classic Titles
The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs
PB: 978-0-590-44689-1 • $6.99 (CAN $7.99)
The Magic School Bus: Inside a Beehive
HC: 978-0-590-44684-6 • $15.99 (CAN $19.99)
PB: 978-0-590-25721-3 • $6.99 (CAN $7.99)
The Magic School Bus: Inside a Hurricane
HC: 978-0-590-44686-0 • $15.99 (CAN $19.99)
PB: 978-0-590-44687-7 • $6.99 (CAN $7.99)
The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body
HC: 978-0-590-41426-5 • $15.99 (CAN $19.99)
PB: 978-0-590-41427-2 • $6.99 (CAN $7.99)
The Magic School Bus: On the Ocean Floor
HC: 978-0-590-41430-2 • $15.99 (CAN $19.99)
PB: 978-0-590-41431-9 • $6.99 (CAN $7.99)
The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System
HC: 978-0-590-41428-9 • $15.99 (CAN $19.99)
PB: 978-0-590-41429-6 • $6.99 (CAN $7.99)
The Magic School Bus: Inside the Earth
HC: 978-0-590-40759-5 • $15.99 (CAN $19.99)
PB: 978-0-590-40760-1 • $6.99 (CAN $7.99)
The Magic School Bus Presents
Nonction Titles
The Magic School Bus Presents: Dinosaurs
PB: 978-0-545-68583-2 • $6.99 (CAN $7.99)
EBK: 978-0-545-68594-8 • $6.99 (CAN $6.99)
The Magic School Bus Presents: Insects
PB: 978-0-545-68587-0 • $6.99 (CAN $7.99)
EBK: 978-0-545-68599-3 • $6.99 (CAN $6.99)
The Magic School Bus Presents: Wild Weather
PB: 978-0-545-68367-8 • $6.99 (CAN $7.99)
EBK: 978-0-545-68592-4 • $6.99 (CAN $6.99)
The Magic School Bus Presents: The Human Body
PB: 978-0-545-68364-7 • $6.99 (CAN $7.99)
EBK: 978-0-545-68590-0 • $6.99 (CAN $6.99)
The Magic School Bus Presents: Sea Creatures
PB: 978-0-545-68366-1 • $6.99 (CAN $7.99)
EBK: 978-0-545-68589-4 • $6.99 (CAN $6.99)
The Magic School Bus Presents: Our Solar System
PB: 978-0-545-68365-4 • $6.99 (CAN $7.99)
EBK: 978-0-545-68591-7 • $6.99 (CAN $6.99)
The Magic School Bus Presents: Planet Earth
PB: 978-0-545-68012-7 • $6.99 (CAN $7.99)
EBK: 978-0-545-68588-7 • $6.99 (CAN $6.99)
Visit scholastic.com/magicschoolbus
for a listing of all Magic School Bus titles
and more book-related resources!
Common Core Anchor Standards Found in This Guide
Anchor Standards for Reading
Craft and Structure: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.5, 6
Anchor Standards for Writing
Text Types and Purposes: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2
Research to Build and Present Knowledge:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.8, 9
Range of Writing: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.10
Anchor Standards for Speaking & Listening
Comprehension and Collaboration: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.2
Anchor Standards for Language
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.4
