Guest Author - Marci Ann Peterson

My girls love The Magic School Bus! We use it to help supplement our home school science curriculum. We watch an episode that talks about what we are studying that day for Science. The show has also been a jumping off point for us, the girls will watch an episode and want to learn more about a certain subject.

In our area The Magic School Bus is shown on the TLC channel as well as Discovery Kids here in the US.

The show is based on The Magic School Bus series of books written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen. My girls also love the books so we find ourselves watching the show the first day we study the subject do follow up for however long it takes us to finish the topic and then ending with reading the book.

The Magic School Bus Features scientific facts in story formats, where magical and impossible things are actually possible.

The show features Ms. Frizzle and her classroom of students and the classroom pet, Liz as they go on field trip adventures. They board the school bus which then magically transforms itself as well as the students into whatever is needed to study that subject for the day.

Some days the bus will transform into a rocket ship and the kids will become astronauts as they explore space. Other times they will explore the human body, nature, inside the earth as well as many other fun but impossible places to visit.

It is a fun way to get your child's imagination going while presenting scientific facts. It ios also a great jumping off point on discussing things such as what would really happen if you did those things. Where would you child like to visit that they can not? My girls have even come up with stories of their own based on something seen on The Magic School Bus.

The show features eight students each with different and unique personalities. The class is a third grade class made up of eight and nine year olds. There is Carlos who is the class clown, he is always making a joke or pun about the whatever situation they find themselves in. Dorothy Ann is the bookworm and is always looking up facts in her books. Keesha seems to be the most level headed though she does have a sarcastic side as well. Phoebe is the newest student and is always referring to her old school. Ralphie is the athlete and prone to daydreaming. Tim is the observant artistic student and could usually be found drawing. Wanda is the tomboy and always ready for adventure. Arnold is the only student who doesn't seem to enjoy the field trips and therefore is seen as bit of a wimp with his catch phrase being “I knew I should have stayed home today,” he is actually smarter and braver than he is given credit and completely loyal to Ms. Frizzle.

There have also been many guest stars and recurring characters on the show. One such character is Arnold's bossy know-it-all cousin, Janet who is not popular with the class. There is Mr. Ruhle, the principal of the school, as well as others.

I highly recommend the show as well as the books to anyone who has a child who loves science or if you are trying to get your child to enjoy science.