study guide: magic school bus

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2011-2012

W ELLS F ARGO PERFORMING ARTS SERIES FOR S TUDENTS

MONTALVO ARTS CENTER

Bay Area Children’s Theatre’s Magic School Live! Climate Challenge

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 | 9:30am & 11:30am

Recommended for Grades: K-6Curriculum Connections: Science (Weather, Environmental Issues, Observation);English-Language Arts; VAPA (Music, Theatre)

Making Your Classroom Green………….…………………………………… Page 4

About The Play………………………..….………………… Page 5Pre-Show & Post-Show Questions & Activities….….………………… Page 6-7Curriculum Connections (Vocabulary, Word Searches,

Close Reading and more) ………………………..…………… Page 7-14



tudy Guide forThe Magic School Bus Live!

The Climate Challenge

Presented by Maximum Entertainmentn Association with Bay Area Children’s Theatre

and Oregon Children’s Theatre



Go Green with Your Class

About The Play

Pre-Show Discussion Questions and Activities

Post-Show Discussion Questions and Activities

Magic School Bus Through theCurriculum

able of Contents



Go Green with Your Class

help reverse the effects of climatechange on our planet, we all have towork together because “tiny stuff mat-ters.” 1. RECYCLE- tart a schoolwide recy-cling program for paper, glass andaluminum. If our school alread re-cycles, start a campa

gn rem n ng your school community that it

s important to re-use as well as recycle. Use both sides of paper,

create art pro ects out of used items like egg crates, plastic waterbottles and grocery bags.

. LETTER WRITING-Write letters or send emails to your congressepresentative, city council member, mayor, governor and theresident of the United States asking him or her to support mea-

sures that help the earth.

. W LK or RIDE- S ar a “walk-or-ride to school day” once perweek when everyone n school walks, rides a bike, takes the busr carpools.

4. EDUCATE-Write and perform a play about the environment.

. LOCAL PRODUCE-Take a field trip to a farm or farmer’s mar-et to learn about how crops go from the field to the stores in yourrea.

6. TURN OFF LIGHTS-Appoint a designated “energy-saver”whose job is to turn off the classroom lights when the class leavesfor recess or enrichment.



About This Production

Who makes the show happen?

The irector s racy. racy sin charge of telling the actors whereto go on stage and how to make theircharacters interesting. She is the person whomakes sure everyone is doing a good jo tellingthe story of the play.

he Actors are all of the people you see on the stage. They work together as a team to re-hearse the play, memorize their lines and learn their songs. All of the actors went to schoolto earn how to perform.

The Playwright and Composer s Scott. Scott writes all of the music for the show and all of

thw words tat the actors speak. He also wr te the lyrics, or the word that the actors sing.He also wr te stage directions which hel the director know what the actor should be doingwhile they say their lines. cott read the agic School Bus book very closely to find all of themo t mportant facts and stories.

he Choreographer s Nicole. Nicole create all of the dances in the show and then teachesthem to the ac ors. She works very closely with the Di ector and the Music Director to helptell the story of the play through movement.

he Music irectoris Sean. Sean teaches all of the music to the actors and helps them find

the best way to sing the songs and the ha monies. A harmony is when two eople are sing-ing different notes at the same time and when you hear them together they sound beautiful.ean works with the Composer to make sure he is doing the best job possible with the mu-

sic!

The Set Designer is Emily. Emily creates the world where the actors tell the story. She imag-ines and draws all of the pieces that you see on the stage. For this production Emily has anextra challenge to use as many natural or recycled materials as possible.

The Costume Designer is Ulises. Ulises imagines the clothes that the actors are wearing to

help become the characters. He draws and then ews the clothing.

The Projection Designer is Lloyd. Lloyd chose all of the pictures and movies that wereplayed during the show. Lloyd works with Scott, the playwright and Tracy, the directorto decide which kind of picture goes where in the script.

u n F a c t :

P e n g u i n s i v e o n m a n y o n t i n e n t s ,

i n c l u d i n g S o u t h A m e r i c a , A f r i c a a n d

A u s t r a l i a , b u t t h e m a j o r i t y o f t h e s p e -

c i e s l i v e s i n A n t a r c t i c a .



Pre-Show Classroom Activities and Discussions

D scuss on Quest ons: What is theatre? What is the difference between live theatre and a movie orte evision?Imagine you are an actor on stage.

W at in o part wou you i e to p ay?How would you like the audience to respond to your performance?

Why do we applaud at the end of a performance?

Class Activity: Going to See a ShowSelect four volunteers to act as “performers.” Select two volunteers to act as“stagehands.” The rest of the class will act as the “audience.”Step 1: Stagehands flash the lights in the classroom to indicate the perfor-mance is starting. And say the line “Everyone please take your seats.”Step 2: Performers enter by standing in front of the class. All of the perform-

ers sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” or any other song or poem that everyonein t e c ass nows.Step 3: The Audience applauds at the conclusion of the performance.Step 4: T e Per ormers ow.Step 5: The Stagehands flicker the lights to indicate the end of the show.Step 6: Rotate participants.



Post-Show Classroom Activities and Discussions

iscussion Questions: What was the play about? Were there differences between

he story in the book and thestory in the play? What parts of the play were themost exciting?

Which character did you enjoy he most? Why?

Why do you think the director chose to use projections (giant pictures) alongwith liveactors?

riting and Drawing Activity:ach student writes a letter to Ms. rizzle.

ear Ms. Fr zzle,My favorite part of the play was____________________

hile watching your play I felt_____________________ because______________________________________

I have dr wn picture of the scene when ______________ If I could be in your play, I would like to play the part of __ _______because_______________________________.After seeing your play, I plan to _____________________ to do my part to GO GREEN!

Sincerely, ________________

After writing the letter, students can illustrate a scene from the play. We love hear-ing from our audiences! If you would like, please send these let ers to Bay AreaChildren’s Theatre, 6114 La Salle Avenue, #431, Oakland, CA 94611. Includeyour return address and your class will receive a note back from the actors!



EARTH

WIND

RAIN

TREE

MAGIC SCHOOL BUS

ocabulary: Word Picture Matchraw a line between the picture and the word.



Math: Word Problems

1. If Ms. Frizzle’s class has collected 99 plastic bottles to recycle and Ar-nold adds one more, how many bottles will the class have collected?

2. Wanda walks to school every day. So far, there have been 149 daysof school. Today Wanda walked to school one more time. How many times has Wanda walked to school?

3. Arnold decides to plant a garden. It takes him one minute to plantone seedling. If he does not take a break, how many seedlings will he

plant in ten minutes?

4. Liz wants to learn some new dance moves. Liz studies very hard andlearns 49 new dance moves. Keesha wants Liz to know 60 dance movesfor the big show. How many more dance moves does Liz have to learn?

5. Carlos writes one email to the Mayor asking for a windmill for theirtown, he writes one email to his Senator asking her to vote yes on a billto help the environment and he writes one email to the President of theUnited States about the importance of conservation. Keesha thinks it is agood idea for her to write the same number of emails. How many emailsdo Keesha and Carlos send all together?

BONUS QUESTIONSMs. Frizzle learns that the Magic School Bus uses one gallon of bio-dieselfuel every time she drives 10 miles. If the arctic is 1,000 miles away, how

many gallons of bio-diesel fuel will she need to make the trip?



Language: Word Find

D K R N H E W G L A C I E RX G Y E T A E V N T W S A

A T M O S P H E R E B D D L B A T Q N C V E W A V J Y OZ N D J Q W I N D M I L L S

J A C D F A Q H E F A K G TC U O O P J Y O B R Z F O KP F N W H K L U E E G N F W

Q W S E R N Z S L D G Y K CV E C Y C L E S U E G N IN X R P V N Y Q D C G K A MK N V W U S A N Z E P O I VI B E W U I T T B S K JA Y U G C L I M A T E N G H

ENERGYSOLARECYCLECLIMATEGLACIE

ATMOSP EREGREENHOUSEWINDMILLCONSERVEEDUCE



Voc bulary

F ll in the sentences below with the following ocabularywords (each word is used only once):

GlaciersClimateRecycleFossil FuelGlobal Warmingolar Panels

1. When we put gasoline in our car we are using a ________tomake the engine run.

2. Over the last 100 years, the temperature on earth has goneup an average of one degree because of ___________.

3. The _________ of an area is its usual weather. For ins ance,the usual weather is Arizona s hot, but the usual weather in Or-egon is cooler.

4. If you visit the Arctic, you will see _________ which are giantareas of frozen wa er.

5. One way to help the earth is to use ___________ which use thesuns rays to create energy.

6. A great project for schools and kids is to collect cans, bottles,and aper to _________ so that they can be re-used.



Reading for DetailRead the following section from “The MagicSchool Bus and the Climate Challenge” byoanna Cole and Bruce Degen

ave you heard about our teacher, Ms. Frizzle? Almos

every day, something weird halppens in her class. For example, take the day we started o study global warm-

ng. We were going to put on a play about Eart and all

he changes that are happening. The Friz had brought

a book from home, and we were using the pictures to

1. Every day in Ms. Frizzle’s class something happens that is:a) normal c) weird

b) boring d) ugly

2. The class was studyinga) math c) giant spidersb) global warming d) Paul Revere

3. What is Tim’s complaint about Ms. Frizzle’s book?a) It is too old c) It is too long

b) It does not have pictures d) It is confusing

4. What tool is Wanda going to use find new pictures?a) newspaper c) text bookb) coloring book d) computer

5. Where did the class go with Ms. Frizzle?a) Arctic Sea c) Cleveland, Ohiob) Tropical Rain Forest d) Wanda’s House

help us paint the scener .

“Ms. Fr zzle’s book is kind of old,” said Tim. “It came out before things really started heating

up.”

“I’ll go online to get new pic ures, said W nda.”

S e headed f r the computer but Ms. Frizzle was alread t the door. “Come on class,” shecalled.

“ ring my book, please.”

B ore you could say “North Pole,” the Friz herded us onto the bus. She pushed a few bu ons

and pulled a few levers. Then we were on our way to the Arctic Sea--a place with a completely

different climate.



Art: Illustration

tep 1: Select a story that the class is all reading together.tep 2: Teacher reads aloud one scene from the story.tep 3: Using markers, crayons, or colored pencils, all of the students use

their imagination to illustrate the same scene.tep 4: Each student describes what is in their drawing to a partner.

Drama: Acting out a Story

tep 1: Teacher reads a story aloud to the class.tep 2: As a class, brainstorm the characters in the story and the settings-

-locations in the story.tep 3: As a class, determine the plot--events in order with a clear begin-

ning, middle and end.tep 4: Teacher breaks up the story into small segments and assigns each

segment to a group of students.

tep 5: Students must create a tableaux (frozen picture that tells a story)of the moment in the story.tep 6: All groups show their tableaux in front of the class in the order of

the story.

Vocabulary: Illustration, Plot, Tableaux, Character, Setting

The Magic School Bus Series tellsMs. Frizzle’s stories through both

words and illustration. Illustrationare the pictures that are next to thewords.

In the play “Magic School Bus Live! Thelimate Challenge,” the actors took a sto-y which was originally a book and acted

it out.



Geography: Climate

Using the tools of the classroom andlibrary, students in groups must an-swer the following questions

Group 1-Glaciers1. What is a Glacier?

2. What are three animals that might live near a Glacier?

3. What is the climate of a Glacier? What kind of clothing would you wear if youvisited?

4. What is the name of one country that has Glaciers?

Group 2-Rain Forest

1. What is a Rain Forest?

2. What are three animals that might livein a Rain Forest?

3. What is the climate of a Rain Forest? What kind of clothing would you wear ifyou visited one?

4. Find two different countries that haveRain Forests. What are the names of thosecountries? Find them on a map.

Group 3-Desert

1. What is a Desert?

2. What are three animals that might livein a Desert?

3. What is the climate of a Desert? Whatkind of clothing would you wear if you vis-ited a Desert?

4. Find two different countries that have Deserts? What are the names of those coun-tries? Find them on a map.



Here are more ideas for Magic School Bus related activities for allgrade levels.

Middle Elementary:

-Act out the story of one of Ms. Frizzle’s Journeys using tableaux-Write a class book with energy saving ideas-Paint a “Go Green” mural at your school site-Keep an energy journal. Write down energy wasted and energy savedin every day activities

Upper Elementary:-Write and illustrate your own story about a magical trip to a far away

land-Organize a class potluck using only local food

-Research projects on lean ene y like windmills and solar panels

Lower Elementary:-Recycled Craft ay

-Decorate cloth shopping bags-Learn about glaciers by mak-ing ice nd then elting it.

u n F a c t :

S c i e n i s t s b e l i e v e t h e r e a r e b e t w e e n

2 0 ,0 0 0 a n d 2 5 ,0 0 0 P o l a r B e a r s l i v -

i n g o n e a r t h .



Answer Key for Teachers

Word Problems1. 100 plastic bottles

2. 150 walks to school3. 10 seedlings 4. 11 dance moves5. 6 emails6. 100 gallons of bio-diesel fuel

Vocabulary

1. Fossil Fuel2. Global Warming3. Climate4. Glaciers5. Solar Panels6. Recycle

Reading for Detail1. c) weird2. b) global warming3. a) It is too old4. d) computer5. a) Arctic Sea

study guide: magic school bus

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