The Magic School Bus Rocks and Rolls
Field Trip Notes
To celebrate the founding of Walkerville, Mrs. Frizzle's class sculpts a stone likeness of Walkerville's founding father, Captain Walker - but the statue tumbles down the mountain. Ms. Frizzle turns the bus into a giant boulder, the kids into rock-kids, and they give chase. By the time they reach the celebration at the base of the mountain, they've been pushed, tossed, sanded, polished, and eroded by water - as has the statue, now the size of the soccer ball. The kids are sure they've let everyone down - until they look back at the mountain for the surprise of their lives!
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Get Eroded
Going Hands-On
Time: 30 minutes
Group Size: 4
Arnold and the other kids enlist the power of water erosion to sculpt stone! Your kids explore how running water moves earth and creates new landforms.
What You Need
- Paper cup
- Drinking straw
- Modeling clay
- Wood plank or stiff cardboard about 2 feet long
- Bucket of soil
- Trowel or large spoon
- Stones
- Bucket of water
- Copies of GET ERODED! page
Talk About It
Ask: How might water have changed your rock? What evidence do you see? How might water move rocks to faraway places?
What To Do
- This is an outdoor activity. Have kids set up erosion boards on outdoor tables or the ground. Have buckets of soil and water ready.
- Help kids poke holes in their cups. Seal the straw with clay.
- Have kids draw predictions before anyone gets water.
- After the first erosion test, ask: What might happen later to the soil and rocks washed down the slope?
- Get kids to clean off the erosion board and add a new soil layer.
- Repeat with the boards at a higher angle. Ask: Why would water flowing down a steeper slope wash down more soil and bigger rocks? (The water has more energy.)
- Challenge kids to contain the erosion. Create a landscape to control water flow by packing soil around stones, sticks, leaves, roots.
Next Stop
Draw timelines of the kids’ rocks. Decide on a time scale, and let kids give their ideas for: where their rock was a very long time ago and what it looked like; where it was found; where it will be and how it will look a long time in the future.
- Scholastic Store
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The Magic School Bus Science Chapter Book #7: The Great Shark Escape
The Scholastic Store 
The Magic School Bus Science Chapter Book #7: The Great Shark Escape
by Joanna Cole and Bruce DegenThe popular and information-filled Magic School Bus stories are now offered in chapter book format. Loaded with science information and humor, these are sure to be a hit with anyone who's the least bit curious about sharks. So take a seat behind the Friz!
$3.99 You save: 20%
books;paperback books | Ages 7-9
Ages 7-9 $3.99
- Scholastic Store
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Magic School Bus Science Kit Set
The Scholastic Store 
Magic School Bus Science Kit Set
Three School Bus Science Kit:
$47.88 You save: 20%
In the World of Germs kit, Young Scientists will grow fungi, test antibiotics, cultivate bacteria in yogurt, use yeast to inflate a balloon, and more!
In the Journey into the Human Body kit where they'll bend bones, map taste buds, build a stethoscope, measure heart rates, perform the iodine starch test along with many more fascinating experiments!
Our Mysteries of Rainbows kit has a dazzling array of experiments, from learning to bounce light waves off ceilings and make rainbow milk, to blowing rainbow bubbles and recreating Newton's prism experiment.
Based on the popular Magic School Bus book series by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen, these science kits include coloful booklets featuring Ms. Frizzle and friends, along with all the tools needed to perform each exciting, hands-on experiments.
Note to parents:
We recommend that all experiments be performed under adult supervision.
toys and games;science kits;science kits and projects | Ages 6 and Up
Ages 6 and Up $47.88
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