Happy Halloween!

Every year around this time, something comes up that calls me away from school, leaving Ms. Frizzle to substitute in my place.
This post comes to you from Guest Author J.M., 1st grade, who was at school today to witness Ms. Frizzle's fabulous fashion choices.

Today is Halloween, and our substitute is Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus.  It is so exciting!  Ms. Frizzle's hair is light orange and curly.  Her dress is black with dancing skeletons on it.  There's a lizard named Liz on her shoulder.  

Her earrings are white skeletons made out of clay.  








She has black shoes with bobblehead skeletons on them, and they jiggle their big fat heads when she walks.

It is very weird.  Maybe she came out of the T.V.


Editor's note:
I understand Ms. Frizzle even taught the children a skeleton song in Spanish today!

Overheard at school today:
"Boy, Ms. Frizzle looks a lot like Ms. S."
"She sure sounds a lot like Ms. S."
"But Ms. Frizzle doesn't wear glasses."
Overjoyed upon spying the skeleton shoes, "Oh! Those are perfect!"
"Ms. Frizzle, one day when we go to the Arboretum, can you wear a plant or animal dress and bring your Magic School Bus?"
One child whispered to another teacher, "I don't mean to be rude, but is that Ms. S's real hair? . . . Oh! Ms. Frizzle!"

Pandas and parasols

A certain red-headed substitute was spotted heading into my classroom this morning.




















It's a curious thing.  Every year around this time, I find myself in need of a substitute.  Fortunately, Ms. Frizzle, driver of the Magic School Bus and science teacher extraordinaire, is always up for the challenge.  She has some unusual (and somewhat demanding) barter requests.  She will substitute for my class on Halloween if I will convince my seamstress and shoe-designer to work their magic.  Seems like a fair trade to me!





This year, inspired by my summer Fund for Teachers fellowship in Asia, she insisted on a new Imperial China dress complete with dragon fabric.  "The children will love the dragon fabric," she pointed out in the fabric store.  And she was right, of course.  By all reports, they did.

The Friz is a firm believer that the details are important.

Shoes would not be complete without pandas attached.
(Visit the Museum of Natural Science to see "Pandas: The Journey Home," an outstanding National Geographic documentary about the Wolong Panda Center in China.)






Earrings--a Chinese calligraphy brush and a golden fan (that actually folds open and closed!)--were a must to round out the ensemble.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

This guest post comes to you from Ms. Frizzle--Magic School Bus driver and science teacher extraordinaire!  She was spotted sneaking into my classroom, early this morning!

Oh, how I love Halloween!  At the top of the list of reasons is that every Halloween a very special friend of mine, Ms. S, asks me to substitute for her class.  The children are strangely suspicious but an inquisitive and very welcoming bunch.


I was even offered hot tea, with a selection of flavors!  (The children seemed surprised and a little disappointed when I did not choose chai, which they informed me is Ms. S's favorite.)

It is always a struggle to choose just the right outfit for the occasion, but since Ms. S had shared the wonderful conversation she and the children had just yesterday about dinosaurs, other prehistoric animals, and the Timeline of Life, I could not resist this particular dress.






As every good teacher knows, no outfit is complete without accessories.  Flying pteranodons seemed like just the thing!

Along with a fun little pair of stegosaurus earrings.




Now, I must tell you with sadness that I was unable to bring along Liz, but curiously Ms. S now has a lovely assistant named Miss Liz.  Perfect!  She may even have been looking just a little bit green today . . .

There was much enthusiasm about field trips today, but I know how disappointed Ms. S would be if we had a wonderful adventure without her. 

"Maybe you can use your school bus to take us back to the time when dinosaurs went extinct.  That would be good for science because then we would find out what happened to them!"

"Yeah, can we go on a field trip?"

Of course there's always a student who reminds me of Arnold.  "Hopefully not.  I don't want to go on a crazy field trip 'cause I get bus sick."

I will tell Ms. S how very much the children wish to go on a field trip.  You never know what Ms. S and I might cook up in the way of science fun . . . Bus, do your stuff!

Happy Halloween!

Ms. S. was unable to make it to school today.  Today's guest post comes to you from Ms. Valerie Frizzle, elementary teacher extraordinaire and driver/pilot of the Magic School Bus. 



You know, it's funny that as much as my friend Ms. S. loves Halloween, somehow she always manages to miss school on Halloween for some reason or another.  It's becoming a pattern.  So I wasn't surprised to get the call last night that she was looking for a substitute to cover her class. 

This presented a serious dilemma: what to wear?  Of course, I couldn't wear the same old thing I wore the last time I substituted for Ms. S.  Children remember these things . . . and they ask probing questions like, "Why do you always wear that same dress?"  That would never do.

Of course, it is also important to match the dress to the lesson.  I hear the children have been learning about the bones in the human skeleton and also that they have been making calaveras in preparation for El Dia de Los Muertos.  Fortunately, I have recently updated my wardrobe,



but as everyone knows, it's the accessories that make the outfit. 





Clackity, clack.  Don't talk back!

I always get some strange looks when I arrive at Ms. S's school.  Some look longer than is really polite, and then I see them giggling behind their hands--especially adults.  I think they just get a little over-excited by my fabulous fashion sense.















Seatbelts, everyone!  It's going to be an exciting day!

Of course, a visit from me is never without learning!  We began by reading The Skeleton Inside Me, and then we learned the names of the bones in the skeleton.

Then we played Skeleton Simon Says.

Simon says, "Touch your cranium."

Simon says, "Touch your radius and ulna."
(Simon didn't say, "Fracture your radius and ulna!")

Bus, do your stuff!











There's a Book for That!
The Skeleton Inside Me by Philip Balestrino
The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body by Joanna Cole
Bones by Seymour Simon
Bones by Steve Jenkins
Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler
The Skull Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
Skeleton (DK Eyewitness Books)
Calavera Abecedario by Jeanette Winter

Lions and elephants

and giraffes! Oh, my!

Happy Halloween!

And happy birthday to the lovely Mrs. D!

(Yes, we dutifully celebrated Pencil Amnesty Day today in her honor.)

A parent reported that when she asked her son if he enjoyed the Fall Festival Friday, he replied dejectedly, "Yeah, I guess so, but Ms. Frizzle didn't come."  It's become a bit of a tradition for me to send Ms. Frizzle in my stead (oddly, right around Halloween).

Luckily, she was available today!  Some funny stuff happens when Ms. Frizzle substitutes for my class.  One of my colleagues was in hysterics after school, telling me, "I saw Ms. Frizzle getting out of her car and I thought, 'Look at that strange substitute.  Oh, my gosh!  What is she WEARING?  Look at THAT dress!  And THAT HAIR--is that a WIG?'"

Ms. Frizzle does make some interesting fashion choices . . . and she delights in the details. 

One student quietly admired, "Oh, I LOVE those earrings."

Another commented under her breath to a friend, "Where did she GET those shoes?"

Some of the children were skeptical about their strange substitute. 

"You laugh like Ms. S." 

"I think I see some blond hair peeking out." 

"Hmmm...You sound just like Ms. S." 

"How come you know our names?"

"Ms. Frizzle doesn't wear glasses."

Most of the children indulged her, though, with "Ms. S___ . . . I mean, Ms. Frizzle" and "I think I see the Magic School Bus!"

Ms. Frizzle is not just fun and games.  She's all about learning.  She brought along a Mystery Trunk, filled with artifacts that provide clues to the mystery of where Fluffy and I traveled over the summer.  Stay tuned to find out what was inside!

Books to love:

The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

The Magic School Bus In the Time of the Dinosaurs by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

The Magic School Bus On the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

The Magic School Bus & the Science Fair Expedition by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Ancient Egypt by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Medieval Castle by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Imperial China by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen