Fishy Field Trip

The Magic School Bus Science Chapter Books #18

by Martin Schwabacher, Hope Gangloff (Illustrator), Joanna Cole (Series Creator)

Take a dive with Ms. Frizzle! The class climbs on the Magic School Bus to learn all about the Great Barrier Reef and the amazing creatures that claim it as their home. It'll be a splash!

When the class project on coral reefs accidentally falls into the aquarium, everyone is upset. They had all worked hard to create Ms. Frizzle's Big Book on the Great Barrier Reef. Now their reports are soggy and smeared. Tim is especially disappointed - some of his best artwork was in that book. But never fear, Ms. Frizzle always has a solution, and it's called a field trip. When the class climbs on board the Magic School Bus, they are headed down under. And they'll dive deep into the wild wonder of coral reefs.

Genres: Science, Chapter Books, Childrens, Animals, Middle Grade, Science Nature

112 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

Reviews

[Nikolaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book I decided to read is the magic school bus- The Fishy Field Trip, written by scholastic. This book is fiction and is fantasy. I chose to read this book because I have read many the magic school bus chapter books but not this one. It also reminds me of my childhood.

This book takes places mostly underwater in a bus but also in a classroom, at a assembly and in the water. The central character is probably Tim because everything is in his perspective, but everyone else from his class and his teacher are very important as well. The character’s challenge is to stay alive, learn and re-write his part of the class book. Tim becomes more strong and a better artist. The general plot is the class going on a field trip and learning about coral reefs. The conflict starts in the beginning when their book is destroyed. In the beginning their book gets wet so Ms.Friz decided to take them on a field trip underwater. They learn many things and make it on time to present their book.



The story didn’t make me feel any big feeling. It wasn’t very excited and was definitely not believable. The characters are real people and animals. There weren’t any scary parts but a few funny parts. The story made me think about how to protect the environment and about my trip in Egypt. I learned a lot of things about corals but I knew some of them. My favorite part was when Tim’s aunt was very happy of his book, I love this part because it reminds me of family and how important it is. I didn’t really like this book because not very many exciting things happened. I don’t think any of my friends would enjoy such a straightforward book so I wouldn’t recommend it to any of my friends. The age for this book is 6-9. I would give this book a 4/10 rating.

[Jenni Jex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this aloud with my science loving 7 year old. We really enjoyed this book and had fun googling the different fish and plants mentioned to look up their pictures. The story moved along well, and it reminded me of my younger days with many of the famous one liners from Arnold, Phoebe, and Dorothy Ann. :)

[Julianna Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book with a student. It's more fun with commentary from a fourth grader.

[Ms. Argueta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sandra C Argueta
April 30, 2016
ETEC 545 Sci-Series

Schwabacher, Martin. The Fishy Field Trip. Illustrations by Gangloff, Hope. USA: Scholastic,2004.

In this version of The Magic School Bus science series, they've tried to integrate chapter book reading abilities with learning scientific facts. There is a narrative with a plot and characters happening as they instruct the science content simultaneously.
In this amusing story, the students of Ms. Frizzle are participating in Ocean Awareness day. They have all been working very hard on their projects and are anticipating presenting their work at a school assembly where parents and teachers will attend. As students were rehearsing for their presentations all their work is destroyed due to the feisty class lizard who knocks it into the fish tank. Now what? Well, Ms. Frizzle has a solution: a field trip to Australia's Great Barrier Reef on The Magic School Bus where they will literally dive under the ocean to learn all about reefs and their inhabitants.
This book series seems a good place to start learning about scientific content for reluctant readers. However, there might be a problem for some children, who might have trouble distinguishing magic from fact. In our text book, Huck talks about students confusing what's real and what magic as a problem in some in some nonfiction books. I think this might be the case here because there are lots if instances where magic takes over in the middle of the science lesson. For example, when students are submerged in the ocean looking at the world of animals and habitats all of the sudden the teacher announces that they will now leave the bus and swim with the animals. Then, all students grow gills,fins and tails and are part of the underworld of the ocean.
This is entertaining for kids but might confuse younger students who are still learning how to "sort" information.
Ages:9-12

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our girls adore Magic School Bus and we've read every book we can get our hands on. This is a great chapter book; it is not too long, and still has lots of pictures. It offers a compreshensive look at life on a coral reef and the diversity and dangers that lurk there.

It's an entertaining and exciting story - the author really brings the undersea to life. We will certainly look for more of the books in this series at our local library.

[nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

read enough for school. really sucks this was the only book i could get my hands on for science week.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved it when they went half way around the world.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great chapter book for kids. Very informative and interesting to read.

[Rachel Inbar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loaded with details, but overall fairly interesting. Not highly readable. The kids enjoyed it.

[Margaret Heninger]

Always a fun escape to the underwater!