Thematic Activities

The class has gone to the beach, but Ralphie insists on keeping the class in one spot, which the rest of the class think is the most rotten spot on the beach, being crowded with other people. Ralphie, however, insists that this is where they want to be. Ms. Frizzle hears that "Uncle Shelby" needs a special spot saved. Eager to get away from Ralphie's spot, the rest of the class agrees. However, they find the inhabitant of this spot is not a human; it is a mussel. They decide the middle tide zone is too crowded so they decide to find a spot. However, they find worse problems in the low tide zone and the high tide zone, so they eventually come back. When they get back to Ralphie, they try to apply what they have learned to convince him to change spots, but they discover that he did have his reasons for picking the spot-–the ice cream truck stops there!

For their coral reef projects, the class each worked in partners. Wanda hates partnership, and instead of working with her partner, Dorothy Ann, Wanda does her own project. Ms. Frizzle tells the class about her great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Redbeard the Pirate, leaving treasure in a coral reef, and Wanda, a wannabe pirate, wants to look for it. Ms. Frizzle tells them to go two-by-two with their partners, which Wanda teams up with Dorothy Ann, Keesha teams up with Ralphie, Tim teams up with Carlos, and Arnold teams up with Phoebe. They learn about mutualistic, symbiotic relationships in coral reefs. They are forced to work together when one part of the reef has been bleached out by none other than the treasure chest. They then go back to school, and open up the treasure chest, which has a portrait of Redbeard, and a model of the ship that can change shape much like the bus.

Ms. Frizzle takes the class to Hawaii, where an overprotective Wanda gets schooled when she's forced to think like a tiny little fish.