In the Swim
Season 1 Episode 3
Themes: Working Together
Prominent Characters
Ms. Frizzle
The class’s teacher, Ms. Frizzle helps Wanda in her attempts to help the fish in this episode, and encourages the class to work together when Wanda gets into a dangerous situation.
Wanda
One of the members of the class, Wanda cares deeply about animals and gets herself into a dangerous situation when she tries to help protect a fish. In the end, she realizes that the fish already had friends helping it stay safe, and she also appreciated her friends that helped her stay safe as well.
Plot Highlights
- Ready for a break from the winter cold, the class takes a field trip to Hawaii to enjoy some relaxing time.
- Wanda has set her mind on helping an animal on their field trip. When she finds a fish while she’s snorkeling, she names it Becca Blue, and she starts to wonder how such a small fish could survive in such a big ocean. When she learns that sharks also live around there, she becomes concerned with keeping Becca Blue safe.
- The group takes the Magic School Bus deep into the ocean to learn about the animals that live there. Ms. Frizzle sends out each child into the water in their own fish-like submarine pod. At first, the kids can’t figure out how to drive the pods, but by testing buttons and working together by sharing what they learn about how things work, they’re able to drive them effectively. The group encounters a school of fish, then a shark that swims around them before swimming off into the distance. A bit scared from the shark encounter, they return to the beach.
- Wanda is worried about leaving the fish Becca Blue all alone in the water with the shark. She tries giving it a house that it can hide in for protection, but the fish loses interest and swims off. None of the other kids share her concern, but she convinces Ms. Frizzle to go back into the ocean with her to protect Becca.
- When Wanda returns to the ocean in her fish submarine pod, she finds Becca Blue and learns how to swim in unison with the fish just like fish do with one another. Then, a shark approaches, and she watches as Becca Blue joins together with a school of similar fish to confuse and evade the shark. After the school of fish get away, though, the shark turns its attention to Wanda in her fish pod, and she becomes trapped in the rock hiding from him.
- Ms. Frizzle summons the rest of the kids on the beach to help save Wanda, and they all swim out to her in their fish pods. They start distracting the fish one by one, but they realize that won’t keep them all safe, so they start swimming in unison just like the school of fish. By banding together, they’re able to appear like a much bigger creature, and they swim after the shark to scare him off.
- The group returns to school, happy that they successfully fended off the shark by working together.
Discussion Questions
This episode explores the theme of working together, and we encourage you to explore some of the following questions with your child.
- How did the school of fish work together in this episode to stay safe from the shark?
- Can you think of a time the kids in this episode worked together? What happened? Do you think one of them could’ve done that alone?
- Can you think of time when you worked with others to accomplish a goal?
This episode also covered science concepts around how fish swim and how they join together in schools. We encourage you to ask your child what they learned about fish in this episode, and consider exploring some of these resources if they’re interested in learning more:
- Watch video footage of beautiful fish from all around the world swimming in schools in this Youtube video.
- Hear from scientists using technology to study the way that fish move in schools in response to predators in this Youtube video.
- Learn about some other animals that work together in this video about animal group behavior from GenerationGenius.
