{"id":65060,"date":"2020-04-06T21:27:25","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T21:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ms-frizzle-comes-to-mancos-elementary-school\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T10:58:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:58:37","slug":"ms-frizzle-comes-to-mancos-elementary-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ms-frizzle-comes-to-mancos-elementary-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Ms. Frizzle comes to Mancos Elementary School"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=eba5c323-55bc-4343-b34d-077e419da741&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1135\" alt=\"\u201cI want to make sure to continue the connection I have with students and families,\u201d Principal Cathy Epps said about playing the role of Ms. Frizzle.  The new tradition kicked off March 30 with a reading of \u201cThe Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body.\u201d\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">\u201cI want to make sure to continue the connection I have with students and families,\u201d Principal Cathy Epps said about playing the role of Ms. Frizzle.  The new tradition kicked off March 30 with a reading of \u201cThe Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body.\u201d<\/span><span class=\"credit\">YouTube<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5gRoH28vanE\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/p><p>As local educators adapt their lesson plans to online platforms, one challenge they face is how to connect with their students over a computer screen.<\/p>\n<p>To address that hurdle, Mancos Elementary School Principal Cathy Epps is dressing up as science whizz Ms. Frizzle every morning and reading aloud a \u201cMagic School Bus\u201d book to her tuned-in student viewers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to make sure to continue the connection I have with students and families,\u201d Epps said. The new tradition kicked off March 30 with a reading of \u201cThe Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the coronavirus pandemic led Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to close all schools through April 17 (which has now been officially <a href=\"https:\/\/the-journal.com\/articles\/172809-polis-extends-order-closing-schools-will-address-stayathome-extension\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">extended<\/a> through April 30), Montezuma County school districts have been adjusting their <a href=\"https:\/\/the-journal.com\/articles\/172279-remote-learning-begins-in-montezuma-county#slide=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">instructional formats<\/a> to ensure students keep learning while practicing social distancing and following the governor\u2019s order.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the new remote learning style involves video instruction. At Mancos Elementary School, teachers are expected to provide lessons of up to 30 minutes per content area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have said many times that we have had to redesign the delivery of education in a matter of days, which takes years, at best, to do,\u201d Epps said. \u201cI will say that Mancos Preschool and Elementary School has the most determined, passionate, strong, creative, and loving teachers that I am incredibly proud to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And to keep up with her students, every morning Monday through Thursday, Epps sends out a video recording of herself reading aloud a \u201cMagic School Bus\u201d book \u2013 wearing a solar system dress and red wig reminiscent of famed fictional science teacher Ms. Frizzle.<\/p>\n<p>Students are then expected to take an AR quiz,  or a reading comprehension quiz taken by students in kindergarten through fifth grade, Epps said. Usually students take the quizzes at school or at the Mancos Public Library, but in light of the circumstances, the quizzes\u2019 creator, Renaissance Learning, is providing access for students to take them at home.<\/p>\n<p>And at the end of each lesson, Epps (or Ms. Frizzle) sings \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d to any student whose birthday it is \u2013 bringing the celebration home.<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:ealvero@the-journal.com\">ealvero@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elementary principal assumes beloved teacher\u2019s persona to connect with students<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,155,13,83,961,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-65060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-education","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-mancos","tag-mancos-elementary-school","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89506,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65060\/revisions\/89506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65060"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=65060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}