In General
- Fillmore Elementary's mascot is an iguana named Millard.
- Ms. Bennigan calls Hot Dad "the best-looking man to walk the Earth since Donny Osmond."
Pilot
- After Fillmore develops a bullying problem, Principal Pearson says, "It's like Lord of the Flies out there."
Drunk Kiss
- Feldman gets a double shout-out while pleading her case to the district psychologist:Ms. Feldman: Look, I'm a really good teacher. You should see me teach multiplication using Lionel Richie's "Three Times a Lady." It's like Dead Poets Society.
Sex Ed
- When Mrs. Adler tells Ms. Feldman that she has to choose between Cheech & Chong, Feldman says, "This is like Sophie's Choice."
The Last Day
- One of Ms. Watson's students gives her a calendar of comic strips from The Far Side. She trades it to Ms. Feldman for a picnic basket.
- Ms. Feldman tries to employ an extended Good Will Hunting analogy while she's conferencing with a parent. It doesn't really work.
- Before Ms. Snap, Mrs. Adler, Ms. Cannon, and Ms. Watson set off to find Ms. Bennigan (who is running around the school naked), they say "Earth! Fire! Wind! Water!" Ms. Snap remarks that they forgot to do heart, then realizes, "Bennigan is heart!"
First Day Back
- Ms. Watson says she's joined a dating website called myeternalsoulmate.com. Mrs. Adler remarks, "That sounds like a James Patterson novel where a woman ends up dismembered in a suitcase."
- When Ms. Watson is reads her myeternalsoulmate match's ideal date:Ms. Watson: M'lady, I would wear a white straw hat and take you to the river, where I would row you about in a canoe while you recite ''"The Lady of Shalott." I'll be your Gilbert Blythe.Mrs. Adler: This guy's gonna saw your head off.Ms. Watson: He's referencing Anne of Green Gables, Deb.
- Ms. Snap's epic speech about her inspirations:Ms. Snap: Get it together, Chelsea. Just remember all the people who inspired you to become a teacher: Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson, Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop, Mr. Feeny in Boy Meets World, and Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds.
Brokebitch Mountain
- When Feldman doesn't have enough money to pay for her horchata, she tries to convince the food truck guy that by giving it to her for free, he's doing his part to help her develop students who will make actual America as great as the America portrayed in The West Wing.
Getting Drilled
- The first scene is a parody of Ms. Gulch's first scene in The Wizard of Oz, complete with the same music.
- One of Mrs. Adler's students remarks that her aunt lost two hundred Beanie Babies when she was in a trailer during a tornado.
- When the teachers and students are filing into the emergency shelter, Ms. Snap exclaims, "I can't die without telling Kris Jenner how inspiring she is as a businesswoman!"
- Mrs. Adler calls Ms. Snap a "Bachelor in Paradise reject."
- When Harvey/Rain Owl talks mentions the Iroquois, Feldman mishears him and says, "I love Jamiroquai."
- Harvey/Rain Owl's talking stick is signed by Shirley MacLaine.
- Ms. Snap calls Mrs. Adler's professionally preserved cat a "gnarly Build-A-Bear."
- When Harvey/Rain Owl shows the teachers the obstacle course they have to conquer in order to get their certificates, Mrs. Adler says, "I thought that was for the Scared Straight! teens."
Lunchtime! The Musical
- Many of the episode's musical numbers are parodies of songs from popular musicals: Ms. Bennigan and Hot Dad do a takeoff of "Sixteen Going on Seventeen", Principal Pearson does a pastiche of "When You're Good to Mama", and one of the ensembles near the end parodies "Do You Hear the People Sing?"
- When she realizes she can't fit into her fat jeans, Ms. Snap asks herself, "What would Gwyneth Paltrow do?"
- After realizing that Mary Louise has still not confessed her feelings to Hot Dad, Ms. Snap says, "You two make Jane Austen look like a one-night stand."
