I think the story is clever and the stress on the ANT words fun. I worry some about the take away message....just getting to know behaviors of fun animals is ok. I think turning salad into fungus is really tricky but could be convinced that the main take away is to learn a little about these types of ants...I think kids will like the chompers. I also wonder/ worry about if we should say something so that kids don't become afraid of ants. Do leaf cutters only bite into leaves? 1. ext school garden -- DAY My overall thought is about the execution of visual style. We had discussed the first Ms.Mole interstitial and cretively decided to keep the 'bees' in that story looking 'realistic' and not cartoony in design as its the science and learning aspect that we want to portray as relatable.. However, here we have ants portrayed as characters and acting (noted below) We also have the ants carrying Ms.Mole at the of the story time - This takes place in our world (not in the storybook) and I'm guessing we wouldnt ever have that happen in the body of an epsiode as its not true to how ants would act. This is a good start to a cute interstitial, but we found a few aspects a bit hard to follow. Today’s story time takes place outside in the school garden. MS. MOLE walks into frame. Ms. MOLE We're not sure that “hearing a garden story” is super exciting to little kids or makes much sense in connection with the rest of the story, which is really about ants. Since the A story is all about ants, we'd encourage you to lean more in that direction (rather than making this a story about gardents, which can feature some ants who grow mushrooms like we would in a garden). You could set up the focus on ants here directly, maybe with a, "Who wants to hear a fANTastic story about ants?" Who’s ready to hear a garden story? There are several kids sitting in the garden, facing Ms. Mole. we should note who the kids are for our records All kids Me!/I’m ready!/Yeah! MS. MOLE Oh, my, aren’t you all ANT-sy to hear it! Ms. Mole brings out her Nature Book. Ms. MOLE (CONT’D) Well, today’s story is about one KIND of ant called a LEAF-CUTTER ANT. Ms. Mole opens the book to a page that shows a leaf cutter ant walking along an anthill tunnel. MS. MOLE (CONT’D) Leaf cutter ants make some of the biggest anthills in the world! The storybook graphic zooms out to reveal a huge anthill about 30 meters wide, using a generic animal icon and two regular houses for scale. we should note who the kids are for our records Kids Whoooaaa .../ Ooohhhh /Wow! Ari That anthill looks bigger than two houses! Elinor Ms. Mole, why is that ant called the “leaf-cutter ant”? MS. MOLE Ah! That’s a very import-ANT question, Elinor! Ms. Mole flips the page and we see an ant on a big green leaf. Want to make sure use of the term “chompers” is accurate and is something kids will understand. Ms. MOLE (CONT’D) They’re called “leaf-cutters” because they use their chompers to cut pieces of leaves! The ant chomps away like a buzzsaw with its mandibles, cutting away a big piece of the leaf. Olive Why does the ant cut the leaf, Ms. Mole? after 12 - show an ant at a table about to eat a leafy green salad. (an example of ant character moment) do we want to keep these 'realistic' Ari I bet they use it to make a salad! ( rubbing his stomach and smacking his lips) I love salads! Ms. Mole flips the page to show an ant at a table about to eat a leafy green salad. "after line 13 - action -The leafy salad is taken away from the ant, and the ant looks confused. (here's an example of the ant 'acting' as a character)" Ms. MOLE They do eat salads, Ari, but they’re not leaf salads! The leafy salad is taken away from the ant, and the ant looks confused. """The page flips and the graphic shows ants taking the pieces of leaves, chewing them up and making a fungus garden"" - what action takes place for them to chew it up and make fungus?" Ms. MOLE (CONT’D) "Lines 14-15: The logic is a little hard to follow. It seems confusing to say (in line 13) that the ants don't eat leaf salads, while line 15 says that they chew up leaves. And the explanation about chewing up the leaves in order to grow a fungus garden feels unclear from a kid's point of view -- they would associate chewing with the act of eating, so how can you grow a garden with something you've eaten? Is this the only reason why they chomp the leaves -- to chew them up to allow fungus to grow on them? Just trying to figure out what we want to learn from this, and how to communicate it clearly. We also agree with Sara's question about saying mushroom vs. fungus. The two seem to be used interchangeably throughout. Mushrooms are a type of fungus, but we wouldn’t say that a fungus is like a mushroom. Also, they aren’t actually making mushroom salads because it sounds like it’s a different type of fungus. So this is all a bit confusing. " Leaf cutter ants like to eat MUSHROOM salads! The salad is replaced with a plate of mushrooms. The page flips and the graphic shows ants taking the pieces of leaves, chewing them up and making a fungus garden. Is a mushroom LIKE a fungus or is one type of fungus? MS. MOLE (CONT’D) They take the pieces of leaves and chew them up to grow a FUNGUS garden. A fungus is like a mushroom. The book shows ants harvesting the fungi and feeding it to their young. Ari I always knew eating mushrooms was FUN-gus . This is the first time we talk about gardens and how humans use them for growing food. This may not be common knowledge to preschoolers, who probably don't have a lot of experience with gardens – especially for growing their own food. If you'd like to keep the focus on gardens (rather than on ants), it would be good to set up what a garden is and how we use it at the top. MS. MOLE <LAUGHS> That it is, Ari. So you see, kids, some ants grow their own food in gardens, just like we do! With that, we go back to the garden scene. after 18 - ms.mole being carried away by ants - this is our real world - do we not want to keep non mammal in our wolrd as they should be presented ? Kids Ooohh / Coool .../Whoa... Suddenly, we see that Ms. Mole is moving sideways. ZOOM OUT to reveal she’s being carried away by ants. Ms. MOLE Oh! Well! I guess it’s time to go gardening! The ants walk her off screen and we IRIS OUT to... END.

.

.

ELINOR wonders why 104 INTERSTITIAL: Ms Mole Story time: ANT GARDENS Written by Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson Follows "The House that Ants Built." This dives deeper into how ants use the rooms in their nest. Curriculum: The kids learn that ant nets are big and that leaf-cutting ants feed leaves to their fungus garden. Learning Goals: LS4 . Begin to understand that animals and plants depend on other living things and nonliving things in the environment to meet some of their needs. [ Ant use leaves to grow their fungus food ] ND3 . ( RTL Crosscutting concept ‘Structure and Function’) Understand that structures and materials in the natural world can be used or can inspire the engineering of structures with similar function in the designed world. [ Ants have gardens just like we do.] FIRST DRAFT: January 31st, 2019 Ms. MOLE ARI MS MOLE ELINOR OLIVE All kids Kids (V.O.) (O.S.) (O.C.) (CONT'D) (SUBTITLE) INT EXT I/E 1 ARI: I HAVE A COUSIN THAT EATS ANTS ARI: WHAT DO ANTS TASTE LIKE? INT CLASROOM -- DAY DAY NIGHT AFTERNOON MORNING EVENING LATER MOMENTS LATER CONTINUOUS THE NEXT DAY CUT TO: FADE IN: FADE OUT. FADE TO: DISSOLVE TO: BACK TO: MATCH CUT TO: JUMP CUT TO: FADE TO BLACK.