The song is a bit too complex and long. It should first set up her general curiosity. Why is she looking for this one plant? It seems a bit buried and technical “to understand its special traits” I’m sure she did, but I’m guessing she also loved being out in the field and exploring. Can we emphasize that? I think it will resonate more with the audience than interest in a specific plant. Maybe the chorus should be something more general about her desire to explore and be in the field. Start with that, then introduce the Wax Palm chorus. The song should repeat the chorus more often. Some verses might need to be cut. 1. EXT PARK -- DAY agreed that the song is complex and drawn out Open on SENOR TAPIR, ARI , and OLIVE sitting on a log. ARI spots ELINOR as she runs over to them and waves at her. ARI Hi, Elinor! ELINOR lands facing backwards...if shes running and trips, shed fall forward. she'd naturally oill herself up and look back at what she tripped over and then continue as you have it Hi--oof ! Fills with tears” seems unnecessary. Can we just have her be surprised/stunned? ELINOR trips on a tree root and lands facing backwards. Her eyes start to fill with tears, but then she sees what she tripped over, and curiosity prevails. “I’ve never see that kind of tree before! That’s SO INTERESTING!” Elinor (CONT’D) I've never seen that tree before! How INTERESTING! SENOR TAPIR (helping ELINOR up) You remind me of another brave explorer who loved plants more than anything, and was really good at figuring out what made each one special! Her name was Ynes Mexia . Senor Tapir starts to strum his guitar and sings. We TRANSITION to a simpler style of animation that describes what he is singing. 2. EXT. MOUNTIAN TRAIL -- DAY Ynes Mexia ( ee-NEZ Meh-HEE-uh ) sits on her mule looking up at a steep mountain trail. SENOR TAPIR (singing) High up the mountain trail Ynes Mexia aimed to go, To reach the misty forests where the lovely Wax Palm grows! ZOOM IN ON: Mexia's notebook, with a sketch of the legendary Wax Palm growing in the mountains. "“To understand its special traits” -> “To see it with her own eyes” “seek it there” -> “climb up there”" SENOR TAPIR (CONT’D) The tallest of all palm trees, it prefers the cold, thin air. "thin air" is not in a realm of preschool understanding...I would stick to the fact that the tree grows on top of mts. or you could say Mt air... To understand its special traits, she had to seek it there! Mexia and her guides start up the trail, which zig-zags up the mountain. Mexia sings as they go: "Rewrite the chorus to be more general curiosity/exploring/out in the field. “classify”, maybe replace with “draw” " SENOR TAPIR (CONT’D) (chorus, singing as Mexia ) "All plants have different features That help them grow and thrive. If we carefully compare them, reads singing as Mexia. not clear as to how this pkays out. perhaps in the song tapir sings something like 'she once said....' and then continues to sing in his natural voice We can see how they survive." the language will need supportive visuals...lots of new vocab which isn't bad but will need lots of support. New words include: stout and spongy, boundless, botanist, blaze a trail, classify. I think it would be good for the song to share what a botanist is. The group passes each type of plant as it is mentioned, and Mexia points out its key features: willowy branches that don't break in the wind and spongy trunks that hold water. "Some are thin and springy, To bend in whipping winds. Some are stout and spongy, To keep their water in." CLOSE-UP ON Mexia , in her element. “The world of plants is boundless— What's a botanist to do? But blaze a trail to find them, And classify them too!" Time passes and different weather conditions roll through: rain and thunder, gusting winds, intense sun. Mexia leads the group through it all, even when the trail disappears. "“Undaunted by” -> “Even in“ Cut “All plants…” chorus, replace with more general one Suggest to cut “Perhaps…” verse, too specific" SENOR TAPIR (CONT’D) Undaunted by the pouring rain, the wind and blinding glare, same as last comment ...words such as Undaunted, glare, triumphantly, thrive, They had no path to guide them, so they found their own way there. Rounding a bend, Mexia spots the coveted palm tree! Mexia runs to the tree, circles it, and pulls out her notebook, feverishly sketching. “At last!” Ynes Mexia cried, when first she saw the tree. Two hundred feet in height, it touched the clouds triumphantly. All plants have different features That help them grow and thrive. If we carefully compare them, We can see how they survive. She excitedly points out features of the tree. “Perhaps this waxy coating Helps to keep the water out, And high above, the birds Help spread the tasty seeds about!” MONTAGE of flipped-through notebook pages filled with Mexia's plant sketches and discoveries. Her love of plants was boundless — She discovered quite a few! She blazed a trail to find them, And classified them too! TRANSITION TO: 3. EXT PARK -- DAY Back in the park, SENOR TAPIR looks up from his guitar to see ELINOR busily sketching. She holds up her drawing of the strange tree she tripped over. The parts are labeled, as in Mexia's drawings. Collecting trees how? young children have rock collections or collections of things they physically have ...A list might be more understandable than a collection? ELINOR Look! I'm going to start a collection, and maybe we can figure out what kind of tree it is! OLIVE That sounds fun! Let's all look for new plants to collect! The children scatter. SENOR TAPIR follows them SENOR TAPIR (chuckling) Be careful! No running!

.

ELINOR WONDERS WHY EWW INTERSTITIAL 113: SENOR TAPIR Ynes Mexia and the Wax Palm Written by MEG ROSENBURG FOLLOWS: EWW 123 "BACKYARD SOUP" CONNECTION: Different plants grow in different environments. CURRICULUM: Elinor see Ari , Olive, and Senor Tapir in the forest and runs to meet them, tripping over a strange tree root. Oooh — she's never seen that tree before! Senor Tapir praises her mettle, which reminds him of another undaunted nature adventurer, Ynes Mexia . In the song that he strikes up, the verses recount her quest to the Andes Mountains to find and bring back a rare, beautiful palm tree, while the chorus describes more broadly how she fell in love with collecting plants and found a new inner strength — and a new calling — in the great outdoors. At the end of the song, the kids decide to look for more "new" plants that they've never noticed before. In 1934, botanist Ynes Mexia sets out on her own to collect a sample of a beautiful and hardy palm tree that only grows in the remote and cold high Andes Mountains. Over her career, she personally collected ~150,000 plant samples, among them ~500 new species and two new genera. LS1: Understand that all living things have external parts B. Record observations about a plant’s physical appearance C. Categorize a variety of plants based on their physical characteristics LS2 . Understand that animals have different body parts that are used in different ways to meet their needs, and that plants have different parts that help them survive and grow D. Explore how different external features of an animal help it survive in its environment FIRST DRAFT: 4/22/2019 (V.O.) (O.S.) (O.C.) (CONT'D) (SUBTITLE) Int Ext I/E 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.