1. EXT ARI’S HOUSE -- DAY Open on a crisp Fall day in Animal Town. CU: a branch outside Ari’s house. We see a golden leaf quiver in the wind, and then break off of the tree and fall to the ground. A moment later, we see Ari’s dad, MR. BAT, pick up the leaf and examine it. MR. BAT Fall is here, that’s for sure! <SFX: We hear the kids giggling off screen> PULL BACK AND REVEAL: the whole yard is covered in golden, red and brown leaves. At that moment, ARI, ELINOR, and OLIVE run up. ELINOR Wow! Look at all the leaves! ARI The yard is covered with them. Olive puts down her satchel and the kids have fun in the leaves. They throw them up in the air, they “swim” in them. <SFX: KIDS HAVING FUN WALLA> Olive picks up a leaf that is yellow and red. OLIVE I love all the colors! Elinor gets curious and also picks up a leaf. She bends it and it doesn’t break. ELINOR Look how soft and bendy they are! ARI Look at THIS, Elinor and Olive! We can make “leaf birds”! Ari lays down and waves his arms and legs to make a “leaf bird” (like a snow angel) and the other kids follow suit. Each one says which kind of bird it looks like. ELINOR Mine looks like an owl! OLIVE Mine looks like a flamingo! (Her trunk made the long neck). ARI Mine looks like a... a bat! The kids <SFX: LAUGH> as Mr. Bat pulls up a wheelbarrow with gardening tools, including several small rakes, and starts taking out some canvas sacks, intending to rake the leaves himself. MR. BAT Well, kids, it’s time for me to start raking the leaves. Ari sees this and wants to help. ARI I can help, Dad! I’ll rake all the leaves! Mr. Bat is pleasantly surprised. MR. BAT Really? Are you sure, Ari? ARI Yeah, the only thing we had planned for today was to go look for worms. But I’d rather help you. I’m a SUPER leaf raker. Elinor We’ll help too! OLIVE Yeah, that’s what friends are for. MR. BAT Well, thanks, kids! That does give me more time to prepare things in the back. Here are the rakes to gather the leaves and here are some bags to put them in. I’ll be in the backyard if you need anything. The kids each grab a rake. They stand for a moment looking at the sea of leaves. ARI Let’s rake some leaves, super leaf rakers! Musical montage: We see the kids doing their best to rake some leaves. They work very energetically, but not very efficiently. <SFX: HAPPY KIDS WALLA> For example: we see Ari raking leaves into a pile. At the same time, Olive is raking leaves out of his pile into her own. At another moment, Ari can’t resist the temptation to jump into Elinor’s pile of leaves, scattering them. They share a laugh and rake them back together. Eventually, despite their goofiness, they get most of the leaves piled into a few bags. END MONTAGE: The kids are putting the last of the leaves into one of the bags. As Olive holds it open, Elinor drops some leaves in. OLiVE We’re just about done, guys! ELINOR There were sooo many leaves! ARI But we got them all raked up. And now it’s snack-time! Just then, a few leaves drift onto the screen. ARI (CONT’D) Huh? Ari looks confused for a moment, he rakes the leaves closer to the bag so Elinor can put them in. He takes a satisfied look at the small pile, dusting off his hands to mean “job done”, and prepares to put the rake away. Just then MORE leaves drift onto the screen. ARI (CONT’D) What? He rakes those too, and repeats the same process. But then, a few MORE leaves drift in. ARI (CONT’D) I thought we were done! ELINOR Yeah, where are all these new leaves coming from? OLIVE Let’s go look. They walk in the direction the leaves came from, and end up at the edge of Ari’s yard. The trees on the other side of the path are COVERED in leaves that are falling. PULL OUT to see that Ari’s yard is next to the forest. Their eyes pop. elinor There are soooo many trees out here! OLIVE With sooo many leaves! ARI Oh no... Are we going to have to rake the whole forest? He looks at the trees in minor panic. ARI (CONT’D) Oh man, that would take forever. I’ll never get my snack! OLIVE I’m pretty sure we don’t have to rake the WHOLE FOREST, Ari. Just your yard. ELINOR Ok , but I wonder... if we don’t rake the leaves in the forest, who DOES? Where do all the leaves that fall from the trees go? OLIVE Yeah, why isn’t the forest just FULL of leaves? We see a THOUGHT BUBBLE that the kids share, showing the forest filling up with leaves as they fall from trees, piling up to the top of the trees. ARI I never thought about that before. New leaves fall every year. What happens to them? Where do they go? OLIVE It’s The Mystery of the Missing Leaves! ELINOR That’s SO INTERESTING! The kids try to think of a few ideas. ARI Hmmm . Maybe the trees rake their own leaves? Like I clean my room? ELINOR Um , you never clean your room, Ari. ARI True. But maybe trees are different! OLIVE Hmm, I’ve never seen a tree with a rake before. And trees can’t move around anyway! A bird flies by, holding a twig with a leaf on it in its mouth. ELINOR Hey, birds pick things up! Maybe birds clean up the leaves in the forest to make their nests? We see a THOUGHT BUBBLE of a bird picking up leaves and taking it to build a nest. OLIVE But there are too many leaves. The birds can’t use ALL of them or the nests would be HUGE. The thought bubble bird’s nest grows to be enormous. ELINOR Hmmm ... <beat> I have an idea! Let’s go look at the leaves in the forest and see if we can figure it out! We need MORE OBSERVATIONS! ARI Yay! I’ll tell my dad. OLIVE I’ll bring the magnifying glass and notebook. Ari yells over to his dad, who is busy doing something in the backyard. ARI (calling) Dad, we are going to try to solve a leafy mystery in the forest! MR. BAT (calling) Great! Don’t go to far! The kids get back together and set off for the edge of the forest. 2. EXT FOREST -- DAY The kids walk a bit into the forest. As they walk, they sing a song that summarizes what they want to know. Elinor, olive, Ari (singing) Fall is here, Fall is here And leaves are falling down! Fall is here, but now we think Who picks them from the ground? Oh where oh where Do leaves in the forest go? Look high and low That’s what we want to know Oh why oh why Isn’t the forest full? Raking leaves would take too long Even if you’re really strong Fall is here, Fall is here And leaves are falling down! Fall is here, but now we think Who picks them from the ground? As the song ends, we transition to the kids looking carefully at the leaves around them. ELINOR SO many leaves fall from the trees every year. Why aren’t there huge piles of them everywhere? OLIVE Yeah, where do all the leaves go? Ari’s stomach <RUMBLES>. ARI Maybe a hungry bat eats them? The kids <SFX: GIGGLE>. ELINOR Let’s take a closer look. She picks up a leaf from the ground. It’s yellow and red. ARI That one looks just like the leaves at my house. Elinor bends the leaf. ELINOR It’s soft and bendy too, just like the ones we raked. OLIVE I’ll draw it in my notebook. Colorful and bendy . Olive draws this leaf in her notebook. ARI Let’s get some more! Ari grabs a big handful of leaves. The top of the pile are fresh like the first, but leaves near the bottom are grey/brown and mushy. ARI (CONT’D) Oh! Some of these look different. He drops the pile and holds one leaf from the next layer. ELINOR Ooh ! Interesting! Elinor looks at the leaf Ari is holding up close with the magnifying glass. ELINOR (CONT’D) These leaves in the bottom must have fallen before the ones on top. They’re brown. Ari tugs or bends the leaf and it breaks in half. ARI And kind of mushy. Olive draws this leaf in her notebook. OLIVE Brown and mushy. Elinor gets curious about the spot where Ari picked up the leaves. ElINOR Let’s dig a little deeper! She crouches down and looks more closely. ELINOR (CONT’D) Hmmm , they get darker and mushier the deeper you go. Olive draws a dark mush on her notebook. ELINOR (CONT’D) Look! And now there’s just dirt, but... The dirt under the leaves has broken up bits of leaves in it! Olive draws some soil with bits of leaves in it. OLIVE Soil with leaf bits. The kids look at the four drawings. The newer leaf is at the top, and the camera follows the progression down to the drawing of leaf bits. ARI So the newest leaves at the top are colorful and bendy . OLIVE But the older leaves below are brown and mushy. ELINOR And the oldest ones at the bottom are broken up and mixed in with the soil! The kids understand. ELINOR (CONT’D) Oooooooooh ! I think I know. NOBODY rakes the leaves in the forest. They don’t GO anywhere. OLIVE Yeah, they just lay here and get old and brown. ARI And turn into part of the soil! They do a little dance of joy for solving a mystery. <SFX: WHOO-HOO WE DID IT WALLA> ELINOR Let’s go tell your dad our idea, Ari! ARI Yeah! And have a snack! 3. EXT ARI’s HOUSE -- DAY They come back to the house, full of excitement. ARI Dad! We went to figure out what happens to leaves that fall in the forest. Elinor Because we wondered, if nobody rakes them, where do they go? MR. BAT That’s great. And what did you learn? ARI We think that leaves in the forest don’t get cleaned up. OLIVE They just fall to the ground. She shows him a drawing of the freshest leaf. ELINOR They sit there for a while and get brown and mushy. Elinor shows him the drawing of the brown leaf. ARI And then they break into pieces and get mixed in with the soil! Ari points to the drawing of the soil with leaf bits. MR. BAT What wonderful little scientists you are. Yes, leaves get old and become part of the soil. And not only that, they become part of the food that plants use to grow. The kids think that’s amazing. ElinOR It’s great all those leaves don’t go to waste! MR. BAT Yes, that’s called “ composting ” and it happens naturally on the forest floor. Elinor thinks for a moment, then looks over at the bag of leaves they raked before. ELINOR I wonder... can we turn those leaves we raked into part of the soil, too? MR. BAT Actually, that was the plan all along! Mr. Bat leads the kids to the backyard and reveals a big compost pile in one corner. OLIVE What’s all that? MR. BAT This is our composting pile. Here, I’ll show you! He grabs one of the bags of leaves they raked before and feeds it into a hand-cranked chipper. When he turns the crank, the leaves get chopped up and sprayed unto the compost pile, forming a new layer. While he works, he explains to the kids. Mr. bat (CONT’D) We take the leaves you raked, chop them up, and then add it to the pile. It’s just like the forest floor, except that cutting the leaves help them turn into soil faster. The kids go <OOOHHHH...> . Mr. Bat takes a shovel and mixes it around a bit. The kids dig in with their magnifying glass. ELINOR The ones in the bottom are brown and mushy, just like the ones in the forest. MR. BAT That’s right, they have been sitting here for a while. We also put in leftover food and veggies. ARI The leftover food also turns into soil? MR. BAT Yes, you can put in any kind of plant. It makes for new soil that is great for growing new plants and veggies. Mr. Bat digs down deep and finds some good dark, rich soil. ARI What are you going to do with that? MR. BAT It’s ready for our garden. He spreads the compost on their veggie garden. Elinor is still looking at the hole he made when he scooped up the fresh soil. ELINOR <GASP!> There’s something wiggling in there! Olive looks too. OLIVE It’s a worm! Yes! We found worms after all, just like we planned. Cool! The kids dig excitedly with their hands. Ari finds a super long worm. ARI Look at this world-champion worm! It’s the squirmiest and the wormiest! MR. BAT That’s right. Worms help turn the leaves and old food into soil. ARI We helped too! MR. BAT Yes, thank you very much, all three of you, for being so helpful today. And for being so curious! ARI You better be-LEAF it, Dad! Get it? Be-leaf it? The kids <SFX: LAUGH> as the camera goes up and back to another golden leaf hanging on a branch. The leaf wiggles and drops as we fade out and…

EWW120 Leaf it to Ari D1 April 4, 2019 .

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ELINOR WONDERS WHY EP 120 Leave it to Ari By: Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson Elinor's Question: Who rakes the leaves in the forest? Logline: Elinor learns that the forest does its own composting Curriculum Goals: LS5 . Begin to understand that animals and plants depend on other living things and nonliving things in the environment to meet some of their needs: (The kids realize that the plants in the forest and the garden depend on the composting leaves for some of their food) ND4 – Flows, Cycles, and Conservation’: Appreciate the way that elements in the natural world change, interact and are re-used, and how we can organize our designed world to better fit and care for the environment. [ The kids learn that leaves are reused in the forest to make soil; they can do the same with their leaves and veggie scraps. ] ET2b: Use a variety of low-tech tools including...magnifiers [ the kids use a magnifying glass ] SEP1b Ask more complex questions about observable phenomena [ they wonder where the leaves go] SEP3a: Identify and use a greater variety of tools to extend the senses for observing, measuring, and recording data about objects and events [ they use a magnifying glass to look closely at leaves] SEP3b: Compare and contrast objects and events by describing similarities and differences in detail [ they compare the freshest fallen leaves to the oldest ] SEP6a: Use background knowledge experiences, and data to construct reasonable explanations and theories of natural phenomena (science) [They combine their knowledge of leaves with what they see to figure out that leaves break down] SEP8 . Obtaining, evaluating and communicating information a. Obtain information through discussing prior knowledge and observations with experts including teachers or knowledgeable adults? [ they share their conclusions with Ari’s father, who also tells them about composting ] LINE COUNT: 102 MAINS: Elinor, Ari, Olive, Mr. Bat LOCATIONS: Ari's yard, Forest PROPS: Wagon, rakes, notebook, magnifying glass, lots of leaves, compost, soil, worms. OUTLINE: March 11, 2019 FIRST DRAFT: April 4, 2019 MR. BAT ELINOR ARI OLIVE ELINIR ARI/OLIVE/ELINOR Elinor, olive, Ari (V.O.) (O.S.) (O.C.) (CONT'D) (SUBTITLE) INT EXT I/E 1 EXT ARI'S HOUSE -- 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.