1. INT. CLASSROOM - DAY
Olive stands at the front of the class proudly showing off a jar of preserved cherries.
Mz
. Mole stands by as the rest of the class sits in audience. We join Olive with her “show and share” already in progress.
OLIVE
And here you go! Summer cherries!
The kids marvel at the red, glistening treasure.
<SFX:
OOOO
!
AHHH!>
ARI
Hey
waitaminute
. I haven’t seen cherries in the woods for a long time.
OLIVE
That’s right, Ari. My dad and I picked them last summer.
Elinor
Oh
I
remember that. There were so many cherries last summer.
OLIVE
Well my dad and I made “cherry preserves” in these jars, so we can have cherries even now that there’s no more in the woods.
MZ
. MOLE
You know, that reminds me of a special kind of ant, that can store up food when it is plentiful, and share that food later.
Elinor perks up.
ELINOR
Ants
can store up food?
MZ
. MOLE
Sure - I have a book all about that!
The kids crowd around to get a closer look as
Mz
. Mole opens up her Magic Pop-up Book.
2. EXT DRY FOREST FLOOR (BOOK) -- DAY
As we peer into
Mz
. Mole’s book, we see ants scurrying around a dry forest floor, collecting food.
MZ
. MOLE (O.C.) (CONT'D)
These are special kinds of ants, called “
Honeypot
Ants”!
ARI (O.C.)
“
Honeypot
Ants”...! That’s a funny name. They don’t look like
honeypots
.
MZ
. MOLE (O.C.)
Oh, just you wait. These
honeypot
ants collect food when it is plentiful. More food than they can eat.
ELINOR (o.c.)
“More food than they can eat..?” I wonder why...
OLIVE (O.C.)
To make preserves..?
ARI (O.C.)
To open a restaurant?
The kids laugh at the thought of an ant restaurant .
<SFX:
KIDS LAUGH>
MZ
. MOLE (O.C.)
You see, there isn’t always so much food around. So when there is a lot of food around, the ants collect the extra, and
they store it for later.
In the book, we see an ant with a bit of food in its mouth, walking toward a tiny refrigerator.
ELINOR (O.c.)
But they don’t have jars, do they..?
MZ
. MOLE (O.c.)
Good observation, Elinor! Ants do not have jars.
(In book) The refrigerator disappears in a
poof
.
<SFX:
POOF>
MZ
. MOLE (CONT’D)
So lots of ants work together and bring all the extra food to just a few, special ants.
(In book) the ant walks right by where the imaginary refrigerator was, and joins a cue leading up to our hero ant. The normal worker ants are all lined up in one direction, while hero ant faces them. The workers deliver their food to the hero one by one.
MZ
. MOLE (O.S.) (CONT’D)
These special ants collect the food from the others, and they grow... and grow.... And grow...! To store the food!
(In book) close up on hero ant’s body as she transforms from a normal looking ant and gradually swells to have the iconic
honeypot
ant shape. Her abdomen is huge and translucent, full of golden liquid food. Her little legs wiggle around, unable to move her body. She looks stuffed!
ELINOR (O.c.)
Woah
, there’s so much food in there, it looks like honey!
ARI (O.c.)
Oh, I get it! That’s why they’re called “
honeypot
ants!” Their bodies are like pots full of honey!
MZ
. MOLE (O.c.)
And what do you think happens when the ants need food later?
OLIVE (O.c.)
Oh, I have an idea! Then the big
honeypot
ant shares her food with the rest of the ants!
MZ
. MOLE (O.c.)
Well I think you’re right, Olive! There she goes, sharing her food around.
(In book) the hero ant gradually shrinks and shrinks and shrinks back to size, at which time she gives a sigh of relief and walks off on her own power.
MZ
. MOLE (CONT’D)
Thanks for sharing, little
honeypot
ant!
3. INT CLASSROOM
ELINOR
I get it; so the
honeypot
ants store food in their bodies, so they can share it later.
Olive proudly holds her jar of cherries aloft again.
OlIVE
And we jar cherries in the summer, and that’s how we can share them later.
Olive pops off the lid of the jar with her trunk with a flourish, and as she does so says..
OLIVE (CONT'D)
Let’s eat.
ELINOR WONDERS WHY
EWW
interstitial: 131
Mz
. Mole
Storytime
Ants Share Food
Robert
Kalinowski
Follows:
ep
131A
"Olive's Library"
Curriculum: the kids learn about the
Honeypot
Ant, an ant which stores up food when food is plentiful in the form of honey in their abdomens, and then shares the stored honey when food is scarce.
LS1
. Understand that in some environments, food is sometimes plentiful and sometimes scarce.
LS2
. Understand that ants live in large, communal groups called colonies, with different ants performing different functions.
LS3
. Understand that certain individuals in a
Honeypot
Ant colony store up food as honey in their bodies when food is plentiful, so that they can share it later when food is scarce.
FIRST DRAFT: Feb. 10, 2020
OLIVE
ARI
CAMILLA
MS. MOLE
ELINOR
(V.O.)
(O.S.)
(O.C.)
(CONT'D)
(SUBTITLE)
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