Hey there! I’m Toad, and I’m here to tell you a fun story using a calendar. A calendar helps us know what day it is and how much time has passed. Let’s dive into our story!
Our story begins on the first day of August, a hot summer month. A farmer and his four friends, including a pig, start picking corn. But every time the pig tries to help, he falls down with a funny “flomp!”
The farmer wonders if the pig is picking less corn than everyone else. To find out, they count the piles of corn. Each friend picked four piles, but the pig only picked one. Oh no, the pig picked less!
The farmer finds the pig asleep on a bed of hay shaped like a triangle. The pig loves triangles and flowers, but he keeps taking naps instead of helping. Peg and Cat, two of the farmer’s friends, try to get the pig to work harder by showing him books and TV shows, but nothing works.
On the first day of September, someone from the Silver Square Opera Company visits the farm. They are looking for new singers and hear the pig’s beautiful voice. The pig loves singing opera!
The opera company offers the pig lots of flowers and triangles if he joins them. The pig is excited and decides to go to the big city to become an opera star. It seems like the pig problem is solved, or is it?
As September goes by, Peg and Cat help the farmer with a new helper, a hog. They pick more corn than before, but they miss the pig’s singing and funny flops. They realize they need the pig’s cheerful presence.
Meanwhile, Cat visits a lady cat named Rosanna in Mexico City. Rosanna loves music, so Cat plans a special serenade with a mariachi band. A serenade is when you play music for someone special.
Rosanna loves heart shapes, so Cat brings her a nine-piece heart-shaped puzzle. The mariachi band arranges themselves in a heart shape, and Rosanna is delighted!
Oh no! Rosanna accidentally locks herself out of her house. Cat and the mariachi band come up with a clever plan. They arrange themselves like puzzle pieces to create steps for Rosanna to climb down safely.
Cat gives Rosanna the heart-shaped puzzle, and she is thrilled. She has never seen a nine-piece puzzle before!
And so, with teamwork and creativity, everyone solves their problems. The pig finds his place in the opera, and Cat makes Rosanna happy with music and puzzles. What a fun adventure!
Calendar Exploration: Use a calendar to track activities for a week. Each day, mark something special that happened or something you did. At the end of the week, share your calendar with the class and talk about your favorite day. This will help you understand how calendars help us keep track of time and events.
Shape Hunt: Go on a shape hunt around your home or classroom. Look for objects that are shaped like triangles, squares, and hearts, just like the pig and Rosanna love. Draw or take pictures of the shapes you find and share them with your friends. This activity will help you notice shapes in everyday life.
Sing and Share: Just like the pig loves to sing, think of your favorite song and sing it to your family or friends. Talk about why you like the song and how it makes you feel. This will help you express yourself and understand the joy of sharing music with others.
Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:
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Hey there! Toad here to tell you a story with the help of this calendar. A calendar has a page for every month of the year and a numbered space for each day of the month. It’s great for checking what day it is and how much time has passed.
The story starts on the first day of the hot month of August when the farmer starts gathering his crops with the help of four friends. We pick corn. Every time the pig tries to stomp, he falls down. If by “flomp” you mean he falls down on his bottom, then yes, we stop.
I’m beginning to think the pig is picking less corn than everybody else, but I have no way to be sure. I have a big problem, actually. Farmer, when you need to know if he’s doing his part, you can compare. Let’s count the piles of corn we picked and compare them to the pig’s pile to see who picked more.
One, two, three, four. We each picked four, but the pig just picked one. The pig picked less than the rest of us. All right, I knew it! The farmer wanted to tell the pig to work harder, but when they found him in the barn, he was fast asleep on his triangular bed of hay with his flowers and triangles. That pig just keeps falling down and taking naps, but we’re all counting on his help.
Working with the pig was a really big problem. Peg and Cat spent the rest of August trying to get the pig to work harder. They tried to inspire him with books and educational television, but nothing worked. Then, on the first day of the next month, September, they had a visitor from the Silver Square Opera Company in the big city.
“We’re always looking for new singers, and just now I heard a voice that made me tingle.” The only one who sings opera around here is the pig, but he never leaves the farm to join the opera. There are some very nice benefits to being an opera star.
“Opera stars get lots of stuff!” One, two, three, four, five flowers! Five is greater than the one he has now, said the pig, using that open-mouth shape that means greater than. The pig would have more flowers; he’d even have more triangles—one, two, three, four, five, six triangles—more than the one, two, three he has now. The pig does love triangles, but he never gets up.
Was the pig drawn to fame and fortune, or that triangle dangling from the back of the truck? You never can tell with the pig. Whatever the reason, the pig was off to the big city, so it seemed their really big pig problem was solved. Or was it?
As September passed, Peg and Cat gathered corn with the farmer’s new helper, the hog. “The 16 we picked today is more than the 13 we used to pick with the pig. More corn makes me mighty happy!” “Me too!” But Peg and Cat didn’t seem quite as happy.
His bed will be nice and neat for him when he comes back. Towards the end of September, the weather cooled down, and the leaves turned different colors. Peg and Cat kept expecting the pig to come back, but he didn’t. By the next month, October, the farmer was getting concerned.
“Are you all picking less corn than you used to?” “The 12 we picked today is less than the 16 we picked last week,” said the pig, drawing the open-mouth shape the other way, so it means less than. “It’s even less than the 13 we used to pick when the pig was here.”
“You’re picking less than you did with the pig? Well, I don’t understand. Cat and I are slowing down because we miss the pig—the way he used to sing and flop. I need my daily dose of pig!” Working without the pig was going to be a really, really big problem.
We’re in Mexico City! We’re here so that Cat can visit a lady cat named Rosanna. Rosanna is smart, clever, and funny. She’s also crazy about music, so tonight I’m going to serenade her with a song.
“You’re going to serenade her, huh?” Serenade means playing music in someone’s honor. It’s such a sweet thing to do, and for my serenade, I’m bringing a whole group of musicians with me.
“Hola! They’re called a mariachi band, and man, can they rock!” All seven are here. “Got your gift?” Rosanna really loves heart shapes, so Cat’s bringing her a nine-piece heart-shaped 3D puzzle.
“I just have to put all the pieces above, below, behind, next to, and in front of one another.” One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.
“See? I could surprise her with such beautiful music!”
“Oh, how sweet! His words are nonsense, but he speaks the language of love.”
However, there is one problem. “The shape you are all standing in… how do you say… it’s no good.”
“Then we will change it for you! Rosanna, just tell us what to do.”
“Well, the handsome bluish-purple cat should be in front, and the guitars should be next to him—no, a little in front, no, a little behind. The violin and the trumpet should be behind them on each side, and the rest should make a semicircle above them all. The girl with the little guitar should be one step in front of them.”
“There! A perfect heart formation!”
“A sweet cat sings to me, and I shall come downstairs to greet you!”
“Oh no! I have locked myself out of my house!”
“Oh no! How will she ever get down? How will we ever greet each other? I am heartbroken!”
“We are totally freaking out, Señorita! You need to chill out!”
“UNO is right! We should all count backwards from nine to calm down.”
“Eight!”
“Face Cat, you amazing, heartbreaking, and remaking genius!”
“What can I say? I’m good at puzzles.”
“That’s it! We can fit the Mariachis together like puzzle pieces to make steps all the way to the balcony!”
“What an amazing genius Cat is!”
“Okay, Mariachis, here we go! If you get on four, then we put and from, and if trust up next, cuatro, we can tie them with Uno and do… wow, math really takes my breath away!”
“And so, problem solved!”
“Oh, Rosanna! I have brought you a nine-piece heart-shaped puzzle. I have been given many heart-shaped puzzles—five pieces, six pieces—but never nine pieces!”
“I can’t believe it! I won’t believe it!”
“Then I shall prove it! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.”
“Oh, then it is perfecto, like you!”
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This version maintains the essence of the original transcript while removing any unnecessary or unclear elements.
