The Big Banyan Tree

I am Aditya. I like summer vacations a lot. I visit my village where my grandparents live. I enjoy the evening walks with my grandma the most. She tells me a lot about life in the village. There are a lot of trees in the village like the peepal, neem, , tamarind, and banyan. My favourite has always been the Big Banyan Tree by the river. My friends in the village and I sit under the Big Banyan Tree and grandma tells us many interesting stories. The tree is home to many animals and birds. We often find squirrels running up and down, sparrows chirping, cuckoos cooing and crows cawing. Monkeys love to swing and jump from one branch to the other. At times we have fun feeding them peanuts.

Grandma tells us that the banyan tree is different from the other trees. It is very large and has lots and lots of leaves. It has many thick branches that hang down like trunks, with roots at the end. These roots are known as hanging roots. They go deep into the ground and give support to the branches. The tree needs a wide open area to grow. We were surprised to know that this Big Banyan Tree is more than five hundred years old.

The villagers have community gatherings around the banyan tree. They discuss the various problems in the village and try to find solutions. Sometimes they sit, relax and chat under the shade and enjoy the cool breeze.

Trees are our friends. They provide us with fresh air to breathe and many useful things. We should protect them and not cut them or harm them.

Word Meanings provide – to make available gathering – a meeting when many people come together as a group protect – to care for

solutions – answers to problems

Reading A. Tick ( ) the correct word to complete the sentences.

a. Banyan trees grow in ______. (a) wide open areas (b) small gardens (c) homes

b. Banyan tree is ______. (a) home to animals (b) home to human beings (c) home to fishes

c. Squirrels ______the banyan tree. (a) jump and shout (b) dance and sing (c) run up and down

d. We should ______. (a) cut and harm the trees (b) protect the trees and not cut them (c) pull and break the trees

B. Answer the following questions a. Is the banyan tree useful to all the living things? How do you know?

______. b. What do the villagers discuss under the banyan tree?

______. c. How is the banyan tree different from other trees? Give any two reasons.

______. d. Name these animals which live on the banyan tree.

______

Did you know? The word ‘Trunk’ is used in different ways

The long nose The thick stem of a of an elephant is called a tree is called a trunk trunk

A box in which Swimming we store costume that boys wear is valuables and called a trunk other things is called a trunk Vocabulary Words that describe the banyan tree

A. Pick out the words from the lesson that describe the banyan tree. ______.

______.

B. Here is a list of a few friends of the banyan tree. Write (A) for animals, (B) for birds and (P) for people in the boxes provided.

sparrow monkey crow villagers squirrels cuckoos children

Grammar Naming words A. Read the lesson. Identify and write a few naming words. ______

______

Aditya, children, birds, monkey, village and river are people, animals and places in the lesson. Trees, leaves, peanuts are things mentioned in the lesson. Names of people, animals, places or things are called naming words.

B. Write the names of any three things you find in these places playground hospital forest classroom bedroom supermarket airport

Common Nouns Naming words that are common names of a person, place, animal or a thing are called common nouns. Example:

camel cow parrot sun flower petrol bunk

school woman man boy girl museum Proper Nouns Naming words that identify a person, place, animal or a thing are called proper nouns. Example: Vijay, Mona, Angela, Salarjung Museum, Goa, Delhi, Taj Mahal……..

Kung Fu Panda Tajmahal Salarjung Museum M S Dhoni  We do not use capital letters for common nouns unless the sentence begins with that word.  Proper nouns begin with capital letters.

Delhi

Look at the picture and read the conversation between the boy and the girl

Let‟s recall the days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday Proper Nouns Common Nouns Day is a common name or a common noun while Thursday and Friday are special names or proper nouns. They always begin with a capital letter. Some other days are special too. Examples: Sports Day, Friendship Day, Independence Day, Teachers‟ Day and Republic Day

Activity: Teacher’s note: Ask children to tell the names of the days of the week. Ask them to identify the days that are normally holidays for them at school. (Saturday and Sunday) Apart from the normal holidays, they also get holidays on special days. Encourage them to think of some of the special days when they have holidays.

C. Now ask them to write the names of these special days S. No. Special Days a. b. c. d. e.

D. Read the passage and underline all the proper nouns in red and common nouns in blue. Sonia and Raghu went to the park and saw their friends playing there. Reena and Preeti were swinging on the swings. Manas was playing with a football. Roy and Param were on the see-saw. Meeta was flying a kite. Vijay was reading a book under a tree. Karthik was in the sandpit. They also saw a few birds flying.

Now write the proper nouns and the common nouns in the correct columns.

E. Rearrange these groups of words to make complete sentences. Then circle the special names or proper nouns. a. house very is Reena‟s big.

______. b. are for going we a to Paris vacation.

______. c. my is name sister‟s Shruti.

______. d. I story „Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs‟ like the.

______. e. this not holiday is Saturday a.

______. f. is Golconda Fort Hyderabad in.

______. g. is of the capital New Delhi.

______. h. my is a Ridhi friend dancer.

______. i. is tall a Manas boy.

______. j. an Preeti artist is.

______. Countable and Uncountable Nouns Look at these pictures. What do we see? We see four trees, three ducks, six books, two ants and five balloons.

four trees three ducks six books two ants five balloons Trees, ducks, books, ants and balloons are countable nouns, because they can be counted.

Now look at the pictures given below. What do we see? We see a glass and three bottles of water; a glass, a can and two bottles of ; a bowl and three sacks of rice; three packets and a spoon full of sugar.

a glass of water three bottles of water a glass of milk two bottles of milk a can of milk

a bowl of rice three sacks of rice three packets of sugar a spoonful of sugar Can we say, “How many did you drink in the morning?” No. We say, “How many glasses of milk did you drink in the morning?” One glass. Similarly, we cannot say, two waters, five milks, three sugars or three rices. Water, milk, rice and sugar are uncountable nouns, because they cannot be counted. Uncountable nouns do not have plural form.

Activity We can count animals, birds, insects, leaves, trees, temples, villages and people.  How many animals are mentioned in the lesson? Monkey and squirrel – two animals  How many boys are there in the lesson? One boy – Aditya  How many birds are there in the lesson? Three birds – sparrows, cuckoos and crows  How many trees are there in the lesson? Six trees – peepal, neem, mango, tamarind, coconut and banyan We have given a number to these things. Similarly, we can say, two bottles of water, five cans of milk, three packets of sugar and four bags of rice.

F. Write C for the countable and U for the uncountable nouns in the boxes given below.

G. Mark the following sentences as right ( ) or wrong (x)

a. I add two spoons of Bournvita to milk. b. Rohit has five roses. c. She gave three waters to the man. d. We buy one sugar from the store. e. My mom has lot of works pending.

Writing A. Describe your school playground. Use the words given in the help box.

slides swings sandpit jungle-gym water

playground play friends flowering

I am ______. I go to ______School. There is a big ______in my school. I go there to ______with my ______. There are many things in the ______like the ______, ______, ______and ______. I enjoy playing on / in the______the most. In one corner of the playground, there are lots of ______plants. At times, I ______these . B. Look at the picture and identify the different things that you see. Write the letters and complete the crossword puzzle football girls birds boys swings slide sandpit flowers grass clouds seesaw

b f o o t b a l l

y i g r a s s r e d

e s w i n g s f s i l

a r o c w l w l

s l i d e o r u

s a n d p i t

s Speaking Visit a garden and describe what you see there. Hello friends! Last weekend, I went to a ______I saw ……………………………………………………………………………… Listening Note to teacher: Read out a newspaper clipping slowly. Ask children to listen carefully and list out the naming words – common, proper, countable and uncountable nouns and in the columns given. Common Nouns Proper Nouns Countable Nouns Uncountable Nouns

Weekend Worksheet

A. Fill in the missing letters to complete the words

s__a__r__w b__ __y __ n s__u__ __r__ __s ch__ __d__ __n

c__ __m__n__t__ c__c__ __o v __l l __ __e__s m__ n __e__

B. Circle and write the correct words in the blanks given

a. My friends and I like to sit under the ______. (a) Rose (b) Banyan tree (c) Tomato plant (d) Coconut tree

b. Monkeys love to ______. (a) eat and sleep (b) swing and jump (c) run and play (d) sing and dance

c. Trees provide us with ______. (a) fresh air to breathe (b) beds to sleep (c) eggs to eat (d) milk to drink

d. A banyan tree lives for more than ______years. (a) two hundred (b) five hundred (c) one hundred (d) seven hundred

C. Some common nouns and proper nouns are mixed up in the basket. Help Sonia and Raghu to separate them into the two boxes given

Look at the two pictures carefully. Spot at least eight differences out of the ten differences