SUPER SENSES TEXT

SUPER SENSES

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-V

Children - Has this ever happened to you:

You were eating in the playground, an eagle flew down and took away your roti. As you walked softly past a sleeping dog, its ears shot up at once.

You dropped something sweet on the ground and within minutes many ants collected around it.

Why does it happen:

Animals also have different senses. They can see, hear, taste, smell and feel. Some animals can see their prey from far away. Some can hear even the faintest sound. 

Some animals can find their friends by their smell. The animal world is full of examples of amazing senses!

SENSE ORGANS

The sense organs are eyes, ears, tongue, skin, and nose. There are five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch.

How did the ant recognise a friend:

An ant was going along on the ground. It saw a group of ants coming from the other side. The first ant quickly came back to its hole. The ant guarding the hole recognised it and let it in.

Many years ago a scientist did many experiments like this. He found out that as the ants move, they leave a smell on the ground. The other ants follow the smell to find the way.

Now can you guess why the ants behaved like that when you blocked their path? Some male insects can recognise their females by their smell.

Have you ever been troubled by mosquitoes. Just think, how do they know where you are? Mosquitoes can find you by the smell of your

body. They also find you by the smell of the sole of your feet and the heat of your body.

I am a silk worm. I can find my female worm from many kilometres away by her smell.

Dogs mark out their own area on the road. They can make out if another

dog has come into their area by the smell of its urine or potty (latrine).

Why so:Today Rajni had to go out for some  important work. She had to leave her sixmonth old son Deepak with her sister Sushila. Sushila also has a baby of the same age. 

It was funny that both the babies did potty at the same time. She happily cleaned her daughter but when she was cleaning her sister’s son Deepak, she covered her nose with her dupatta (scarf).

Most of the birds have their eyes on either side of the head.Their eyes can focus on two different things at a time. When they look straight ahead, both their eyes focus on the same object. 

You must have seen birds moving their neck very often. Do you know why? In most of the birds, eyes are fixed and cannot move. So birds have to turn their heads to see around.

Some birds like kites, eagles, vultures can see four times as far as we can. These birds can see things from a distance of eight metres what we can see from a distance of two metres._ Now can you guess from what distance can an eagle in the sky can see a roti on the ground?

Do animals see colours:

Animals cannot see as many colours as we can. See how things in these pictures will be seen by some animals. 

It is believed that animals that are awake in the daytime can see some colours. Those animals that are awake at night can see things only in black and white colours.

Sharp ear:

In Class IV, you read that we cannot easily see birds’ ears. Their ears

are small holes covered with feathers.

Sounds send messages:

High up on a tree, a langur warns others of dangers like a tiger or leopard. The langur does this by making a special warning call. 

Birds also give alarm calls to warn about the danger. Some birds even have different sounds for different kinds of dangers.

For example, there is a different warning call if the enemy is coming from the sky or if the enemy is on the ground. When any animal gives the warning call, all the animals in that area understand the danger signal.

Some animals start behaving in a different way when an earthquake or storm is about to come. People who live in forests and can observe such behaviour of animals come to know of the danger.

In December 2004, few tribes that live in the forests of the Andaman Islands noticed the animals behaving in a different manner. They guessed some danger. So they moved away to a safer part of the island. Soon after, the islands were hit by the tsunami but these people were saved.

Dolphins also make different sounds to give messages to each other. Scientists believe that many animals have a special language of their own.

Say it with sounds:

Just like birds and dolphins you can also make your own language of sounds for giving messages. Remember you have to talk to your friends with only sounds and no words. How and when will you need to give an alarm call? For example, when the teacher is coming to the classroom!

Sleeping-waking:

Some animals go into a long, deep sleep in certain seasons. Then they are not seen for many months.

Sloth:

It looks like a bear but is not. It is a sloth. It spends almost 17 hours a day sleeping while hanging upside down on a tree branch. The sloth eats the leaves of the same tree on which it lives.

It hardly needs anything else. When it has eaten enough leaves from that tree, it moves to the nearby tree. Sloths live for about 40 years and in that time they move around only eight trees. Once a week it comes down from the tree to relieve itself.

A tiger can see six times better at night than most of us humans. The tiger’s whiskers are very sensitive and can sense the movements or vibrations in air. 

They help the tiger move in the dark and find its prey. A tiger’s sense of hearing is so sharp that it can make out the difference between the rustling of leaves and the sound of an animal moving on the grass.

The ears of the tiger can move in different directions and this helps to catch the sounds from all around. Tigers make different sounds for different purposes like when it is angry or to call out to a tigress. It can also roar or snarl. It’s roar can be heard upto 3 kilometres away.

Each tiger has its own area which may cover several kilometres. Tigers mark their area with their urine. A tiger can at once come to know if there is another tiger in its area by the smell of the urine. A tiger will avoid going into another tiger’s area.

The number of tigers and many other animals in our country is reducing. There is a danger that some of them will soon disappear. To protect the animals, our government has made some forests as protected areas. 

Some of them are the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttrakhand and ‘Ghana’ in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan. In these areas nobody can hunt animals or destroy the jungle.

THANKYOU,

NANDITHAAKUNURI

SUPER SENSES ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES - CLASS V (CHAPTER-1 CBSE) from Research Scholar

WHEN THE EARTH SHOOK! - TEXT

WHEN THE EARTH SHOOK!

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-V

A bad dream

Help! Help! Save me! Aaahhh! Ooooww… There was screaming and shouting everywhere. The ground was shaking and people were running all around.

Screaming loudly I got up. On hearing me my mother also woke up. She came running and held me tight. It was the same bad dream! It has been more than six years now since the earthquake. But in my sleep I still feel the earth shaking and trembling.

I am Jasma. I live in the Kutch area of Gujarat. I was eleven years old when there was an earthquake. It was 26 January, 2001. Everyone from the village – children and old people – had gathered in the ground of the school to watch the parade on TV. Suddenly the ground was shaking. People were scared and started running here and there. No one knew what was happening and what to do. There was total panic!

In a few minutes, our village was flat on the ground. All our things – clothes, pots, grains and food – were trapped under the stones, mud and wood from the fallen houses. At that time everyone thought of two things – to save the people who were trapped and to treat the injured.

The village hospital was also damaged. Many people were seriously injured. My leg also got fractured. The doctor treated people with the help of the villagers.

Six people of our village died. My grandfather (Nana)was also buried under the houses. My mother wept all the time. Seeing my mother, I also cried. The entire village was sad and disturbed.

House of Motabapu who is the sarpanch of our village was not much damaged. He gave rice and wheat to everyone from his godown. For many days, the village women cooked food together at Motabapu’s house and fed everyone.

Imagine, being without a house in the cold winter! Fear and the cold kept us awake in the nights. All the time we were worried that there may be another earthquake.

Help arrives

For some days after that, people from the cities kept coming to see what had happened. They came with food, medicines and clothes. Everyone used to rush to take these things. The clothes that we got were very different. We had never worn such clothes before. People from different groups from the city, helped us to put up the tents. Staying in these plastic tents in the cold winter months was very difficult.

Some of these people were scientists. They tried to find out which areas have more chances of having an earthquake. People from our village talked to them many times.

They had suggestions about building our houses again. Engineers and architects showed us some special designs for houses. They said that with this design, houses would not get damaged much in an earthquake. But our people were a little afraid.

They thought if these people build our houses, our village will not look like our old village. So, the villagers thought they would build their own houses with their help. The groups would build the village school.

We all worked together to rebuild our village. Some people dug and brought the clay from the pond. We mixed the clay with cow dung and made large cakes.

We put these on one another to make the walls. We whitewashed the walls and decorated them with beautiful designs and small pieces of mirrors. We put up the thatched roof. Now our house shines like a diamond in the dark night!

Who helped?

Read this TV report on the Bhuj earthquake.

Ahmedabad, January 26, 2001 At least a thousand people are feared dead in the earthquake that struck Gujarat this morning. Many thousands have been injured. Army jawans have been called in to help.

At least a hundred and fifty buildings have fallen in the city of Ahmedabad. In these, there are a dozen multi-storeyed buildings. By this evening, around 250 bodies have been removed from these buildings. It is feared that several thousand people may still be trapped.

Rescue efforts are on. There is perhaps no building in the city which has not developed cracks.

The situation in Bhuj is even worse. People are running around in shock and panic. Within an hour of the earthquake the fire engines had reached and started work along with the local people. Offers to help are coming from all corners of the country and abroad.

If there is no rain, crops can fail and there can be a drought. But food for people can be brought from other places so that there is no famine, which means people don’t have to stay hungry, and they don’t die of hunger.

THANKYOU,

NANDITHA AKUNURI

COMPONENTS OF FOOD-TEXT

COMPONENTS OFFOOD

ENVIRONMENTALSTUDIES

CBSE-VI

All of us want to live a healthy life.

We know that “Health is Wealth”. A healthy mind dwells only in a healthy body. Most of our food is made of these things. We get  food from plants and animals.

Depending on what grows easily at which place, different things are eaten at different places. We not only eat different things but we also use the same things to prepare a variety of food items.

Sometimes, we may not really have all this variety in our meals. If we are travelling, we may eat whatever is available on the way. It may not be possible for some of us, to eat such a variety of items, most of the time.

Let us talk about those things that we do eat. Put on the things that you eat often. rice ,wheat ,barley oats, maize millet kappa (tapioca) ragi.

WHAT DO DIFFERENT FOOD ITEMS CONTAIN?

We know that each dish is usually made up of one or more ingredients, which we get from plants or animals.

These ingredients contain some components that are needed by our body. These components are called nutrients.

The major nutrients in our food are named carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals. In addition, food contains dietary fibres and water which are also needed by our body.

What is the real purpose of eating food?

Is it only taste or in any reasons behind it?

Food helps us to grow, to give energy, to be healthy.

These  useful substances in food that provide you all these three are called  Nutrients.They are different types nutrients are present in food we can also call them components of food.

Carbohydrates  and fats gives us energy to work and play. 

Rice, wheat, sweet potato, pluses, sugar, bananas have plentsy of carbohydrates.

Proteins help us to grow and to build and repair the worn out cells in our body. Proteins helps in healing small wounds and cuts. There are called Body building food.

EXAMPLES:

Milk

Egg

Meat

Pulses

Beans

Fish

Panner 

These food items are rich in proteins.

Fats are found in oil, ghee, nuts and cheese. They us more energy than carbohydrates and also keep our body warm. Fats stored food in our body.

EXAMPLES:

Groundnuts

Coconut oil

Vegetable oil

Olive oil

Nut

Excess of fat food contains –obesity.

Who will protect our body from enemies?

Do you know a type Nutritious food that protect our body from enemies.

Vitamins and Minerals. Vitamins help in protecting our body against diseases. They also keep our eyes, bones teeth and gums healthy. Our body needs vitamin A, B, C, D.

Vitamin A keeps our skin and eyes healthy. Vitamin C helps body to fight against many diseases. Vitamin D helps our body to use calcium for bones and teeth.

Minerals are required in small amounts in our body. They are essential for proper growth of body and for maintaining good health.

Each one is essential Besides these nutrients, our body needs dietary fibres and water. Dietary fibres are also known as roughage. Roughage is mainly provided by plant products in our foods. Whole grains and pulses, potatoes, fresh fruits and vegetables are main sources of roughage.

Roughage does not provide any nutrient to our body, but is an essential component of our food and adds to its bulk. This helps our body get rid of undigested food. Plants foods contain a lot of fibre or roughage that helps to get rid of waste from the body.

Water helps our body to absorb nutrients from food. It also helps in throwing out some wastes from body as urine and sweat. 

Normally, we get most of the water that our body needs from the liquids we drink — such as water, milk and tea.

The food we normally eat in a day is our diet. For growth and maintenance of good health, our diet should have all the nutrients that our body needs, in right quantities.

Not too much of one and not too little of the other. The diet should also contain a good amount of roughage and water. Such a diet is called a balanced diet.

Pulses, groundnut, soybean, sprouted seeds (moong and Bengal gram), fermented foods.

South Indian foods such as idlis, a combination of flours (missi roti, thepla made from cereals and pulses), banana, spinach, sattu, jaggery, available vegetables and other such foods provide many nutrients. Therefore, one can eat a balanced diet without expensive food materials.

Eating the right kind of food is not enough. It should also be cooked properly so that its nutrients are not lost.

Are you aware that some nutrients get lost in the process of cooking and preparations? may result in the loss of some vitamins.

The skins of many vegetables and fruits contain vitamins and minerals. Similarly, repeated washing of rice and pulses may remove some vitamins and minerals present in them.

We all know that cooking improves the taste of food and makes it easier to digest. At the same time, cooking also results in the loss of certain nutrients. Many useful proteins and considerable amounts of minerals are lost if excess water is used during cooking and is then thrown away.

Vitamin C gets easily destroyed by heat during cooking. Would it not be sensible to include some fruits and raw vegetables in our diet?

THANKYOU,

NANDITHA