SPICY RIDDLES_(TEXT)

SPICY RIDDLES

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-IV

HOME AND ABOARD_(TEXT)

HOME AND ABOARD

AENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-IV

Today, there was a lot of activity at Maalu’s house. Chittappan and his family were coming home after five years. Chittappan had got a job in a country called Abu Dhabi five years ago.

Since then he had lived there. Maalu and her Appa went to the airport to receive them. 

After the plane landed, the passengers had to wait for some time to collect their luggage.

At last Chittappan, Kunjamma and their two children could be seen coming out. “How big Shanta and Sashi have grown,” Appa said. 

Many  suitcases and bags were fitted into the taxi and everyone was on the way to Maalu’s house. “Shanta, you must be very tired after your long journey, Appa told me that Abu Dhabi is another country, far from India,” said Maalu.

Chittappan – Father’s younger brother in Malayalam. Kunjamma – Father’s younger brother’s wife in Malayalam. “We are not tired. Even though it is far, our flight took only two hours,” said Shanta. “The plane flies very fast.” Maalu was surprised.

She remembered that when she had gone on a school trip to Chennai, they had spent almost 12 hours in the train. And on the map, Kochi and Chennai seemed quite near.

Maalu, Shanta and Sashi chatted all the way home from the airport. Maalu remembered how much fun she had on her school trips. She wanted Shanta to tell them all about her trip from Abu Dhabi.

Dust All Around!

“Did you see many interesting things from the plane?” asked Maalu.

“Most of the time we saw only clouds because the plane was flying so high, even higher than the clouds,” said Shanta.

“But before it went so high, we could see that we were flying over sandy areas. It was sand but the colour of the sand kept changing – white, brown, yellow, red, black.

We saw mountains made only of sand.”  “They are called sand dunes,” added Sashi. “I have seen sand only at the seashore,” said Maalu. “Then you should come to visit us,” said Chittappan.

“The countries around Abu Dhabi are located in a desert area. Even if one drives a little away from the city, one can see miles and miles of sand – no trees, no greenery – just sand.”

“I used to dream of the thick greenery and cool water around our home in Kerala,” said Kunjamma. “I am so happy to see all this after such a long time.”

“The children have almost forgotten how it feels when it rains. You know it almost never rains in desert areas,” said Chittappan. “Water is really very precious over there. No rain, no rivers, no lakes, no ponds.

Even below the ground there is no water.” “But,” added Sashi, “there is a lot of oil under the sandy soil. So petrol is easily available in these countries.” “In fact petrol is cheaper than water,” said Chittappan.

By this time the taxi had reached Maalu’s house. Shanta and Sashi were surprised to see so many fruit trees– coconuts, bananas, jackfruit, papaya, betelnut … so many kind of trees!

Sashi said, “We used to see only one kind of tree there – the date palms – because it is the only one that can grow in the desert. The date is the

most common fruit.”

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After they had met everyone, Kunjamma unpacked their bags. They had brought gifts for everyone.

They gave dates for everyone to eat. The dates were very sweet and tasty.

Sashi showed Maalu some notes and coins. Shanta explained that the money they used in Abu Dhabi was different and was called Dirham.

It had some writings in their local language – Arabic. They also showed many photographs of the place where they lived. Chitappan gave Maalu a globe. He said, “Maalu, why don’t you locate Abu Dhabi on this? Locate Kerala also.”

The children enjoyed playing with the globe and looking for different places on the globe. Maalu found Chennai and Kochi also. 

In the evening everyone sat in the verandah, enjoying the breeze and looking at the photographs.

They saw that in Abu Dhabi the buildings were tall with many storeys and big glass windows. Maalu said, “You must be getting nice cool breeze

through the big windows.” Chittappan said, “We cannot open the windows because of the heat. It is air-conditioned inside where everyone stays.

As the weather is very hot, people wear loose cotton clothes and keep themselves fully covered – even the head is covered. This protects them from the strong

sun.”

Maalu enjoyed looking at the pictures and finding out about the other country from her cousins. She constantly kept comparing her city with the things that they described about Abu Dhabi. She decided that she would make a project report about Abu Dhabi for her class.

THANKYOU,

NANDITHA

POCHAMPALLI_(TEXT)

POCHAMPALLI

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-IV

Vani and Prasad live in a village called Mukhtapur. Their home is always filled with bundles of bright coloured threads. Their mother and father and everyone else in the family, are weavers.

The weaving that they do is very beautiful and special. Mukhtapur village is in the Pochampallidistrict of Andhra Pradesh. Most of the families in this district are weavers.

Process of making pochampalli sarees. That is why the special cloth that they weave is called Pochampalli. 

The villagers have been doing this work since a long time. Vani and Prasad’s parents learnt weaving from their elders.

Now Vani and Prasad also help their parents after coming back from school. This weaving requires hard work, and many different things have to be done before actually weaving. From thread to Cloth From thread to Cloth.

Father brings bundles of thread from Pochampalli city. Mother then puts these threads in boiling water to wash away the dirt and stains.

Then everybody works to dye the thread with bright colours. These threads are then dried and rolled into bundles. These bundles are put onto looms and the cloth is woven.

Silk cloth and silk sarees are woven from the silk thread. Cotton thread is used to weave cotton sarees, cloth, sheets etc.

The loom has many needles. The size and number of the needles changes according to the design.

The weavers weave the beautiful Pochampalli sarees in bright colours. Through their traditional craft they have made their region world famous.

Great skill is needed to weave such special sarees. It also takes many days of hard labour.

After all this, it is difficult to get a good price for these sarees. Silk is becoming expensive day-by-day.

Big shopkeepers give very little money for the sarees, though they themselves sell them at very high price. That is why many weavers are giving up their family craft.

Many are leaving their villages to work as labourers in big cities. We need to solve this problem by helping them get a better price. Otherwise, this precious craft will be lost forever.

There are many For the teacher: places like Pochampalli in India that are famous for making special things.

These things have become famous by the name of the place where they are made, like – Kullu shawls, Madhubani paintings, Assam silk, Kashmiri embroidery etc.

THANKYOU,

NANDITHA

THE WORLD IS IN MY HOME-(TEXT)

THE WORLD IS IN MY HOME

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-IV

Once again, everybody in Marietta’s family is quarrelling over watching the TV – just like they do every day! Marietta’s brother wants to watch a cricket match while little

Susan is eager to watch her favourite programme of song’s. Mummy and Aunty are good friends but their favourite TV programmes are different.

Mummy likes to watch the news while Aunty enjoys a TV serial. Marietta wants to watch cartoons and Daddy enjoys the football match. 

He says that he can watch TV only in the evening. Finally, everyone had to watch the football match.

Why the Difference? Why the Difference?

It is 7 o’clock in the evening. Pratibha is hurrying home from her friend’s house. Her brothers Sandeep and Sanjay are busy playing round the corner with their friends.

They are in no hurry to go home. Even if they are late, nobody will scold them. Pratibha thinks that this is not fair. Why should there be one rule for her and another for her brothers? But what can she do?

Pilloo Aunty

One day, Pilloo Aunty took Phali and Nazu and their friends to the beach. What a good time they had! They played in sand and water, and then went for a ride on the Giant wheel.

After that they ate bhelpuri and bought balloons. Then everybody enjoyed some icy cold kulfi. When the kulfi-seller asked for money, he made a mistake. He charged for five kulfis instead of seven.

The children thought, “Hurrah! We have saved money.” But Pilloo Aunty paid the money for seven kulfis to the kulfiseller.

What Should I Do? What Should I Do?

Akshay loves his grandmother very much. She loves him dearly too. She talks to him about many interesting things. Anil is Akshay’s friend. His grandmother likes Anil too, but one thing that she tells Akshay again and again is that he should never eat or drink anything at Anil’s house – not even a glass of water! “They are very different from our family,” she says.

One day there was a volleyball match in the big ground near Anil’s house. It was a hot day and everybody was tired and thirsty after the match. Anil invited everybody home.

Anil’s mother gave water to all of them, and they drank it. When Anil handed Akshay a glass of water, he suddenly remembered his grandmother’s warning. Akshay stared at Anil, not knowing what to do.

Who will Decide? Who will Decide?

Dhondu comes from a very large family. His elder uncle looks after the family – their fields, money matters, etc. He decides about all the small and big things for the family.

Dhondu has always worked in the fields. But now, he wants to do something different. He would like to borrow some money from a bank and buy a chakki machine to grind grain.

There is no such machine in their village. Dhondu is confident that this new work will help him earn more money for his family. Father has agreed to let him try the new work. But his elder uncle is not agreeing to this.

These examples reflect some situations that we face in our daily life. These often affect us in different ways.

I Don’t Like It! I Don’t Like It! Meena and Ritu were going home after playing hopscotch. 

“Come on, come to my house,” pleaded Meena, pulling Ritu by the hand.

“Is your Uncle at home? If he is, I will not come,” Ritu answered. “But why do you say that? Uncle likes you. He was saying – bring your friend Ritu home and I will give both of you lots of chocolate.”

Ritu pulled her hand away from Meena saying, “I am scared of your Uncle. I do not like it when he even touches my hand.” Saying this, Ritu went home.

Some children may have similar experiences as Ritu did. It will help to build their confidence and feeling of support, if children can discuss this in class.

In case you feel the need, you could talk individually with some of the children. If there is a counsellor in the school, you could take their help.You may be very careful and sensitive to deal with children if they wish to share problems related to drug addiction of their family members. The harmful effects of drugs/ narcotics may be discussed in the class. Such issues should also be discussed in the inservice training programmes.

It may be possible that children from such families (Drug addicted members) may fall victim to such habits/practices. A timely action needs to be taken to prevent them. On this theme, charts and posters can be prepared by the children with the support of teachers and discuss in the class.

THANK YOU,

NANDITHA