CBSE Class 4 EVS Syllabus

CBSE Class 4 EVS Syllabus

Class 4 is a very important stage in their academic life and Environmental Studies is a significant subject for the students. The Central Board of Secondary Education publishes the syllabus for each subject at the beginning of every academic year. Environmental Studies play a crucial role in teaching young students to understand the fundamentals of the environmental, moral, and scientific aspects of life and everything around us. The CBSE Class 4 EVS Syllabus provides information on which chapters the students have to study for their examination. Every school under the CBSE board strictly follows the syllabus to give their students proper education on the subject.

CBSE Class 4 Syllabus for Other Subjects

CBSE Class 4 Syllabus

  • CBSE Class 4 Evs Syllabus

EVS Class 4 Syllabus for CBSE Students

Environmental Studies can be a high-scoring subject for CBSE Class 4 students. To achieve their desired scores in the examination, students must know which chapters should be focused more. Only the Class 4 EVS syllabus CBSE can offer the information on which chapters to cover for the examination in detail. The syllabus for Class 4 Environmental Studies is specially designed by qualified academic units appointed by the CBSE. They take every aspect of the subjects into consideration and decide which topics are ideal for the Class 4 students.

The curriculum for Environmental Studies for CBSE Class 4 is extremely vast and there are a lot of chapters included in it. A total of 27 chapters are covered in the CBSE Class 4 EVS syllabus. The chapters are selected in a way that helps the students improve their knowledge of the environment and its importance in life. They are based on different aspects of environmental studies. The students must follow the NCERT books prescribed for Environmental Studies thoroughly to improve their understanding of the subject and obtain higher marks with ease.

CBSE Class 4 EVS Syllabus for 2023-24 Examination

The CBSE board aims to let the young students of Class 4 understand the basic concept of Environmental Studies so they can be prepared for the advanced topics in the higher classes. The students must get their hands on the CBSE Class 4 EVS syllabus 2023 as soon as possible and prepare a proper study plan for themselves. Forming a study plan will enable them to go through each subject in detail without any rush. It will allow them to get a full understanding of all the chapters in the CBSE syllabus for Class 4 Environmental Studies and perform better in the examination.

The students of Class 4 under the CBSE board can easily obtain their Environmental Studies syllabus through our website. The CBSE Class 4 EVS syllabus pdf is available for download free of cost on our website. The complete syllabus for CBSE Class 4 Environmental Studies can be downloaded with just one click. We also provide CBSE revision notes and a set of CBSE important question for Class 4 Environmental Studies for the students so they can prepare better for their examination.

Importance of EVS Syllabus for Class 4

Environmental Studies for CBSE Class 4 is a vital subject for the psychological and moral growth of the students. The Central Board of Secondary Education has created a perfect syllabus for the subject that is highly appropriate for the young minds of the students. It offers the students a sense of awareness of the world around them. The Environmental Studies syllabus is formed in a way that teaches the students about the right moral values, environment, and science from the primary level.

It is very important to know about the environment from a young age. Here are some of the most significant reasons why Environmental Studies are included in the Class 4 CBSE syllabus:

  • The subject offers the students great exposure to the world around us.
  • Studying the subject helps the students understand the current problems that are hampering the environment.
  • They are also taught how to fight these issues and the small steps that they can take from an early age to maintain sustainability on the planet.
  • Environmental Studies form an awareness of the environment and sustainability among the children who are the building blocks of society.

Class 4 CBSE EVS Syllabus

Understanding the syllabus for CBSE Class 4 Environment Studies is extremely important for students to perform well in their final examinations. Here is the complete syllabus for Class 4 Environmental Studies:

The students of Class 4 have to study hard and follow the books prescribed for them by the NCERT. They must go through the CBSE past years’ question papers to understand which chapters are more important for the examination. They can also solve the CBSE sample papers for Class 4 Environmental Studies available on our website to improve their time management and get familiar with the exam and question pattern.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CLASSES III TO V

Introduction: Teaching of Environmental Studies

The National Curriculum Committee had recommended in the 1975 policy document “The Curriculum for the Ten-year School: A Framework”, that a single subject ‘Environmental Studies’ be taught at the primary stage. It had proposed that in the first two years (Class I-II) Environmental Studies will look at both the natural and the social environment, while in Classes III-V there would be separate portions for social studies and general science termed as EVS Part I and Part

  1. The National Policy on Education 1986 and the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 1988 also posited the same approach for the teaching of Environmental Studies at the primary Contemporary research on how children learn to make sense of the world around them and how pedagogy in primary school can enable them to develop scientific abilities and understanding in consonance with social and environmental concerns has further supported this integrated structure. The NCF 2000 had recommended that Environmental Studies be taught as an integrated course for the entire primary stage, instead of in two distinct parts devoted to science and social studies in Classes III-V. The present NCF 2005 has called for the continuation and further strengthening of this integrated approach for Environmental Studies during the primary years.

NCF 2005 and Objectives of Environmental Studies

  • The present syllabus is designed to forge an integrated perspective for the primary stage of schooling that draws upon insights from Sciences, Social Sciences and Environmental Education. The National Curriculum Framework 2005 indicates some of the objectives of teaching science and Social Sciences at the primary stage as follows:
  • to train children to locate and comprehend relationships between the natural, social and cultural environment;
  • to develop an understanding based on observation and illustration, drawn from lived experiences and physical, biological, social and cultural aspects of life, rather than abstractions;
  • to create cognitive capacity and resourcefulness to make the child curious about social phenomena, starting with the family and moving on to wider spaces;
  • to nurture the curiosity and creativity of the child particularly in relation to the natural environment (including artifacts and people);
  • to develop an awareness about environmental issues;
  • to engage the child in exploratory and hands-on activities to acquire basic cognitive and psychomotor skills through observation, classification, inference, ;
  • to emphasise design and fabrication, estimation and measurement as a prelude to the development of technological and quantitative skills at later stages;
  • to be able to critically address gender concerns and issues of marginalisation and oppression with values of equality and justice, and respect for human dignity and

Integrating ‘Subjects’ or Forging a New Understanding?

What do we understand by General Science and Social Sciences? When we think of these ‘subjects’ in school we clearly have in mind some body of knowledge and also typical ways of acquiring that knowledge that we associate with each of them. These school subjects have evolved through their own complicated histories and are today quite different from the way sciences or social sciences are practiced in the real world of specialized disciplines, such as physics, zoology, chemistry, molecular biology, history, sociology, geography, economics, political science, etc. So what happens when groups of specialists sit down to discuss what should be taught at the primary level? They naturally tend to think of ‘topics’ that have traditionally served as the bases of their own different disciplines. Thus biologists (if we can use that term to somehow bring together botanists and zoologists!) would naturally propose a study of plants, animals or the human body, whereas physicists would think of sound, light, force and work, while chemists would propose studying forms of matter, properties of substances, etc. Add to this the different disciplines under the rubric of Social Sciences and we soon end up with a confounding platter of topics, which are not necessarily ‘integratable’, and are neither close to the way the child relates to her world.

Most primary school curricula working on an integrated approach therefore do not proceed with lists of ‘topics’ from different ‘subjects’ but instead propose ‘themes’ that allow for a connected and inter-related understanding to develop. This requires moving beyond traditional boundaries of disciplines and looking at priorities in a shared way. This approach has been followed for the present syllabus. Several themes were discussed to see what possibilities each of them offers, to bring together insights from different disciplines, in an interconnected manner that is basically child centered. For each theme a web of possible connections was drawn up, of concepts and skills, to explore how that may be developed over the primary years. Specialists from several different disciplines of sciences, social sciences, pedagogy, gender studies, child development, curriculum studies, etc. discussed the possibilities of the proposed themes, pointed out the gaps, and debated on the priorities for a child centered approach. It is clear that there is no single format that can offer a uniquely satisfactory elaboration of ideas for primary school and this syllabus too makes no such claim.

This is not a prescriptive but instead a suggestive format, which indicates the key themes and sub–themes along with their possible connections. It consciously begins with key questions rather than key concepts, which can trigger the child’s thinking in new directions and provide scaffolding to her learning process. This format is meant to help textbook writers, teachers and parents to appreciate the immense possibilities and the depth of children’s understanding. It also indicates how adults can stimulate and actively support children’s learning, rather than restrict or throttle it, as often happens when children are forced to memorise information they just cannot understand.

Themes for a Child Centered and Integrated Approach

This syllabus web has been developed within a child centered perspective of themes that provide a common interface of issues in social studies, sciences and environmental education. The syllabus for Classes III-V is woven around six common themes given below; the predominant theme on ‘Family and Friends’ encompasses four sub-themes:

  1. Family and Friends:
    • Relationships;
    • Work and Play;
    • Animals;
    • Plants
  1. Food;
  2. Shelter;
  3. Water;
  4. Travel;
  5. Things We Make and Do

The syllabus web moves outward over the three years; it gradually extends the child’s understanding of her world, beginning from the immediate ‘self ’ to include her family, the neighbourhood, the locality and also the country. Thus by the time the child reaches Class V, she is able to see her ‘self ’ in the larger context – as part of a community, the country and also, more tacitly, as located in this world. Indeed, in some flights of fancy the syllabus even goads the young child to ride on a spacecraft and leap beyond the earth, into outer space, that may yet not be comprehensible but is certainly fascinating for her.

Thus, for instance, the theme on ‘Food’ begins in Class III with ‘cooking’, ‘eating in the family’, about what we eat and what others eat, what animals eat, etc. It then moves on in Class IV to how food is grown, what different plants they may have seen, how food reaches us, etc. In Class V children discuss who grows it, the hardships farmers may face, while staying grounded to the reality of our own pangs of hunger or the plight of people who do not get food. In addition, ‘when food gets spoilt’ explores spoilage and preservation of food, while changes in food habits and the crops grown are analysed through the experiences of elders/grandparents. Finally ‘our mouth – tastes and even digests food’ sees how the saliva makes food taste sweet on chewing, while ‘food for plants?’ also introduces the idea of some curious insect eating plants.

The theme on ‘Travel’ was developed to help the child on this journey of ideas, of expanding social and physical spaces, into newer and unfamiliar terrains of often mind-boggling and no less fascinating diversity. In Class III the theme encourages children to look at their own journeys, if any, and to see how older people in their family may have traveled in earlier times, as they also hear of accounts of how people travel today in a desert, through forests, in the hills, or in big cities. Moreover, it also suggests a story as a ‘resource’, to bring into the classroom the experiences of a child of a migrating family and the problems she faces in the process of her schooling. Such narratives suggested as ‘resources’ are meant to provide creative opportunities of bringing in experiences of other children/people, who may be very different, but whom children can relate

  1. This can be done through stories, posters, plays, films, and other media. In Class V the theme ‘Travel’ takes children through the ‘rough and tough’ terrain of the Himalayas with, perhaps, the story of Bachhendri Pal, who hoists the national flag after a trying expedition, while they can also be encouraged to design a flag for their own school.

This theme also takes them on a ‘ride on a spacecraft’ into space, from where for the first time they see the aerial view of the earth, and being no less than a Rakesh Sharma or a Kalpana Chawla, each child is asked to give an interview to the Prime Minister of India about what they see from there!. The exercise of looking at aerial views is developed through different views of school, where different perspectives get introduced. It is linked to the concept of mapping, which they begin in Class III through a basic two-dimensional representation of their classroom, and by the time they reach Class V they can read and draw simple aerial views of their locality or city.

‘Plants’ and ‘Animals’ as Part of the Theme ‘Family and Friends’

‘Plants’ and ‘Animals’ have consciously been included under the theme of ‘Family and Friends’ to highlight how humans share a close relationship with them and to also provide a holistic and integrated scientific and social perspective of studying them. Traditionally ‘plants’ or animals’ are presented as autonomous categories, seen purely from the perspective of science. Here an attempt is made to locate them in a social and cultural context, and also to see how the lives and livelihoods of some communities, such as the gujjars, musahars or ‘pattal’-makers, are closely connected with specific animals or plants. Moreover, in the universe of young children narratives of animals and plants play a significant role, and they can relate well even to the animated characters perceived as ‘family and friends’.

It is a challenge to transcend conventional boundaries of scientific disciplines to try and relook at the notions of, say, ‘plants’, ‘animals’, ‘food’, or ‘our body’ from a child’s perspective. In fact, some scientific categories are seen to be too formal and counter-intuitive, and perhaps even ‘reductionist’, for the child to understand. Conventionally biologists divide living things broadly into two categories ‘plants’ and ‘animals’. The idea of ‘plants’ is considered simple enough to be presented in primary school along with ‘parts of a plant’, ‘functions of the parts of the plant’, etc. But why should this way of looking at a plant be considered more ‘natural’ or even desirable for a child? In fact, extensive research across the world has shown that young children find it too abstract to make a distinction between living and non-living, or to divide the living world between plants and animals. Despite considerable exposure to science teaching in several countries, children as old as 13-15 years have consistently believed that a tree is different from a plant, contradicting the conventional categories of biologists’. Children also systematically differentiate between plants and vegetables (‘a carrot and cabbage are not plants’), or even between plants and weeds (‘grass is not a plant’). Moreover, a majority of children do not naturally think of seeds as parts of a plant. This has led some primary school curricula to postpone these conventional categories and first allow space to children to explore their own intuitive ideas, in order to achieve a better understanding later of how science tends to classify them differently.

Taking cognisance of the way children think ‘plants’ are first introduced through the theme on ‘Food’ – through what plants children eat, and also through the idea that we may eat the leaves, or the stem, or seeds of different plants. In fact, this comes after a discussion on questions related to ‘Which of the following is food? – red ants, birds’ nest, goats’ milk, etc. This is to sensitise them to the idea that what some of us take to be ‘food’ may not be so for others; that food is a deeply cultural notion. As discussed above, to allow for a more connected approach ‘plants’ is a sub-theme under the umbrella of ‘Family and Friends’. Thus in Class III children look at the different ‘plants around us’, at possible changes over time from when their parents were young, and also what things around them are made of plants. They are expected to talk to their parents and other elders around them, so that these discussions can act as scaffolding to their learning. This is also indicated in the activity column of the syllabus. Children in Class III also observe the shapes, colours, aroma, etc to see the diversity of ‘leaves in our lives’, to talk of how plant leaves may be used to eat on, the times of the year when lots of leaves fall to the ground, which may be used to make compost, and also paint different leaf motifs they see on their pots, animals, clothes, walls, etc. In Class IV they look at ‘flowers’ and flower sellers, and discuss ‘whom trees belong to?’ while in Class V they move on to ‘forests and forest people’, the notion of parks or sanctuaries, and also ‘plants that have come from far’. In this way they are enabled to construct a more holistically connected understanding, from a scientific, social, cultural and environmental perspective, that is enriched with an aesthetic and caring appreciation of plants around them.

Our Bodies, Ourselves: ‘Family and Friends’ offer Sensitivity and Sensibility Similar to the case of ‘plants’ discussed above, traditionally ‘our body’ is also treated in a purely scientific and socially distanced manner, with units such as ‘our senses’, ‘parts/organs of the body’ and ‘respiration’, ‘digestion’, etc. However, the theme ‘Family and Friends’, specially through its two sub-themes 1.1 Relationships and 1.2 Work and Play, allows children to look at their own body as part of their ‘self ’ in a more contextual and connected manner. In Class III in the sub-theme on Relationships, they discuss their relatives, who live with them and those who have moved away, to get a basic idea of relationships and changing households. They reflect on whom they admire among their relatives and for what qualities or skills, and describe on which occasions or festivals they meet most of them. The unit ‘our bodies – old and young’ helps them place their own body in relation to those of their family members, and asks them to notice differences that may occur with age. More significantly, the rubric of the family provides a sense of intimacy and empathy, to help develop sensitivity towards people having different abilities/disabilities. For instance, they look at how some of their older family members may have difficulty in hearing or seeing, and then go on to discuss how they themselves or their friends may cope with such challenges.

In Class IV, the same sub-theme ‘Relationships’ has a unit on ‘your mother as a child’ to make children find out about who were her relatives with whom she lived then. They also think about their body in relation to their mother’s; how a baby rat or kitten is related to its mother, and through a possible narrative, about children who may have been adopted/looked after by foster parents, say, after a cyclone. By ‘Feeling around with eyes shut’ they explore their senses of touch, smell, etc. – not in isolation of the people or animals they care for – but by trying to identify all those living with them only by touching, hearing or smelling them. They continue the exploration of feeling what is smooth/rough, hot/cold, wet/dry, sticky/slippery, etc. and are asked to think if there are some things (or people) they are not allowed to touch. This unit also attempts to make them sensitive to the fact that while touch can mean both a caress and a painful slap, the caress too can be a ‘good’ touch or a ‘bad’ touch.

In Class V, the unit ‘Whom do I look like?’ helps them identify family resemblances, to look for any similarities in the face, voice, height, etc., and also to note particular traits such as ‘who laughs the loudest?’. It goes on to how by ‘feeling to read’ on a Braille sheet, someone like Helen Keller could manage to overcome tremendous challenges, as described through accounts of her autobiography.

‘Family and Friends’ has another sub-theme 1.2 Work and Play’ through which they explore different patterns of activity when people are working and ‘not-working’ in their family and neighbourhood. This helps them to sensitively look at stereotyped gender roles, and to compare their own daily routine with that of a working child. It also allows them to analyse the games they play, to see how traditional games or toys have changed since the time their grandparents were young. In Class V this sub-theme looks at ‘team games – your heroes’ and also martial arts or wrestlers and how they are trained. An exploration of our bodies and the process of respiration naturally falls into this context, and in ‘blow hot blow cold’ they compare how much faster they breathe after a run. They also see how much they can expand their chest, how they blow on a glass to make it cloudy, and blow to warm their cold hands and also to cool something hot. As suggested this unit could make use of the beautiful story by Dr. Zakir Hussain, “Usee Se Thanda Usee Se Garam’ as a resource. The unit ‘clean work, dirty work’ sensitizes them to the dignity of labour and how different people’s work provides essential services to society, possibly through a narrative/story based on Gandhi’s work.

Things we Make and Do

The area of Things we Make and Do is visualised as an important component as well as a common thread inherent in the process of understanding all the other themes. We humans make things not only to meet our needs but also to express ourselves in a variety of ways and to transcend our limitations. We also comprehend better when we do things ourselves. Often when a young child gets a toy for a gift, she has fun dismantling and later re-assembling it in a completely novel way as much as enjoying it as it is. When she is given a new book she is eager to add ‘her pictures’ into it as much as appreciating the book. Formal education as well as all that goes into ‘being a good child’ however discourages these acts. The theme of Things we Make and Do therefore is an opportunity to recharge the variety of energies/components that make learning more fulfilling, and where cognition is not an end but a process enriched by experience, failure, observation, success, etc. There is also a need to give our rich living traditions of art and craft, of ‘making and doing things’, their rightful place in our curricula.

Another aspect related with this theme is to understand the significance of design and technology in relation to science and society. Technology is not merely applied science; it has an independent existence and in many cases predates  developments in science. Moreover, most of the things we make and do also depend on raw materials and interventions that impact the earth and life on earth.

This theme will also help address the issue of dignity of physical labour. A young child loves sweeping, wanting to help the mother in the household chores, loves fiddling with any electrical appliance within her reach. However, she soon begins to ascribe value to these things that she once enjoyed doing. Sweeping becomes dirty, and to be done by servants or women in the house, fiddling with implements becomes an area reserved for men and boys. In short work becomes a way to segregate people, to judge them, to ascribe it to a particular gender, class or caste. Mahatma Gandhi’s vision and plan of ‘Basic Education’ had the potential to overcome these fractures. The present syllabus takes a small step in that direction, while encompassing contemporary concerns relating to environmental education, social relations with a vision for sustainable development and appropriate technologies

It needs to be emphasised that the syllabus has consciously included key questions that openly address issues of inequality or difference and encourage children to think critically. Whether it is about social discrimination in school or in getting water, about physically challenged people, or working children, all these issues are part of the reality of children, especially those who are disadvantaged and therefore more vulnerable to be pushed out of school. The objectives clearly stress the need to enable children to articulate and critically reflect on these lived experiences, however unpleasant, and not promote a culture of evasion or silence in school. This calls for a specially sensitive approach in textbooks as well as in the teaching learning process in classrooms, and teachers will need to review how they can do justice to these questions.

Scaffolding Children’s Learning: The Question Format of the Syllabus

Since the 1970s the philosophy of primary education in different countries, including ours, has been influenced by the Chinese saying “I do, I understand”. This lays emphasis on the principle of ‘learning by doing’, which suggests that learners actively construct their understanding while directly interacting with their environment. However, this model of learning looks at each learner as a solitary individual – it is the “I’ who is trying to understand, struggling to develop each concept. This approach is associated with the ‘cognitive constructivist psychology’ of Piaget, and implies that teachers can only provide a stimulating environment for children to develop. This also suggests that children need to be nurtured individually like delicate plants, as they develop naturally through successive stages of intellectual development. However, in the last few decades it has been increasingly seen that children do not learn alone, through interaction with the environment, but learn more through talking and discussing with other people, both adults and other children. This psychological approach known as ‘social constructivism’ has been influenced by the work of Vygotsky and Bruner, who showed that adult support is crucial to children’s thinking. With an appropriate question or suggestion the child’s understanding can be extended far beyond the point which she could have reached alone. In fact, it has been shown that through the ‘scaffolding’ provided by such questions, discussions, and adult support, the child can be helped to cross what is called ‘the zone of proximal development’ to leap to the next level of understanding.

The present syllabus is framed within this social constructivist perspective of learning. It is hoped that children will be supported to construct knowledge far beyond their individual abilities through appropriate questions and interventions, including discussions with adults, in school and also at home, as also among themselves. Instead of listing key concepts the syllabus begins by suggesting some key questions, framed in a language appropriate to stimulate the thinking of a child that age. These are not meant to be questions of the textbook but are suggestive of the nature of scaffolding to be provided to help children think in certain directions. This is especially important to help children articulate their own ideas, for instance, in the case of what they understand by the term ‘plants’ or ‘animals’. Textbooks written in different contexts and regions will be different and indeed must reflect their own specific concerns. However, such questions are important for textbook writers to know how to guide children to observe, compare, predict or analyse certain phenomena or processes. For instance, in the theme on Food, there is a question “Who provides us the Mid-day Meal?” This is a leading question to encourage children to begin thinking about the agencies and institutions who provide certain services, beyond the concrete observation of the particular person. Thus as they begin to think about the post office or the school or hospital as institutions, it will help them in developing the abstract concept about the notion of governance or ‘government’, which they normally encounter later usually in the form of statements or information that they are totally unable to comprehend. Thus when appropriate connections and linkages are made in the child’s mind about her own immediate experiences she is enabled to understand more abstract or sophisticated concepts and arguments later.

The matrix of each theme contains leading questions and key concepts and also suggested resources and activities. As the name indicates, these are purely suggestive for teachers and textbook writers, to give an idea of how the particular theme can be dealt with. It is clear that different textbooks based on this syllabus structure can turn out to be very diverse in terms of the elaboration of the themes. Just as every structure must have its own foundations and its own stability, similarly each child ultimately needs to construct her own understanding, articulation, knowledge and skills. We do know that children are not blank slates or empty vessels to be filled by ‘information’ about carefully listed key concepts, and that they cannot learn by passively listening to adults, however expressive they may be. This is the basic problem of our traditional system which relies on giving ‘information’, justified on whatever grounds, but without caring to know about the possible zone of the child’s development. Indeed there is no getting away from this: If children have to understand an idea they have to construct knowledge for themselves, which can happen when they get the right cues to connect new understanding with what they already possess. This syllabus identifies those cues that will help children connect with their varied knowledge systems. Our children do indeed know and can learn a lot; it is our responsibility to help them do it better.

What Learning Do We Expect?

How can Environmental Studies help all our children, all those who struggle to go to school, and even all those who still cannot do so; those for whom the main purpose in life is going to school, as well as those who aspire for a school that can support life, with meaning and dignity? This document gives a suggestive matrix of themes and sub-themes through the three years of Classes III-V. It is up to the teachers and textbook writers to translate this into books, materials and classroom activities, to shape an enabling learning environment for each child, wherever she may be located. Even in the earlier years children do learn about their environment, though there is no separate subject in school. It is expected that in Classes I-II the two subjects of Language and Mathematics will incorporate some themes for the development of concepts and skills in areas broadly related to EVS.

This syllabus format consciously does not spell out any outcomes for each theme. For each thematic area related key concepts, skills and activities have been clearly indicated at appropriate places. However, schools must ensure that these activities or discussions will be conducted because only then can it be ensured that learning will happen. For instance, at several places the activities indicate that children need to conduct specific observations. We know that even young children’s senses are sharp and they are able to detect small differences between fairly similar objects, though not always the similarities. However, the purpose of conducting ‘observation’ activities in EVS is usually not to collect random similarities or differences, but to seek information from the object to extend children’s ideas and understanding. For instance, to look specifically at the shapes of leaves, the edges, the patterns of lines in it, etc. to know more about them. Thus specific purposes will need to be spelt out when activities are designed. Similarly, young children ask many questions which help in their development, but which are not all deep, and which do not allow them to understand things at that stage. However, EVS classrooms will need to provide opportunities to children to be able to progressively ask higher order questions that require different levels of reasoning and investigation, by planned activities and exercises to get them to phrase their questions, to answer, discuss and investigate them. These are basic to the learning process in EVS and yet, unfortunately, most classrooms are not designed to ensure this. How then can we expect all children to learn? What then does it mean to specify any outcomes at this point?

We reiterate the purpose in drafting this syllabus through the following example:

What biology do students know?

Janabai lives in a small hamlet in the Sahyadri hills. She helps her parents in their seasonal work of rice and ‘tuar’ farming. She sometimes accompanies her brother in taking the goats to graze. She has helped bring up her younger sister. Nowadays she walks 8 km everyday to attend the nearest secondary school.

She maintains intimate links with her natural environment. She has used different plants as sources of food, medicines, fuel wood, dyes, and building materials; she has observed parts of different plants used for household purposes, religious rituals and in celebrating festivals. She recognises minute differences between trees, and notices seasonal changes based on shape, size, distribution of leaves and flowers, smells and textures. She can identify about a hundred different types of plants around her, many times more than her biology teacher can – the same teacher who believes Janabai is a poor student; that “These students don’t understand science … they come from a deprived background!”

Can we help Janabai translate her rich understanding into formal concepts of biology? Can we convince her that school science is not about some abstract world coded in long texts and difficult language: it is about the farm she works on, the animals she knows and takes care of, the woods that she walks through everyday? (National Curriculum Framework 2005, p. 45)CLASS III ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CLASS III ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

1. Family and Friends

 

 

 

 

Child’s daily life experience; Family members.

 

 

Family members, local knowledge, story/poems on different festivals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Family photographs; Narrations by elders about family members when they were young.

1.1 RELATIONSHIPS

My family

Who all live with you at Concept of a family; Observation, enquiry
home? How are they diversity in family types; about family relations
related to each other? Do Family as a support from adults, discussion.
you have relatives who do system, Ideas about
not live with you? Have relationships; Simple
they always been there? family   tree    (three
How many children did generations).
your grand parents have?
Who do you think will be
your new relatives in
future?
My family and me
Do you look like anybody Family  influences  – Observation,  exploring
in your family? Have you physical characteristics, from   elders   about
learnt anything from values   and     habits, extended family, narrating
anybody in your family? appreciating qualities and stories/singing poems
Whom do you admire skills of family members; related to festivals, writing
most among  all your family as a support about   any     festival,
relatives? Who is the most system. drawing.
caring and patient person?
When do you meet
members of your family
who do not live with you?
Whom do I look like?
Do    some   of    your Concept of similarity Discussion About stories/
relatives look similar? between     relations, films/jokes involving
Which features are similar hereditary features. twins
– eyes, ears, the voice or

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

height? Are there any two

people in your family who
look exactly alike?
Old and the physically challenged
Do you know of people Sensitivity to the old and Meri bahen sun nahin sakti Reading and discussion;
who are hard of hearing? physically challenged; a book by Bharat Vigyan Making different kinds of
Are many of them old? Introduction to the sense Samiti or any   other sounds and expressing
Do you have any friends of hearing and sight; material on differently likes and dislikes about
who cannot hear/see well? sensitization to the fact abled children. them.; blindfold act,
Is there any way in which that the body ages, also visiting any local institution
you may have helped that some children may that deals with the blind or
them? Are there any not hear /see at all or may any other institution.
sounds you like but be partially affected.
others/elders do not? Basic idea about Braille.
1.2 PLANTS

Plants around us

How many different kinds Exploring children’s ideas Child’s      daily    life Observation of different
of plants do you see about a ‘plant’. Plant experience, observation, plants around, compare
around you? What are the diversity; size, where they information       from and classification based
differences you notice? grow, shape, colour, grandparents/ elders, a on simple characters;
What things around you aroma, etc.; dependence sample/picture of a plant Discussion about things
are made of plants? on plants for everyday which is unusual in the local made of plants, pencil
Is there a plant in your area life. Introduction of new surroundings. prints of barks, leaf prints.
that was not there when plants/crops and changes
your grandparents were observed by elders over
young? time. Plants and the
Do you know of some climate/environment.
plants which do not grow
around you, say things that
we eat and  not grown
around you?

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
Leaves in our lives
What different kinds of Leaf diversity – colour, Child’s      daily    life Observation, collection of
leaves do you see? Do you shape, texture, aroma, etc. experience, observation, a different leaves, smelling
use plant leaves to eat on? Seasonal shedding of story on a compost pit. different plant leaves,
In what other ways are leaves; compost from discussion, visit to a
leaves used? leaves. nearby compost pit,
Is there some time of the Leaf designs/motifs on decorating the classroom
year when lots of leaves different objects. with leaf motifs.
fall to the ground? Are Applying mehndi on palms
they burnt? Have you seen in different designs.
a compost pit?
What leaf motifs do you
find on clothes, pots,
walls, animals, etc.? Do
you decorate your house
with leaves on some
occasions?
1.3 ANIMALS

Animals: small and big

Which are the smallest and Exploring children’s ideas Child’s      daily    life Observation of diversity
the biggest animals you of an ‘animal’. experience, observation, of animals around you,
have seen? Which have you stories/ poems on animals listing, Discussion about
only heard about? Which (NBT) what they eat, were they
animals have tails? How live relative size of animals
many legs? they have seen, pictures in
books, animals heard
about. Drawing pictures
of favourite animals.
Some creepy crawlies and flyers too
What different kinds of Exploring children’s ideas Child’s      daily    life Observation, of ants,
small crawling animals do of crawling animals, flyers experience, observation, flies, spiders, crickets,
you know?  Where and and insects. stories/ poems on insects, cockroaches, earthworms,
from what does each of flyers  and    crawling lizards and other animals.

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

them hide? Which insects

 

animals (NBT)

 

Discussion about them,

can crawl and also fly? where they live, what they
Which ones bite us? Can eat, insect bites (wasp) etc.
flies make us ill? Why does Drawing some of them.
a spider make a web?
Birds
Which are the birds you Exploring children’s ideas Child’s      daily    life Drawings  of    birds;
see around your area? Do of   birds-their  living experience, observation, mimicking different neck
they like some trees more places, eating habits, stories/ poems on birds movements and sounds
than others? What do they common features like (NBT) of    birds,   collecting
eat? Can you recognize feathers and sounds feathers.
birds by their feathers? produced by them.
What are the different Feeding birds.
sounds they make?
Are they saying something
to each other? Are there
some birds that come
from other places?
Do you feed any birds or
place water for them?
1.4 WORK AND PLAY

Work around me

What are the different Different   occupations, Poem ‘Home work’ by Draw a daily time-chart
kinds of work done idea of working time and Shyam Bahadur Namra for your father, mother
around me? What work leisure time; work inside Case study: time chart of and yourself, discussion.
does my mother/ father/ and outside homes – the daily routine of a child
brother/ sister etc. do? gender,   age,   caste, who   does a   lot   of
What work do I do? What economic, etc. aspects. housework
work do others do? When
I am not working what do
I do? When my father/
mother is not working
what do they do?

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
Working children
What kind of work was Sensitize children to other Excerpt from story by Reading and listening
done by children when children who work at Charles Dickens. to the story/excerpts.
your grandparents were home and outside – not as Narrative describing a Discussion and narratives
young? Has that changed a result of family neglect poor child’s/child laborers about children making
today? Who are   the but more as a systemic experience in a common firecrackers at Shivkashi.,
children you know who cause. school in another country. child workers at Dhabas
work and go to school/ Important that all children and auto workshops.
who work and cannot go go to school.
to school? A sense of how child
labour existed in other
countries  before  all
children began to go to
good common schools.
Games we play
What games do I play? Leisure; games in school Traditional and local Listing, classifying indoor
Did my grandparents play and outside, past and games; folk toys and outdoor games.
the same games? Are these present; for some play is
indoor/outdoor? work
2. Food

Foods from plants and animals

Which of these is food – Appreciation of cultural Regional narratives and Listing and discussing
red ants, bird’s nests, diversity in food; basic stories about ‘unusual’ about food we do or do
snakes, bananas, goat’s ideas about various plant foods mentioned. not eat; tabulating food
milk, etc.? used as food; food from we take from different
What plants do you eat – animals. plants  and    animals.
what parts of the plant? Observing and drawing
What food do we take different parts of plants
from animals? eaten.
Cooking
What do you eat that is not Food may be eaten raw Songs/poems on food or Listing raw and cooked
cooked? What is eaten or cooked –  steamed, lack  of   food;  local food;  discussion  on

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

only when cooked? How do you cook food? What do you cook it on? What are the different kinds of vessels used for cooking? What are they made of? Is water used in all forms of cooking? Which food is cooked without using water? How?

 

boiled, baked, fried etc.; Different fuels, types of stoves; Types of vessels used in cooking, different shapes (regional/ traditional), different materials, etc.

 

knowledge about what is edible; photographs.

 

cooking methods/ materials, etc; survey to find out the types of fuels/vessels used; drawing various utensils; historical time line tracing what in the kitchen has changed and roughly when.

Eating in the family

Do all members of the family eat the same food in your family? Who eats more? Who eats last in your family? Who buys the food and what is bought from the market? Who cooks the food in your family? What do babies have for food? When do babies start eating and what do they eat other than milk?

 

 

Different eating practices in the family. Amount of food varying with gender, age, physical activity, etc. Cooking and gender/ caste roles in the family; Food for the baby, significance of milk.

 

 

Everyday experience, local knowledge. Poems/ illustrations on gender stereotyping.

 

 

Observation and asking adults, discussion. Listing of food items bought from the market/grown at home.

What animals eat

Do animals eat the same things? What do different animals eat? Do you feed the animals around you – what? What do they take from your house even when not fed?

 

 

Food of domestic and wild animals; care of domestic animals.

 

 

Stories, cartoons and films.

 

 

Observing and listing different animals and their feeding habits,; Discussing food given to animals.; observing animals being fed, keeping food out and observing animals come and feed.

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

3. Shelter

Houses and houses

Have you seen – a house Some unusual houses, a Pictures of different types Discussion; observation;
on stilts, a tent, a flat on narrative and a discussion of houses; easily available Drawing, model making
the tenth floor, a house on about why such houses are materials  for    model and art work. Creative
wheels or a house on a built. Different types of making. writing about imagined
boat? houses experiences.
Do you know anyone Need for shelter, need for
living in such houses? Why living together
do people use   such
houses?
Decorating and cleaning our shelter
How do you decorate My   house,  Houses/ Illustrations of designs/ Draw a picture of your
your shelter? Do you draw shelters are decorated in motifs     used     for house. Draw the various
designs on your walls/ different ways in different decoration of the house. kinds of designs/motifs
floor or decorate with cultures; Need for shelter used to decorate walls/
leaves/flowers/other to provide protection floors of houses.
objects? How do you from heat, cold, rain and
keep your house clean? problems faced.
Do you also help in Need to share housework.
cleaning? Who mops and Garbage disposal.
sweeps it? Where do you
throw the garbage? Do
you have any problems
living in your house during
rains, summer or winter?
Have you seen houses with
sloping roofs? Why are
they made sloping?
My family and other animals
Who all live with you? Family members; pets and Daily life experiences. Discussion and sharing
Which animals live with other animals, insects, Cartoons. of    experiences   and

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

you – which are the biggest

 

rodents, etc. Food for the

 

knowledge. Drawings of

and the smallest animals pets and other animals. insects, rodents; pets and
living in your house? From Some are seen only at other domestic animals.
where do they get their night.
food? Where in your
house do these animals
live? Which of them are
seen only at night?
Mapping my neighbourhood
How big is your school? Neighbourhood, Survey of different parts Estimating distances,
What kind of a building is mapping and of the school, survey of marking  location  of
it? Can you draw a picture representation in two the neighbourhood places and drawing/
of your school and your dimensions. Directions. mapping from different
classroom ? Do you know perspectives, like from the
your way around your top, from the front etc,
neighbor-hood? Can we Draw a map of the route
explain to someone how to from our house to the
reach the post office or the nearest shop.
bus stand from our house?
4. Water

Water for my family

What are the main sources Local sources of water; Child’s daily life experience, Listing the sources of
of water in your locality? uses of water; gender local knowledge water,  Exploring  by
Who fetches the water and roles; distance estimates; asking questions from
from how far? Do all the social discrimination; clean elders or people around,
people in your locality use water for drinking Discussion.
the same source of water?
Are some people not
allowed to take water
from where you take it?
From where do you get
water? Does it look clean
enough for drinking?

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
Do animals and plants need water?
What happens if plants Water for plants and Library resource-brief Reading, Discussion;
and animals do not get animals. information about the Comparison of a well
water – how do you see camel, cactus along with watered and a wilting
that a plant or animal is their pictures. plant.
thirsty? Do all animals/
plants need the same
amount of water? Which
plants/animals need the
least?
Water shortage
When is it difficult to get Water scarcity, wastage Newspaper  clippings Poster making/ writing
water? Are there some and recycling, water about water shortage/ activity in groups with a
people in your area who harvesting. water being wasted. message of saving water.
always   face   water
shortage? What would
happen if we had no
water? Have you seen
water being wasted –
how? How can we avoid
it? Do you reuse water?
Water in our lives
Which of your daily Use of water in different Library      resources, Enacting     different
activities use water? Do activities;     cultural observations related to activities that utilise water/
you and others you know expressions about water/ daily life. Songs about a rainy day, listing the
wash your hands and feet rain/ rivers; observations water/river/rain? activities in which water is
before you enter the related to rain  and the used, singing rain/river/
house? Why do you think response of plants and water   songs/poems
this is done? animals. together in the class.
Can you describe the scene
of a rainy day – with
details about birds, animals,
plants and yourself.

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

Storing water

How do you store water Measurement of volume Child’s      daily    life Drawings of different
in your home? Do you in terms of non-standard experience, bottles of containers.
collect rainwater – how? units such as buckets, pots, different   shapes/sizes/ Measurement activities;
How much water do you etc.    Estimates    of materials; Panchtantra story. demonstration to help the
store every day? About quantities   used   for understanding       of
how much do you use for different     domestic conservation of volume.
drinking or bathing? In activities; safe handling of Touching       different
what kinds of containers water. Containers made containers and discussing
do you store water for of different shapes and about their material.
drinking/ washing/or for materials to store water
animals? What are the for different purposes;
containers made of ? Conceptual development
If the water is at the same of    conservation  of
level in a narrow and a volume.
broad container does it
mean they contain the
same amount of water?
5. Travel

Going places

Has your family traveled Need for travel, travel Story of a journey along Reading and Discussion,
together to another within the locality and the river, mountain, etc. Drawing a village / sea/
place? Where and what beyond; travel to different forest /mountain scene.
for? How did you go? social spaces – forest,
How long did it take? village, city, etc.; travel for
How   far  did   your migration, sight-seeing,
grandparents (or other family occasions.
elderly persons) travel
when they were young?
How did people travel in
those times? How do
people travel today in the
desert,   hilly   areas,
on sea, etc.

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
Ways to travel
How do we go to school? Different  modes  of Pictures of modes of Collect  pictures   of
How do we travel to other transport; short distance, transport; different   modes   of
places?   How     many long distance, newer ways transport; classify them
different ways have we of traveling. into different types of
travelled? How many Different   kinds   of transport; enact a train
different ways of travel workers associated with journey/railway station,
do we know of? railways/station. Observations of activities
Have you been to a railway at the station like loading,
station? What all do you weighing, washing trains,
seen there? Who are the signaling, selling tea, level
people who work at the crossing, etc
station and on the train?
How did people travel in
the past?
Talking without speaking
If I cannot speak, how do Communication without Sign language, dance Playing dumb charades,
I tell people what I want speaking, Use of sign mudra’s. enacting situations without
to say? language, dance mudra’s. speaking, learning sign
language, practicing mudra’s.
Mailing a letter
What happens when I Letter as a means of Local post office, different Trip to local post office,
post a letter? How does it communication, work samples of letters- inland, Observing     sorting,
reach my friend? Who are and people associated post card, greeting card, stamping, weighing etc.
the people who help to do with the post office; etc. Discussion with
this? Are there any other different   means   of workers at the post office.
ways  of    sending  a communication, changes
message? How was a letter with time.
sent in the past?

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

6. Things we Make

and Do

Pottery

What kinds of pots do we To meet basic needs Narratives and illustrations Making pots of clay; also
see around  us? What human beings make of pots and containers with rings; with different
containers are used to things; need natural made in early times – with types of clay; drying in the
store grain? What kinds of resources, creativity; have rings of clay (e.g., Social sun; talking to potters or
containers did people changed the way we live. Studies book by Eklavya). brick makers to find out
make long, long back with An idea of the earliest how these are burnt/
rings of clay- when they pots made for storage of baked in furnaces.
did not have a potter’s grain – when there was Making different
wheel? Can you make such no potters wheel. ornaments etc. with clay.
pots and dry them in the The experience of making
sun – how long do you such pots with clay; drying
think these will last? How and the need to bake
does the potter bake them? them for greater strength.
Textiles
In how many different Diversity in types of The idea of different styles Activity to wear/drape a
ways can you wear a long clothing we were; even of    dress;  traditional dupatta or long cloth in
cloth that is not stitched? with unstitched clothing. unstitched clothing and different styles to emulate
How many kinds of sarees Colours and design are different styles of draping what different people do
or lungis have you seen used in textiles; scope for it. and also to create their
worn by people from creativity; vegetable dyes. Some idea of mixing own designs.
different parts of the colours to make new ones; Play with colours and
country? fast colours and colours colour mixing;Using dyes
How many different that run; tie and dye; block to dye cloth;  making
colours do we know of printing and making our blocks with potato or
– how many new ones own      blocks    with ladies fingers for printing
can we create? What are vegetables.Samples of on paper.
fast colours and what blocks, dyes.
problems do we face
when colours run? How
do we make our own
vegetable block prints
and tie and dye?

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

1.  Family and Friends

1.1   RELATIONSHIPS

Your mother as a child When your mother was your age who were the relatives she lived with?

 

 

 

 

Change with time in people residing together. Family tree today.

 

 

 

 

Discussion with mother, grandparents and other relatives.

 

 

 

 

Asking questions from mother about her childhood.

Where do babies come from?

Have you seen a newborn baby – where did she come from? Where does the puppy/ kitten/ calf/ chick come from?

Do you know of people who are looking after/ have adopted a child?

 

 

 

From the mother’s body; mother-child relationship; Foster parents and adoption

 

 

 

Kya tum  meri  amma  ho?

(NBT story)

 

 

 

Story    telling    and discussion.

My extended family Are there things you learn from    your    family members? What? Do you do anything different from other members of your family? Do all your family members live with you all the time? When do you meet members of your family who do not live with you? What festivals do you celebrate together?  

 

Family as a microcosm; (Family values – gender, earning capacity, decision making, caste, religion perceptions etc.); changes in family value system – lead to changes in society; Festivals and family gatherings

 

 

Family members, family photographs,

 

Discussion on family values, habits within family; discussion on family occasions.

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
Feeling around with eyes shut

With your eyes and ears closed can you identify the people/animals living with you merely by touching/smelling? By touching can you tell if anything is cold/hot, wet/ dry, smooth/rough, sticky/slippery, soft/hard? Are there some things which you are not allowed to touch? Do you feel uncomfortable when some people touch you?

 

 

 

Sensitivity to people who are differently abled; Senses of smell and touch;, emotional response to a caress/slap; ‘good’ and ‘bad’ touch.

 

 

 

Child’s daily life experience, observation; narratives related to smell and touch; materials for games and activities.

 

 

 

Guessing game: Group activity where children touch different things with their eyes shut.

1. 2 Work and play

Fun and fights at play! Do you play the same games at school that you play at home? What things do you use to play with? Does the school provide these? Do you fight while you play? How do you decide the rules for the games? Does anyone stop you from playing? Who and why? Do you play with every child (boys and girls) in your neighbourhood? Are you stopped from playing with certain children?

 

 

 

Different games at home and school.

Play as a way of social negotiation; rules of each game; fights and the need to negotiate – ideas of fair play.

Restrictions on play; playmates from children of different gender or class/caste backgrounds.

 

 

 

Tom Sawyer – story ‘whitewashing the fence’ or any other story on ‘work’ and ‘play’.

 

 

 

Discussing and planning rules for local games and playing together in groups; writing them down.

 

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
How they learnt their skills
In your area do you know Different occupations in Local crafts persons and Drawing people with
the people who do  the the local region/ country; other professionals their professional tools;
following: make pots/stitch who does what work. talking to some people
clothes/ make shoes/cure Gender and work. and describe how they
people/ build bridges/ learnt their skills
embroider/fly     planes/
repair cycles/ drive buses,
etc? How well do you
know them – their names,
family etc? What tools do
they use for their work?
Where did they learn how
to do these things?
Fun at the fair/Circus
Have you been to a fair or
a circus? Which is the item Ways of recreation. Circus/fair, a poem on Kite-making and kite-
you liked best – was it a Mela. flying activity in groups,
ride, a game, something making tops, writing a
you   saw/ate/bought? paragraph  about  an
When do you fly kites? experience in a fair/circus.
How    do    you   make
them fly?
1.3 Animals Animals and their friends
Which animals like to Herds; group behaviour; Observation, child’s daily
move around in groups? animal-human life experience, story on
Which animals are shy and intreraction. animals   moving   in
do not come near you? groups, visuals
Have you seen animals
playing with or riding on
different animals?

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
Who is attracted to flowers?
Why do bees/butterflies Honey from flowers; bee Film; description Illustrated Observation of flowers
come to flowers? How hive and basic idea of narratives/discussion with and the insects that visit
do people collect the honey collection. beekeepers on the process them,   drawing   the
honey from bee hives? of honey collection. flowers, insects,; discussion
on colour, fragrance.
Long ears or short?
Which animals have ears? Some  animals  have Child’s     observation, Listing and classification
Which animals have hair external ears. They also information/description of animals with and
on their body? have hair. and illustrationsabout without ears; with and
animals. without hair; drawing
them; feeling them.
1.4 PLANTS

Roots of plants

Do all plants need water Plants need water; roots Child’s     observation, Observation, collection,
to grow? Which part of absorb water and hold it information about the drawing of roots of
the plant absorbs water to the ground. roots eaten by  people; different types,
from the soil? When you Roots eaten normally by pictures/specimes  of Observing   trees/plants
tug at grass, why does it people like carrots, radish, roots. whose roots are affected
not come out easily? Why sweet potato, and during by      activities    like
do plants/trees not get famine. construction/paving/
uprooted when there is a Aerial roots of some plastering.
strong wind? Which roots plants Observation        and
are eaten by people during discussion about swinging
famine when nothing else on pipal/bargad aerial
grows? roots.
Flowers
Which plants around us Flowering plants; seasons; Child’s,    observation, Drawing flower motifs
have flowers? Do they observation of buds stories/ poems about for clothes, animals, pots,
come only at some times blossoming into flowers; flowers, a visit to a garden. etc.   Making   floral
of the year? How is the different shapes, colours, decorations;
bud different from the petals, aroma, etc. Observing the flowers and

 

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

flower? What are the different kinds of flowers we have seen – shapes, colours, petals, aroma, etc? What do we use flowers for? Do you eat any flower? Have you seen flowers motif painted on clothes, walls, floors, pots, animals?

Who sells flowers in our area? Where do these come from? How are flowers sold – for how much?

 

Flowers used in everyday life, festivals, etc. Floral motifs and designs on clothes, animals, pots, walls, etc.

Knowing the local flower seller; some idea of the local unit of measurement (by cubit, fixed garland, each stem, etc.) and cost.

 

Talking to flower sellers, gardeners, etc.

 

buds, noting similarities and differences; observing

/smelling and feeling

different flowers.

Whom do trees belong to?

Which plants/trees around you are looked after by people – by whom? Which are not? Whom do they belong to? Who eats the fruit of trees that grow wild?

 

 

 

 

Neighbourhood and its plants; wild and domestic plants;

Fruits eaten by people living in forests.

Cutting trees.

Local       knowledge, information about domestic and wild plants (NBT books). Listing of some common trees in the neighbour- hood; discussion about ownership of trees; fruits that are not eaten by us.
2. FOOD

How we get our food How does food reach us? Who grows it? How you seen vegetables and fruits growing? How you seen plants of rice/ wheat/ dal etc? What are the spices do you know? Which spices can we recognize by smelling or tasting.

 

 

 

From field to mandi – from market to house; grown by farmers; fruit trees, vegetables, cereals, pulses, oil seeds;

Spices

 

 

 

Discussion with a vegetable seller/retailer in the mandi, / truck driver who transports food items.

 

 

 

Listing plants children know that provide them food; bringing samples; common spices, observing and drawing samples, recognizing them by smell and taste.

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

Special occasions

When do many people Community eating; Mid Visit to a langar/such Discussion on occasions at
eat together? What food day      meal    (where occasions, talking to which there is community
is eaten? Who cooks it? applicable). people who cook on such eating; Listing of the
How is it served? Cultural diversity in foods occasions. different foods eaten at
Does you get a mid day associated with special Narratives about hostel different   occasions;
meal meal in school? – occasions like festivals, food/pantry car of train. drawing and descriptions
What   items?   Who family  celebrations/ of the large utensil used
provides the mid day ceremonies etc. on such occassions
meal? Boarding school.
Tongue and Teeth
How do we taste different Taste, tongue; teeth – Samples of different food Observation of each
foods? How do teeth help types,   milk   teeth, items; peer observations; other’s teeth, tongue and
us to eat – are all teeth permanent teeth. pictures or models of mouth; counting teeth;
similar? Which teeth have Tongue and speech. teeth. drawing; experiments with
I dropped and how are different tasting items.
the new ones different?
Teeth, beaks and claws
Are the teeth of other Teeth in some common Visit to observe some Observation and drawings
animals similar to ours? animals; beaks and claws animals; personal of beaks, claws and teeth
Can we tell what birds eat of birds – relationship experiences; Visuals; of different animals,
by looking at their beaks? with food they eat. (NBT books on birds.) birds, etc.
Are the claws of birds
also different? Is their
shape related to the food
they eat?
3. SHELTER

Houses then and now

Do you live in houses House  change  over Discussion with elders in Making models of houses;
similar to ones your time; rural and urban the family. Visit to any old collection of materials
grandparents lived in? Are differences, multi-storeyed building in the area; used to make houses.
houses now made of houses along with slums changes     in        the Drawing pictures of old
similar materials as was in cities. construction of houses and new buildings.

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

used then? What are the

 

Materials used have

 

with time; houses in

differences? changed. villages and cities.
Garbage?
What do you do with Waste materials, waste in Newpaper articles and Listing things thrown
waste in your house? our houses, urban/rural advertisements on waste/ away as garbage, waste.
Where do you throw it? waste. garbage. Discussion on reduction
Do you reuse any waste Reduce garbage. of waste.
materials? Who takes away
the garbage?
Where animals live
Do animals live in shelters? Diversity in animal habitat Stories/pictures of Discussion, listing of
Which    animals  live and shelters. habitats and shelters animals with respect to
in   water?  On    land? Some structures like webs animals use or make. their habitat and shelter.;
Underground? Are there have other purposes. making birds nests with
any animals that we see only scrap materials, making
at night? Where do they go caves, rat holes etc in
during the day? Do we mud/sand pits.
know of animals that
make their own shelter?
When birds make nests
When and why do birds Birds make nests for Child’s     observation; Observation of a bird’s
make their shelter? Do all laying eggs. Nesting habits visuals; nest of any bird. nest and drawing pictures.
birds make nests? Where of different birds vary. Songs and poems; dance
do different birds nest – Different materials are and     movement   to
when do they fly away? used for nests. simulate bird flight.
With  what  different
materials do birds make
their nests?
Mapping our neighbourhood
Who are my neighbors? Introduction  to    the Child’s     experiences, Discussion, enquiry from
Do I have any of the concept   of     giving enquiry, observation and friends and neighbours;

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

following near my house

 

directions with respect to

 

previous knowledge of

 

counting number of steps

– a school, grocery shop, any landmark; also a routes. and estimation of distance
market, well, river or preliminary  mapping Local map /chart of the for making a preliminary
pond? Where are they with process, further use of use school      and        its map.
respect to your house? of symbols, use of a scale. neighbourhood.
4. WATER

Water fit for drinking

What are the major natural Natural sources; inland Health personnel of the Discussion  with  the
sources of water in your water and sea water; local area, library resource. elders/health personnel
area? Is the water fit for potable water; diarrhoea about pollution of natural
drinking – do you clean it and other common water sources of water and its
at home? Do you know borne diseases, safe effects; demonstration/
how dirty water can make handling   of     water, group activity of simple
you ill? Why do we not purification of water. methods   of     water
drink seawater? How is purification; seperation of
salt  separated  from salt from saline water.
seawater?
Water sources
Where do you see large Reservoirs, canals, dams Film, photographs of Visit to the natural sources
amounts of water in your etc.; Different public dams/canals/tanks/ of water in the local area
neighborhood? Is it a activities at water bodies; ponds etc., local and observing what uses
tank/pond/canal/river/ protection  of    water knowledge. Narrative on the water is   put   to.
dam? What do men/ bodies. the recent struggle of the Discussion, and writing
women/children/ Water as a scarce resource panchayat’s against Coke letters/making posters
animals do with the water and the struggle for in Plachimada, Kerala. highlighting the misuse of
there? Is it used for acquiring it (those who the water body.
bathing/washing? Who can exploit resources by
bathes/washes there and digging  deeper  and
who does not? How can deeper wells).
we ensure that this water
is not made dirty?
Do you find factories/
people dumping garbage
or harmful materials in

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

rivers or seas? Are some

animals  also  facing
problems due to what we
do to the rivers or seas?
Our river/sea
Which is the river closest Rivers and seas; seasonal Local knowledge, Story Drawing/Painting/Make
to our locality? Do we change in water flow; on the   lines of   the a model of a water body
find any change in the animals in the sea/river. SCERT, Delhi Class VI in the neighbourhood
water flow in different Water pollution and Civics – lesson called (using scrap materials) as
seasons? Which are the big harmful   effects  on Yamuna. well as the animals found
rivers we know of ? Have animals. in the river/sea.
you seen the sea? Which
are the animals found in
the sea/river?
Water vanishes when heated?
Why do puddles dry? In Basic processes of Child’s daily observations Activity on water drying
which season do wet evaporation and and clss room discussions. up from a wet cloth or
clothes dry easily? When condensation dish of water in different
do     they   dry    with conditions such as sunlight
difficulty? and shade.
Have you seen and
wondered where water
droplets on the outside of
a cold glass of water
came from?
5. TRAVEL

Animals for transport

Have you traveled on a Use   of   animals for Personal experience of Enacting instances of
tonga / horse carriage? transport;  sensitivity travel; songs about travel animals used for transport
How is it different from towards animals. by tonga, etc. and people riding them.
travelling on a bus? Are the
horses well looked after?

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

Have you seen a horseshoe? Why is it used? What materials have you seen being transported using animals? Are there any special occasions when you ride on animals?

Paying for travel

How do pay for our travel by train/bus/boat etc? Who issues/checks the bus /rail ticket?

Which currency notes and coins have you seen? Pictures of which animals can we see on a ten rupee note? Which symbol is found on every coin? How many scripts can you recognise on a note? Who is the person whose face is shown on every currency note?

What coins/notes did our grandparents use when they were young?

 

 

Familiarity with currency notes and coins, national symbols, recognizing some language scripts; Introduction to Mahatma Gandhi Old coins, change.

 

 

Coins and currency notes; railway and bus tickets.

Old coins/Pictures of old coins; visit toa museum.

 

 

Enactment of a bus journey.

Comparison of coins and currency notes; /Tracing of coins.

Designing a school emblem/logo.

 
Travel to another place Do you know anyone who has traveled very far from your village/city? Why did they go so far? What are they doing there? How do they travel when they visit your family?
 

Different land forms, languages, clothing, food habits, some idea of another country (only through a story/imaginary narrative).

 

Travelogue describing the place they have come from; description of a train/ship/plane journey.

 

Reading and listening, discussion, writing about a traveling experience of oneself or visiting relatives.

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

6. Things We Make

And Do

Building materials and tools

How are bricks made? Process   of    making Narratives and pictures of Making bricks; drawing
What tools have you seen involves raw materials, different bridges children and     talking   about
being used for making a tools, labour, energy– cross, on the lines of the different tools.
wall or a house? changes over time in book – Going to school Observing, drawing and
Is there a bridge to cross these and in environment in     India   (by    Lisa describing   different
while coming to school? too. Heydlauff Penguin); of bridges and how people
What kinds of bridges Materials and tools used the process of make their own local
have we seen and where? for construction; construction, use of tools bridges from ropes,
How many kinds of Different skills of people and materials. bamboo and logs of
bridges can we make? at engaged in a Observation of different wood.
construction activity. bridges; making bridges. Making toy bridges in
school.

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

1. Family and Friends

1.1 RELATIONSHIPS

Family tree

Can you make a family Family in transition – A story woven around a Activity – Write the names
tree with as many of your Impact of larger socio- family tree with old family of    all    your   family
relatives you can get economic forces are photographs. members along with their
information about? changing family structure ages.    How      many
Who are the relatives and quality of life in generations have you been
whom you have never families; Idea about able to get details about?
seen? Where do they live? several generations; how
some people move away,
some continue to live
together,   and    how
households get formed/
reformed at several places.
How these are affecting
roles, relationships, value
systems, aspirations within
a family.
Shifting from place to place
Have you always lived at Shifts in habitation- Story of a migrating family Discussion  or    letter
the place that you now live migration/transfers/ or a family displaced by the writing; drawing.
in? If not, where does demolition displacement construction of a dam or
your family come from? Associated difficulties demolition of an urban
slum.
Who laughs the loudest?
Who is the tallest/shortest Basic ideas of Cartoons; narratives. Mimicking people in the
in the family? Who has the measurement – of height; family – laugh and voices;
longest hair? How long? Observing and drawing people in the
Who has the loudest appreciating qualities and family.

 

CLASS V ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

voice/laugh in the house?

 

skills of relatives;

 

Writing exercises about an

From how far away can observing infants. infant they have observed.
you hear it? Who speaks
the softest? When does a
child cry the loudest?
When she is hungry-or
angry? Who is the best
cook in the family?
Our likes and dislikes
Which is your favourite Our bodies, our senses, Narratives about Observation, discussion,
colour? Which is your our likes/ dislikes vary e.g. preferences in taste, describing and writing
friend’s favourite colour? our concept of foul/ smells, colours in about a friend’s likes/
Which is your favourite fragrant smell different cultural context. dislikes; a class survey
food? What about your Cultural influences of taste, about childrens favourite
friends favourite food? smell, etc(to be discussed without colour/food etc.
Do you   know  your stereotyping).
friends’ likes and dislikes?
Are there any smells you
don’t like (fish, mustard
oils, garlic, eggs etc) ? Do
you eat fish?
Feeling to read
Do you know how people Awareness and Autobiography of Helen Activity with Braille paper
read with their hands? Do sensitisation towards the Keller; excerpt from her (or simulated Braille
you know someone who problems of physically teacher’s account of how paper).
finds it difficult to walk/ challenged; she learnt; Braille sheet.
speak/see etc.? How do
you think they learn to
overcome the problem?
1.2 WORK AND PLAY Team games – your heroes
Do you play any games in Types of games/sports, Library resources- Indian Collecting information,

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

teams? Have you ever

 

importance  of   team

 

cricket team; narrative

 

making picture albums ;

been captain of the team? spirit in games, gender about some national and posters of sports persons
Do boys and girls play stereotyping. international players.
together? Have you heard Some idea of other
of any Indian team playing countries and national
in another country? Which teams.
is your favourite team Gender, class stereotyping
sport? Do you know any in play.
National level player?
Local games/martial arts
What are the local games/ Local and traditional Description or Reading,   discussion,
martial arts of your area? martial art forms/games. photographs of collecting information
Do you know someone Typical practice routines; traditional martial arts, and writing about local/
who is good at them? teachers/gurus; changing ‘Nat’, acrobat, martial games.
Have you seen a young patterns of local games. boat race, etc.
acrobat  or    wrestler
practicing? Who taught
them? For how long have
they learnt the art/game?
What are the new games
in your area that were not
played earlier?
What do you do in the Changing  nature  of
evenings for leisure? What leisure.
if there is no TV? Who
decides what programmes
to watch?
Blow hot blow cold
How many times do you breathe in a minute – on

sitting still, just after a run?

Our breathing – estimates of different rates; chest

expansion and contraction

Story by Zakir Hussain – “Usee se thanda usee se

garam” – Zubaan books.

Observation, , activity of breathing in and out and

observing the difference

How much can you expand in the child’s body while (mirror/glass/on palm);
your chest by breathing exhaling and inhaling; My measuring chest; counting

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

deeply? Can you make a

 

breath – hot and humid;

 

heart beat and breathing

glass cloudy by blowing on tacit understanding of rate , making and using a
it? How do you blow to cooling by blowing and stethoscope
make something cold? Do helping a fire to burn.
you also blow to keep a fire
going?
Clean work – dirty work?
Can you list ten different Dignity of Labour Extract from Gandhi’s Reading and discussion
types of work that people Dependence of society on autobiography; narrative based  on    suggested
do for you. In this list such essential services. from another country – resources.
what work is seen as dirty Choice of work  as a sweepers treated with
and what is seen as clean? societal value. dignity; story of a Valmiki
What would happen if boy discriminated in
there were no one to – school because of parents’
clean our streets/our occupation.
home/clear the garbage?
1.3 ANIMALS

How animals find their food?

If you leave some food Sense organs; Comparison Information about animals’ Observation of animals
outside your house do with humans – activities senses and other functions. to study their response
some animals take it away? such as eating sleeping etc. Narratives about animals sound, food, light and
How do they find it? such as ants, bees, dogs, other stimuli.
Do these animals also birds, snakes etc giving
hear/speak/  see/smell/ ideas about their senses.
eat/ sleep?
What we take from animals?
What animal products do Animal products used by Child’s daily life Listing and drawing of
we use for clothing, us. experience, information items made from animal
shelter, etc.? about products we products.
obtain from animals.

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
Why is the tiger in danger?
Why do people kill wild Protection of wild life; Excerpt from ‘Man eaters Discussion,   reading,
animals? Which are the selling of animal parts. of Kumaon’ by Corbet. poster making activity
animals that are poached? with a message to save
wild life.
People who depend on

animals

Do you know  people Communities dependent Library resources; Discussion on people
who  catch/trap/hunt/ upon animals; hunters illustrations of whose livelihood depend
entertain using animals? restricted to smaller pre-historic hunting on animals; drawing;
Have you seen how snake spaces; changing patterns scenes (Bhimbetka). Discussion on people
charmers/gujjars depend of wild and domestic Narrative of gujjars’ teasing/troubling animals
on animals? animals. or snake charmers’ at the zoo/other places.
What do you understand To be sensitive about relationships with
by cruelty to animals? Do cruelty to animals; realize animals.
you think a snake charmer that people who depend Child’s observation; an
is cruel to the snake? on animals for their story/narrative about an
Have you seen scenes of livelihood   are     not animal and its caretaker ,
hunting in rock paintings necessarily cruel to them. e,g, mahouth/tonga wala
or on ancient seals? Basic idea of pre-historic Films/pictures of
hunters and the wild shooting, skins (tiger) of
animals seen at that time. animals.
1.4 PLANTS

Growing plants

How does a plant grow Seed germination, root Seeds, germinated seeds. Study germination of
from a seed? Can you and shoot axis, baby plant, some seeds, experiment
grow a plant without storage of food in the to determine conditions
seeds? How do you grow seed; seed dispersal. suitable for germination
mangoes/potatoes? (air and water).
Where does the seed
come from? Have you
seen seeds that fly/stick to
your clothes/drift in the
water?

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

Forests and forest people

Have you seen or heard about a forest? How do people live in forests? How is their life threatened by forests being cut? What kinds of foods do they collect from the plants there? What leaves are used for eating on?

Do your parents remember places with trees/forests where there are none today? Why were the trees cut and what is there today?

 

 

 

Tribal life; effects of deforestation; communities dependent on forest products e.g., ‘pattals’, bamboo products, etc.

 

 

 

Information about tribal life, communities dependent on forest

 

 

 

Exploring from parents, reading, and discussion.; tracing tree trunks.

produce, effects of

deforestation.

Protected trees

Have you heard of a park/sanctuary? Who looks after it? Does anybody own it?

Have you seen a place where trees are worshiped or protected by the villagers?

Public/private ownership of trees/forests.

Sacred groves; people’s movements to protect their forests.

Story of the Chipko movement and the women’s role in protecting trees. Enactment of chipko andolan; poster – ‘save trees’; survey and identify any ‘green belt’ in your neighbourhood.
Plants that have come from far

Does tea come from a plant? Where did people first grow tea and what does the plant look like?

Does it grow only in

 

 

 

Plants from different countries.

 

 

 

Song/poem        from Chakmak: “Alu, mirchi, chaiji; Kaun kahan se aye ji” Story about the Chinar tree coming to Kashmir.

 

 

 

Local knowledge, reading, and discussion, reciting the poem together; making tea.

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

some places/climates?

What did people drink
when there was no tea in
India?
2. Food

When food gets spoilt

How does food spoil? Spoilage and wastage of Sharing family experiences Keep some bread, other
How do we know that food. Preservation of Interaction with a person food for a few days – see
food is spoilt? Which food, drying and pickling. involved   with   food how they spoil.
food spoil sooner than production/preservation.
others? What can we do
to prevent food from
getting spoilt?
What do we do to keep it
fresh during travel? Why
do we need to preserve
food? Do you leave food
in your plate?
Who produces the food we eat?
Do     you   know   of On different types of Farmers’ narratives – Study germination of
different   kinds   of farmers. Hardships faced Could take one example seeds, experiment to
farmers? Do all farmers by subsistence farming, from Punjab and the other determine conditions
own their land? including     seasonal from AP. Story of a child suitable for germination;
How do farmers get the migration.  Need for missing school because of Observations in any farm.
seeds they plant every irrigation, fertilizers. his/her family’s seasonal
year? What else besides migration.       Family
seeds is required for a crop members. Visit to a farm.
to grow?
What did people grow earlier?
Did your grandparents or Changing food habits, Information on food Collection of samples or
any elderly person eat the changing crops grown in from different places. pictures of food from

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

same food you eat today?

 

some areas.

 

different places/cultures.

Do all of us eat the same Different food habits in
kind of food? Why do different places/cultures.
we eat different kinds of
food?
When people do not get food
Do you know of times Hunger, famine (as both Print material on different Collection of   pictures
when many people do not a natural and man-made calamities; Narrative of related to natural calmities;
get enough food to eat? phenomenon);   grain the Bengal famine as a discussion on affects.
Have you seen where extra being spoilt in storage; man-made calamity; TV
grain is stored? nutrition   deficiency news bulletins etc.
How do you know when diseases.
you are hungry?
Do you know of people
who get ill because they do
not have enough to eat?
Our mouth – tastes and even digests food!
How do we taste food? Tasting food; chappati/ Child’s experience; some Tasting activity, action of
What happens in the rice becomes sweeter on samples of food items; saliva on rice/chappati.
mouth to the food we chewing; digestion begins story of someone on a
eat? Why do we give in the mouth; glucose is a glucose drip.
glucose to patients? What sugar.
is glucose?
Food for plants?
What do plants need for Water, manure, air for Pictures/visuals of Observations      and
food? Do you know of plants; Insectivorous insectivorous plants. discussion on food for
any plants that eat insects? plants e.g. pitcher plant, plants; making amodel of
What do animals eat? Do Venus fly trap; basic idea a food chain/web.
all animals eat the same of food chain/web.
food? Do animals eat
other animals?

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

3. Shelter

Why different houses

Why do you have different Variation in shelter: Different  houses  in Making models of houses;
kind   of    houses   in regional    difference, different climates and collection of materials
different places? Different difference due to climate regions. used to make houses in
houses in the same place? and materials available, different places.
economic status, etc.
A shelter for everyone?
Does everyone have a Need for living close to Pictures  of   villages, Write and draw the area
shelter to live in? Why do others,  the    idea  of colonies etc. you live in, find out about
people live together in neighbourhoods. people who work for
villages, hamlets, colonies, Need    for      sharing everybody.
neighborhoods? resources and spaces,
division of spaces.
Ants live in colonies?
Do you know how bees/ Ant or bee colony, social A case study of social Observations      and
ants live together in behaviour in insects. organisation in bees/ants. drawings of ant colonies,
colonies? different types of ants.
Times of emergency
Have you heard of houses Disaster and trauma of Newspaper clippings. Discussion, finding out
being   damaged   by losing   one’s    home; about the hospital, police
floods/earthquakes/ community       help; station, fire station, etc.
cyclones/fires/storms/ Hospitals, police stations,
lightening? What would it ambulance, shelters, fire
have felt like? Who are the station, first aid.
people who come to help?
What can you do to help
others before the doctor
comes? Where can we
look for help at such
times? Who runs such
institutions?

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

4. Water

Water from where in earlier times?

From where and how far Estimates of distance Illustrations, story of a Enquiry from grand
did your grandparents get measurement; changes in ‘baoli’/stepwell parents/ other elders;
water? How far do you sources   and     water drawing, model making
have to go for water? availability over time; of a step well.
What are underground community     service
wells/’baolis’? Do you still especially  for    long-
see them being used? Have distance travellers.
you seen a ‘piaao’?
Water flow
From where do farmers Sources for irrigation; Farmer/any local person Interaction with a farmer,
get water to grow crops? different quantities of who works in fields, a visit to a field, making
Do all crops need the water for different crops; plant/crop. water wheel., activity with
same amount of water? Different methods of water wheel.
Have you seen water lifting water; the use of a
flowing upwards? What waterwheel.
are the different ways in
which you have seen water
being lifted? How is
flowing water used to
grind grain?
Plants and animals in water
What kinds of animals and Animals and plant life in Weeds of different kinds; Listing and classification;
plants live in water? Are water; classification in pictures of plants and drawing of water body.
there weeds that are terms of similarities and animals living in different
covering your pond/ differences. habitats.
lake/ river? Can you
classify all the animals you
see around you to show
which ones live in water
and which live on land?

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
What floats, sinks or mixes?
Have you ever seen Basic observations and Various materials to Hands-on activity to
anything floating in water? classification related to experiment with, such as, observe solubility in water,
Can you classify as many floatation and solubility in sugar, stone, oil, salt, sand floatation; discussion,
things around you to see water; oil and water are etc. interpretation.
which float, which sink liquids that do not mix; Story of the donkey and
and which mix with water? basic concepts about the salt/cotton bag.
Does oil mix with water? liquids; litre as unit of
What are the similarities measurement of volume.
and differences in water,
oil, milk, cold drink, etc.?
How do we measure
these?
Mosquitoes and malaria
Is their any stagnant water Stagnant and flowing Health worker or a doctor. Interaction   with   a
in your locality? Do you water; mosquitoes and Newspaper articles on community    doctor;
find more mosquitoes in malaria. malaria etc. observation of site of
stagnant water? Is there any stagnant/flowing water.
way  to    reduce  the
mosquitoes in water?
Have  you   heard of
malaria? In what season do
you find more people
getting ill with malaria?
5. Travel

Petrol or diesel

Do all vehicles need petrol Fuels used in vehicles; Fuel Poems and songs about Discussion, finding out
to run on? What other is costly. Non renewable trains/cars etc.; Enquiry different fuels used,
fuels do you know that source. from adults; the story of comparison of cost of
are used for vehicles? ‘petrol’. petrol and diesel.
What do trains run on? In
the past what did they run

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

on? What do tractors use as fuel? For what other purposes are petrol and diesel used?

Find out the cost of a litre of petrol/diesel in your area? Do all vehicles run an equal distance on a litre of fuel?

Rough and tough

Have you seen or been to a mountain? How and why do you think people make such difficult trips? How do you think they train for it?

 

 

Mountains, expeditions and the spirit of adventure; some idea of training for high altitude; national flag.

 

 

Excerpt from the autobiography of Bachendri Pal; Flag of India atop mount Everest; flags of some countries

 

 

Act/dance to show climbing on a difficult mountain;

Designing a flag for your school; identifying some other flags

Ride on a spacecraft What all do you see in the sky – at day time? And at night? How many of the things you see in the sky are man-made?

Have you heard of people traveling in a space craft?

 

 

The sky in the day and night.

Basic exposure to the aerial view of the earth and what India looks like from there.

 

 

Story of Rakesh Sharma/ Kalpana Chawla.

 

 

Observation from a terrace to draw its aerial view.

Imagine yourself in a spacecraft giving an interview to the PM about what you see from there!

Oldest buildings

Is there any well-known monument/historical place in your area that people come to visit? What are the oldest buildings around your area? Have you traveled far to see any historical monuments?

 

Heritage buildings as a source of knowledge about our past; to be able to understand how they were built; materials usedcome from a variety of places, skills of the crafts person; Some

 

 

Oral narratives from people; pictures.

 

 

Drawing pictures of the building or the monument in your neighbourhood or memory or imagination.

 

Questions Key Concepts/ Issues Suggested Resources Suggested Activities
 

Have you heard of those

 

historical personalities.

personalities who lived in
these monuments or who
built these?
6. Things we Make
and Do

Growing Food

How do we grow food? After basic needs met, Narratives; talking to Observing and talking
What tools do we use for exploration leading to elders, farmers, those about   processes  of
preparing the field? For improving and overcoming involved in growing and growing food; drawing
cutting and harvesting? human        limitations; cooking food. tools used in different
For cutting and cooking greater expression   of Dump se pump’ by Arvind processes; finding out
different  vegetables/ creativity; overuse   of Gupta. about different dishes
dishes? natural resources needs to made from the same grain,
How do we water the be checked. say, wheat/rice.
crops? How do we lift Some idea of the story of Making    a      simple
water through a pump or a grain from the field to waterwheel, sprinkler,
a waterwheel? Can we our plate – in terms of pump.
make a water wheel, processes and the tools
sprinkler, etc.? used. Different things
made from  the  same
grain, say, wheat/rice.
Simple observations of
water lifting in fields or in
homes; making of a water
wheel, sprinkler, etc.

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FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

1. How many chapters are there in the CBSE Class 4 Environmental Studies?

The Central Board of Secondary Education has included a total of 27 chapters in Class 4 Environmental Studies syllabus.

2. Where can I get the complete syllabus of CBSE Class 4 Environmental Studies for free?

The PDF of the syllabus can be downloaded on Extramarks for free. It only takes a few seconds to find and download the syllabus for CBSE Class 4 Environmental Studies.

3. What is the importance of Environmental Studies for c\Class 4 CBSE students?

The subject covers various topics that offer the perfect knowledge of the world and environment around us. The students will be well-prepared for the higher classes will the well-designed syllabus.

4. Where can I find the extra Environmental Studies questions?

Extramarks help the student strengthen their exam preparation by offering them the CBSE extra questions and important formulas that are extracted from all the important chapters of Class 4 Environmental Studies.

5. Is Environmental Studies for CBSE Class 4 tough? And which books should I study?

The subject is not very tough but the Class 4 students have to study a total of 27 chapters, which can be hectic. The NCERT Environmental Studies books for Class 7 are more than enough to get high scores in the examination.