The Big Banyan Tree

I am Aditya. I like summer vacations a lot. I visit my village where my

grandparents live. I enjoy the evening walks with my grandma the most. She tells

me a lot about life in the village.

There are a lot of trees in the village like the peepal, neem, mango, tamarind,

coconut and banyan. My favourite has always been the Big Banyan Tree by the

river.

My friends in the village and I sit under the Big Banyan Tree and grandma tells us

many interesting stories. The tree is home to many animals and birds. We often

find squirrels running up and down, sparrows chirping, cuckoos cooing and crows

cawing. Monkeys love to swing and jump from one branch to the other. At times

we have fun feeding them peanuts.

Grandma tells us that the banyan tree is different from the other trees. It is very

large and has lots and lots of leaves. It has many thick branches that hang down

like trunks, with roots at the end. These roots are known as hanging roots. They go

deep into the ground and give support to the branches. The tree needs a wide open

area to grow. We were surprised to know that this Big Banyan Tree is more than

five hundred years old.

The villagers have community gatherings around the banyan tree. They discuss the

various problems in the village and try to find solutions. Sometimes they sit, relax

and chat under the shade and enjoy the cool breeze.

Trees are our friends. They provide us with fresh air to breathe and many useful

things. We should protect them and not cut them or harm them.

Word Meanings provide – to make available

gathering – a meeting when many people come together as a group

protect – to care for

solutions – answers to problems

Reading

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

a. Banyan trees grow in ______________________________.

(a) wide open areas (b) small gardens (c) homes

b. Banyan tree is __________________________.

(a) home to animals (b) home to human beings (c) home to fishes

c. Squirrels __________________________the banyan tree.

(a) jump and shout (b) dance and sing (c) run up and down

d. We should ________________________________________________.

(a) cut and harm the trees (b) protect the trees and not cut them (c) pull and

break the trees

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

____________________________________________________________.

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

____________________________________________________________.

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

____________________________________________________________.

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

_____________ _____________ _____________ _____________

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

The long nose

of an elephant

is called a

trunk

The thick

stem of a

tree is called

a trunk

A box in which

we store

valuables and

other things is

called a trunk

Swimming

costume that

boys wear is

called a trunk

Vocabulary Words that describe the banyan tree

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

_______________________________________________________.

_______________________________________________________.

B. Here is a list of a few friends of the banyan tree. Write (A) for animals, (B)

for birds and (P) for people in the boxes provided.

sparrow monkey crow villagers squirrels cuckoos children

Grammar

Naming words

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

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

Aditya, children, birds, monkey, village and river are people, animals and places

in the lesson.

Trees, leaves, peanuts are things mentioned in the lesson.

Names of people, animals, places or things are called naming words.

B. Write the names of any three things you find in these places

Common Nouns Naming words that are common names of a person, place, animal or a thing are

called common nouns.

Example:

playground hospital forest classroom bedroom supermarket airport

Proper Nouns Naming words that identify a person, place, animal or a thing are called proper

nouns. Example: Vijay, Mona, Angela, Salarjung Museum, Goa, Delhi, Taj Mahal……..

We do not use capital letters for common nouns unless the sentence begins

with that word.

Proper nouns begin with capital letters.

Delhi

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

the girl

Let‟s recall the days of the week:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday

camel cow parrot sun flower petrol bunk

school woman man boy girl museum

Kung Fu Panda Tajmahal Salarjung Museum M S Dhoni

Day is a common

name or a common noun while Thursday and Friday are special names or proper

nouns. They always begin with a capital letter.

Some other days are special too.

Examples: Sports Day, Friendship Day, Independence Day, Teachers‟ Day and

Republic Day

Activity: Teacher’s note:

Ask children to tell the names of the days of the week. Ask them to identify the days

that are normally holidays for them at school. (Saturday and Sunday)

Apart from the normal holidays, they also get holidays on special days. Encourage

them to think of some of the special days when they have holidays.

C. Now ask them to write the names of these special days

S. No. Special Days a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

D. Read the passage and underline all the proper nouns in red

and common nouns in blue. Sonia and Raghu went to the park and saw their friends playing there. Reena and Preeti

were swinging on the swings. Manas was playing with a football. Roy and Param were

on the see-saw. Meeta was flying a kite. Vijay was reading a book under a tree. Karthik

was in the sandpit. They also saw a few birds flying.

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

columns.

Proper Nouns Common Nouns

E. Rearrange these groups of words to make complete sentences.

Then circle the special names or proper nouns. a. house very is Reena‟s big.

____________________________________________________________.

b. are for going we a to Paris vacation.

____________________________________________________________.

c. my is name sister‟s Shruti.

____________________________________________________________.

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

____________________________________________________________.

e. this not holiday is Saturday a.

____________________________________________________________.

f. is Golconda Fort Hyderabad in.

____________________________________________________________.

g. is of the India capital New Delhi.

____________________________________________________________.

h. my is a Ridhi friend dancer.

____________________________________________________________.

i. is tall a Manas boy.

____________________________________________________________.

j. an Preeti artist is.

____________________________________________________________.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns Look at these pictures. What do we see?

We see four trees, three ducks, six books, two ants and five balloons.

four trees three ducks six books two ants five balloons

Trees, ducks, books, ants and balloons are countable nouns, because they can be

counted.

Now look at the pictures given below. What do we see?

We see a glass and three bottles of water; a glass, a can and two bottles of milk; a

bowl and three sacks of rice; three packets and a spoon full of sugar.

Can we say, “How many milks did you drink in the morning?” No.

We say, “How many glasses of milk did you drink in the morning?” One glass.

Similarly, we cannot say, two waters, five milks, three sugars or three rices.

Water, milk, rice and sugar are uncountable nouns, because they cannot be

counted. Uncountable nouns do not have plural form.

a glass of water three bottles of water

a glass of milk two bottles of milk a can of milk

a bowl of rice three sacks of rice

three packets of sugar a spoonful of sugar

Activity We can count animals, birds, insects, leaves, trees, temples, villages and people.

How many animals are mentioned in the lesson?

Monkey and squirrel – two animals

How many boys are there in the lesson? One boy – Aditya

How many birds are there in the lesson? Three birds – sparrows, cuckoos

and crows

How many trees are there in the lesson? Six trees – peepal, neem, mango,

tamarind, coconut and banyan

We have given a number to these things.

Similarly, we can say, two bottles of water, five cans of milk, three packets of

sugar and four bags of rice.

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

the boxes given below.

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

a. I add two spoons of Bournvita to milk.

b. Rohit has five roses.

c. She gave three waters to the man.

d. We buy one sugar from the store.

e. My mom has lot of works pending.

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

help box.

slides swings sandpit jungle-gym water

playground play friends flowering

I am _______________. I go to _________________ School. There is a big

___________________ in my school. I go there to ___________ with my

_____________. There are many things in the ________________ like the

_________________, ________________, ________________ and

__________________. I enjoy playing on / in the_________________ the most. In

one corner of the playground, there are lots of __________________ plants. At

times, I _____________ these plants.

B. Look at the picture and identify the different things that you

see. Write the letters and complete the crossword puzzle

football girls birds boys swings slide sandpit flowers grass clouds seesaw

Speaking Visit a garden and describe what you see there.

Hello friends! Last weekend, I went to a _________________

I saw ………………………………………………………………………………

Listening Note to teacher:

Read out a newspaper clipping slowly. Ask children to listen carefully and list out

the naming words – common, proper, countable and uncountable nouns and in the

columns given.

Common Nouns Proper Nouns Countable Nouns Uncountable Nouns

s

s

s

b

i

r

d

s i w g n

i l

a o f

b

t o l l

y

g r a s

s f

r o

l w

l i d e

r

s a

u

l

d p n i t

o

e

e

s

a

w

c

Weekend Worksheet

A. Fill in the missing letters to complete the words

s__a__r__w b__ __y __ n s__u__ __r__ __s ch__ __d__ __n

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

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

a. My friends and I like to sit under the _____________________.

(a) Rose plant (b) Banyan tree (c) Tomato plant (d) Coconut tree

b. Monkeys love to _________________________.

(a) eat and sleep (b) swing and jump (c) run and play (d) sing and dance

c. Trees provide us with __________________________.

(a) fresh air to breathe (b) beds to sleep (c) eggs to eat (d) milk to drink

d. A banyan tree lives for more than ______________________ years.

(a) two hundred (b) five hundred (c) one hundred (d) seven hundred

C. Some common nouns and proper nouns are mixed up in the

basket. Help Sonia and Raghu to separate them into the two

boxes given

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

of the ten differences