NCERT Solutions for Class 4th The World Around Us Chapter 1 Our School, Our Team! — Let us reflect

A school is run by many people, and each one plays a different role. Fill each box with one of them.

Now the table. Write one line for each person, saying what they do for the school.

You may also add the gardener who looks after the school garden, the sweeper who keeps the ground clean, the librarian who gives out books, and the guard at the gate.

Because a school has many different jobs, and no single person can do all of them.

• Every job gets done on time — the bus reaches, the bell rings, the class begins, the meal is ready.
• Each person does what they are best at. The teacher teaches, the cook cooks, the driver drives.
• Children stay safe, because many grown-ups are watching over different places.
• The school stays clean, because the caretaker, the teachers and the children all keep it clean.
• Problems get solved quickly — a broken fan or a blocked tap is mended before it troubles anyone.

See what happens when one part of the team is missing. If the bus driver does not come, children reach late and miss the first lesson. If the cook does not cook, the children stay hungry all afternoon.

Do this: think about one ordinary school day and write down every small thing you do that helps someone else. That list is your role.

A good answer names actions, not feelings. "I love my school" is not a role. "I water the plants on my turn" is.

Sample answer: I am a student, so my first role is to come to school on time and finish my work. I keep my desk and my classroom clean, and I always put waste in the dustbin. It is my turn to water the plants in the school garden on Wednesdays. I help my friends when they cannot do a sum. I do not leave the tap running after drinking water. On our cleanliness drive I picked up the plastic lying on the ground. When a new child joined our class, I sat with her and showed her the way to the library.

Do this:

1. Make a group of four or five friends and give your group a name.
2. Choose one activity from the three, and ask your teacher for the day and the place.
3. Make a list of the material you will need, and bring it from home.
4. Tree plantation: dig a small pit, put the sapling in, press the soil around it, water it, and put a guard around it. Decide who will water it on which day.
5. Cleanliness drive: wear gloves, carry two bags — one for dry waste and one for wet waste — and never pick up glass or anything sharp.
6. Making artefacts: collect only fallen leaves and flowers. Pin banana or sal leaves together with small sticks to make a leaf-plate, or thread flowers on a string to make a garland.
7. After the activity, sit together and fill the table. Write honestly what you learnt.

Sample answer:

Ans: Bus stand (bus stop).

The line that gives it away: "Buses come and buses go, To places high and low." Only at a bus stand do buses keep coming and going. The first line helps too — it is "a place where people wait… to catch a ride".

Where it is hidden: in picture 3 — a bus standing beside a shelter, a board that reads BUS STAND, a bench, and people waiting there.

Ans: Post office.

The line that gives it away: "I keep letters far and near, With stamps and parcels waiting here." Letters, stamps and parcels belong only to a post office. "Write a note and drop it in" points to the letter box outside it.

Where it is hidden: in picture 4 — a building with POST OFFICE written on its board, a red letter box standing outside, and a postman walking away with his bag.

Ans: Market.

The line that gives it away: "Fruits, vegetables and other goods are found." A place that sells fruits and vegetables and where "people shop and meet" is a market.

Where it is hidden: in picture 1 — two stalls with coloured awnings, trays of fruit and vegetables, and people buying with bags in their hands.

Ans: Park (playground).

The line that gives it away: "With swings and slides to enjoy your day." Swings and slides are put up in a park. "Laughter here is a common sound" fits it too.

Where it is hidden: in picture 2 — a swing with a child on it, a tree, two children running, and a ball lying on the grass.

Do this:

1. Choose one public place — a library, a hospital, a railway station, a temple, a bank, a playground.
2. Think of three clues: what people do there, what you see there, and what you hear or smell there.
3. Write each clue as one short line. Try to make the last words of two lines rhyme.
4. Never write the name of the place inside the riddle. End with a question such as What am I?
5. Read it out to your friends and let them guess. Write the answer upside down at the bottom.

Sample answer 1 — a library

Shelf after shelf, standing in a row,
Full of stories that help you grow.
Read here softly, please do not shout,
Take a book home and then bring it out.
What am I?
Ans: Library

Sample answer 2 — a hospital

White coats move from bed to bed,
Here they mend a hurt or a head.
Medicine, bandage, care and rest,
Come to me and you will feel best.
What am I?
Ans: Hospital

Do this:

1. Make three groups. Each group picks one thing in the locality that is not good enough today.
2. Write it in the Situation column in one plain sentence — what is wrong, and where.
3. In the Activity column write what the group will actually do about it, with a day and a place.
4. In Your role, each child writes the one job they themselves will do. Do not write "I will help".
5. Show the table to your teacher before you begin, and take an elder along.

Sample answer:

Yes. Working together makes our activities far more useful. Here are my reasons.

1. More gets done in the same time. One broom cleans one path. Twenty brooms clean the whole park in that same hour.
2. More ideas come up. Each person thinks of something the others missed — two bags instead of one, or a guard around every sapling.
3. Each person does what they are best at. One draws the poster, one digs the pits, one carries the water.
4. More people are helped. A drive by one child cleans a corner; a drive by the whole class cleans the park that everyone uses.
5. It becomes fun. People who enjoyed the work come back the next time, so the good work keeps going.

When I take part, the community gains in five ways.

1. The place itself gets better. The park becomes clean, the lane gets shady trees, and the elderly neighbours get the help they need.
2. Others join in. In the story, the children began the work and then their parents and the other villagers joined them. People follow what they see.
3. Public property lasts longer. A bench that is mended and a light that works stay useful for years.
4. People begin to trust one another. Neighbours who have worked side by side help each other again the next time.
5. I learn something I keep. I learn a skill, and I learn the habit of helping, and I will carry both into my grown-up life.

Sample answer: If I water the saplings in our lane every Monday and Thursday, in a few years the lane will have shade. People waiting for the bus will stand under those trees. My little brother will play under them. That is how one small job of mine helps the whole community.

Do this:

1. Ask the oldest person in your home. They usually remember the most.
2. Ask these questions and write the answers in a notebook:
   • What is the name of the craft?
   • What material is it made from?
   • Which tools are used?
   • Who in our family or village used to make it?
   • How long does one piece take?
   • Where is it sold, and who buys it?
   • Do people still make it today?
3. Write five or six lines, and draw a picture of the craft beside them.

Sample answer: My grandmother told me about basket making, which is famous in our region. The baskets are made from bamboo. The bamboo is first cut into thin strips and soaked in water so that it bends easily. Then the strips are woven over and under, round and round, until the basket takes shape. My grandmother's uncle used to make them, and one basket took him almost a whole day. The baskets are used to carry vegetables and grain, and are sold in the weekly market. Today fewer people make them, because plastic baskets are cheaper.