Standard IV Environmental Education Contents

Section I: The Environment Near & Far2 Things Around Us....2 Passionate about Plants.....2 The Role of Plants2 Plant Parts2 Roots, Stems & Leaves..........3 How do Plants Make Food...4 Organic Food ..4 Inside the Human Body .......4 Physical Feature of Your Locality.5 Simple Natural Phenomena .5 Section II: The Environment & A Childs Needs.6 Shelter: The Roof Over Our Heads..6 Clothing....7 Health & Hygiene..........7 Health & Hygiene Cont8 Separation Song8 Section III & IV: Care & Protection Of The Environment...9 Natural Resources.9 Forests: An Important Resource....9 Oh Tree! ............9 Forests & Humans9 Plants & Animals in Danger10 The World & Us......10

Standard IV Section I: The Environment Near & Far

Things Around Us
Last year we learned that the world around us is divided into Living and Non-Living things. Characteristics of Living Things: Name the SIX characteristics of all living things: 1. All living things REPRODUCE 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Living things can be further divided into two main groups, Plants and Animals. Can you think of a living thing that is neither a plant nor an animal?

The Role of Plants

Plants keep the soil in its place. The soil's richness they replace. Food for all they provide, And places for animals to live & hide. Plants give us shade from summer's heat Produce the oxygen we share Enrich the soil and keep it there. Foods and fibers, fuel and wood, Medicines that do us good Many things we need to live Come from things the plants can give.
Ref: Missouri Botanical Gardens

Plant Parts
Almost all plants are made up of the following basic parts: Roots, Stems, Leaves, Flowers, Fruits, and Seeds. Label the different parts of the plant below & with your group discuss how each part is important.

Passionate About Plants

Plants are alive, just like people and animals. The one thing that is common to all plants (with a few exceptions) is a process called photosynthesis, which allows plants to convert energy from the sun and CO2 into food. Plants provide humans with food and oxygen and this makes them the most important part of our environment. Did you know ??? There are more than 49,000 species of plants in India and over 400,000 species of plants all over the world.

Seeds

Standard IV Section I: The Environment Near & Far

Roots, Stems & Leaves
Roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. Roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. That's 6 plant parts that people need. Roots hold plants firmly in the ground, The stem grows up from the base around, The leaves are where the food is made, Flowers so colourful to attract the bees, The fruit gets ripe and holds the seeds, The seeds get buried in the earth, and thats how a new plant is given birth. A carrot is a root that I eat So theres a root inside of me. A celery is a stem that I eat There's a stem inside of me A lettuce is a leaf that I eat. There's a leaf inside of me A cauliflower is a flower I eat There's a flower inside of me An apple is a fruit that I eat There's a fruit inside of me A sunflower is a seed that I eat Theres a seed inside of me Now you know what this whole world needs, It's roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits & seeds. Adapted from: Steve Van Zandt and the Banana Slug String Band.

A Plant Part Problem

Try and identify the different fruits and vegetables below? What parts of the plant do they come from?

Standard IV Section I: The Environment Near & Far

How do Plants Make Food?
We have seen that the different parts of a plant give us various types of foods. But how do plants make this food? The answer is : Photosynthesis Lets think of photosynthesis as a recipe for food. To make food plants need: 1. Carbon dioxide (CO2) 2. Water 3. Sunlight Plants use the energy from the sun to make sugars or food by combining water with CO2. All this takes place inside the leaves, which act like the plants kitchens. As the sugars are made plants produce oxygen as waste.

Inside the Human Body

The human body is amazing and complicated. On the inside the body is divided into several different parts, each with its own important job to do. These parts include the Bones (skeleton), Muscle, Blood and Organs like the heart, kidneys and lungs.

Group Activity: Body Bits Select any part of your body and do the following : 1. Name the part of the body : BONES 2. Draw or find a picture of it

Organic Food
Organic food is food that is grown working with nature rather than against her. Many people think it is safer and healthier to eat organic food. Imagine that you are a reporter. With your group try to write an article on what organic food is and why we should eat organic food?

3. Write what you would like to know about that part of the body: I would like to know how bones are joined together? 4. Find out one amazing fact about that part of the body: Did you know that there are 206 bones in the body ? 5. Write about how you can keep that part of the body healthy: Bones can be kept healthy by having lots of calcium.

Standard IV Section I: The Environment Near & Far

Physical Features of Your Locality
The city you live in, the building or house you live in, the places you visit, are all part of your locality. Your locality can be natural and man-made. Class Activity: Changing Spaces With your class take a walk outside your school. Choose a partner and with them look at all the things that are man made and look at the things that are a natural part of the scenery. For e.g. a hill or a river is natural and a building or a bridge is man made. Go back to class and with your partner draw two pictures. Call one The Past and the other one The Future. In the picture of the past show what you think your school locality looked like 300 years ago when all the man made things were not there yet. In the picture of the Future draw what the school locality will look like a 100 years from now. Did you know ??? Cities were once farmlands and forests. With more and more people farmlands are being converted into cities and forests are cut to be made into farms to grow food that people need.

Simple Natural Phenomena

Natural Phenomena are events or processes that occur in nature and can be recognised by at least one of our five senses. That is, they can be seen, heard, felt, smelt and yes even tasted. Some of the more common & simple natural phenomena are listed below: 1. Day and Night We have day and night because the Earth rotates on it's axis. At any given time half of the Earth faces the sun. This part has day. The other half of the Earth faces away from the Sun. It is dark and has night. 2. Thunder and Lightening Lightning is a bright flash of electricity, it produces thunder. As a lightning bolt travels through the sky it opens up a little hole in the air. Once then light is gone the air moves in and NASA creates a sound that we hear as thunder 3. Mystery Natural Phenomenon Can you identify the natural phenomenon in the picture on the right? How is it formed? Can you think of any plants and animals that get their names from this phenomenon.

Standard III Section II: The Environment & A Childs Needs

Shelter: The Roof Over our Heads
Humans have many different kinds of shelters or homes. In ancient times some people lived in caves while others lived in trees. Today, most of us live in buildings and houses, huts or even in slums. Houses are built from a lot of different materials. They may be built from clay, bricks, straw and wood. Or they may be built from steel, cement and glass. The nature of each house changes based on the people who live in it and where it is built. Activity: A House of a Difference This is a village in Maharashtra called Kambalwadi. This village uses solar energy for lighting and gobar gas for cooking. The street lamp that you see in the picture runs on solar energy. Group Activity :Look at the two pictures of Kambalwadi and answer the questions given below : 1. How is the entrance of the village decorated ? 2. What are the homes made with ? 3. What sort of roofs do the homes have ? 4. Why do you think the roofs are shaped like that ? Look at these picture of Mumbai city and answer these questions: 1. What are the two main types of homes you can see in this picture ? 2. What is the settlement that is in front of the building called ? 3. Do you think the rich live there or the poor live there? 4. Do you think these homes have running water and electricity ? 5. What materials do you think have been used to build these homes?

Compare the pictures of the village to those of the city. What are the similarities and differences between homes in the city and those in the village ? Where would you prefer to stay- In a village or a city ? Why ?

Standard III Section II: The Environment & A Childs Needs

Clothing
Clothing refers to the garments human beings wear on their bodies. Clothing is made from cloth or fabric, which can come from plants and animals. Cryptic Clothing Solve the clues below and the find the words in the jumble below. 1. Cloth made from a plant. 2. Cloth made from an a sheep's fur. 3. Women in India wear this dress. 4. A machine used to weave cloth. 5. Silkworms live on these trees. 6. This is a man made cloth. 7. Threads are ________ together to make cloth. 8. Plant material used to make Chappals. 9. Material is used to make ropes. 10. A cloth worn during summer 11. A soft cloth made from insect fibres. 12. Indian men wear a _________.
T S K L H I E E E Y N T T T N S H A I E U Y I L K Y A J I Y R R E L U P H C E V H L O K E W I R A S U V A C E

Health & Hygiene

Keeping your body clean is an important part of keeping yourself healthy and helping you to feel good about yourself. Staying nice and clean is called being hygienic. We are far less likely to fall sick if we are hygienic and are careful about what we eat and do. Here are some things you can do to stay healthy Can you add to the list? 1. Have a bath everyday 2. Wash your hands before you eat 3. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables 4._____________________________ 5._____________________________ 6._____________________________ One of the really terrible things you can do to your body and health is smoking. Heres a little more about why Smoking Stinks

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Smoking is one of the worst things kids or adults can do to their bodies. Youve probably heard that smoking can cause cancer and heart disease. That's true, but theres a lot more Smoking also causes yellow teeth, bad breath, more colds and coughs and it can make you really tired. So if you want to stay clean and healthy, kick some butts.

N U F L S

M A

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O W A W Z T T

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After all the words are found the unused letters reveal a hidden message!

Answers:1.Cotton, 2.Wool, 3.Sari, 4.Loom, 5.Mulberry, 6.Nylon, 7.Woven, 8.Rubber, 9.Jute, 10.Linen, 11.Silk, 12.Kurta

Standard III Section II: The Environment & A Childs Needs

Health and Hygiene Continued
If we want to stay healthy we have to look after our selves and keep ourselves clean. But, it is also very important to keep our environment clean. Waste or garbage is something that makes our environment dirty or polluted and it is this same waste that can cause and spread disease. In most cities and towns in India, you see it everywhere - Garbage ! In every home, on every road, in every school, garden, railway line and building your eye can never miss its ugly sight and your nose can never miss its yucky smell you can call it garbage, kachra , waste or rubbish its all the same! What is Waste or Garbage? Why is it unhealthy for waste or garbage to collect in our environment? Do you know of any diseases that are caused by the collection of waste? Label the pictures shown below as WET (W) or DRY (D) waste:

Separation Song
Segregate, separate, wet from dry and dry from wet, Fruit peels, vegetable peels, Remains of a meal, Its all wet waste. Wet waste rots and becomes food for the plants and crops. Dry waste is paper , plastic, bottles and all kinds of packets. All we need to do, Is separate the two, Wet from dry and dry from wet, Thats how we can save our cities from becoming garbage heaps !!

Garbage will never go away unless we start doing something ourselves. We need to separate the wet waste from the dry waste and teach everyone about this.

Standard III Section III & IV: Care & Protection of the Environment
Natural Resources
What are Natural Resources? Nature provides us with many different things that we need. All of these things together are called Natural Resources. Food, air, water are some of the natural resources we have already talked about. There are many other natural resources, things that arent as obvious as food, but that are very important for our survival. These things include the land, oceans, forests & wild life, just to mention a few. Discuss with your group and name some more Natural Resources.

Oh Tree !
Oh, TreeYoure the best gift of nature You give us time to build our homes You give us fuel to keep us warm. You give us shelter from the rain, You give us food such as fruits & nuts You give homes to wildlife. You help prevent floods. You make the air fresh & pollution free. You make this a healthy & scenic world Theres no thing more useful than a tree.

Forests and Humans

Forests used to cover half of the Earths surface, now they cover only a quarter. One cause of this destruction is illegal logging for wood. This wood ends up in our homes and offices. So your furniture may have in fact contributed to the destruction of the world's rainforests. Forest Findings As a group find out the following : 1. Why are forests so useful? Look at the poem above for help. 2. What are the things that we make with wood ? 3. What can we use instead of wood to make these products? Or how can we use less wood ? 4. Why else are forests being lost all over the world?

Forests : An Important Resource

Forests or jungles are some of the most important natural resources that we have. They are home to plants, animals and birds and have many other uses as well. Each year around 13 million hectares of forest are lost. That's 25 hectares every minute, the size of 36 football fields. .

Malene Thyssen, www.mtfoto.dk/malene/

5. Can you think of any solutions to stop the loss of forests?

Standard III Section III & IV: Care & Protection of the Environment
Plants and Animals in Danger
When forests are destroyed and the seas and rivers are polluted then the plants and animals that live in them also die. These living things slowly become EXTINCT. An animal or plant species is said to be extinct when it has not been seen for over 50 years. Dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago but, in the last 50 years, more animals and plants have become extinct. When there are very few of a certain type of plant or animal left (and they are nearly extinct) then these plants and animals are called ENDANGERED. Can you and your group name the endangered animals shown in the pictures below:

The World & Us

A. Chelsia, 6, India 4th Prize winner 15th UNEP painting competition

Group Activity: Look at the picture above and then try to answer the questions given below: 1. What is the face in the picture representing? 2. Why is half the face crying ? 3. What message is this picture trying to convey to us ? Can you draw a picture of your own where you are trying to show that the earth is giving us forests and water and animals and birds & we are destroying all of these. What state will the earth be in? Group Activity: Protecting Home Name any two things that you need to live which come from the earth. Find out how those things are getting depleted, polluted or being destroyed. Find out about what will happen if these things are no more. Write about what you can do to stop these two things from being destroyed.

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