Current Affairs 3rd Class

Amazing Facts

• Elephant grass in Africa is named after elephants as it is about 4.5 meter high and even elephants can hide in this grass.
• The average size tree can provide enough wood to make 170,000 pencils.

  LEARNING OBJECTIVES This lesson will help you to: -

• understand different kinds of plants, their diversities, sizes, shapes etc.
• observe different types of leaf diversities-colour, texture, shedding season etc.
• learn different types of things we get from plants and how we use them in our daily life.
• know about different types of leaves which we can eat.

  QUICK CONCEPT REVIEW What are plants? Plants are living things. They occur in many different shapes and sizes. Plants grow in soil or water. They make their own food and store their food in roots, stems, leaves, fruits or flowers. Plants produce flowers of different colours, shapes and sizes. PARTS OF PLANTS

Roots absorb water and minerals from the soil and hold the plant firmly on the ground. Roots are of many types. For example: fibrous roots, tap roots, aerial roots and storage roots.

Stems give support to the plant above the ground and carry water and minerals absorbed by the roots to different parts of the plant.

Leaves make food for the plant. They also help the plant to breathe. Leaves are also called the food factory of the plant.

Flowers turn into fruits. Fruits may have seeds or may be seedless. Therefore they are very important part of a plant. There is a wide variety of flowers.

5. Fruits have seeds or they may be seedless. Seeds can give rise to a new plant of the same kind.  TYPES OF PLANTS 1. Trees are the large plants with a tall, strong and woody stem. (a) Some stems are thick, strong and woody. They are covered with bark. For example: A stem of Neem. (b) Some stems are thick but they are soft. For example: A banana stem. 2. Climbers and Creepers grow along the ground or up the sides of walls or trees. These have a weak stem. These cannot grow erect without support. For example: Money Plant, Watermelon. 3. Grass is of many kinds. They can be short or tall, brown, yellow or green. 4. Shrubs are small plants. They have many separate stems which grow from near the ground. The stems are hard and do not bend easily. 5. Herbs are plants that are valued for flavour, scent, medicinal or other qualities. Weeds are also herbs. Weeds are unwanted plants that grow where we don't want them to grow! They can grow almost everywhere more...

LEARNING OBJECTIVES This lesson will help you to: -

• identify different animals with varying sizes.
• observe different features of animals.
• understand how different animals move.
• know their habitat.
• learn about different types of insects.
• explore the world of birds-their living places, eating habits, common features like feathers and sounds produced by them.

  Interesting Facts

• Human beings, cats, dogs, cows, elephants, tigers, lions, kangaroos etc. are mammals that live on land and give birth to young ones.
• Kangaroos and koalas have special pouch on their stomach and back respectively. They use it to carry their young ones.
• Penguins are flightless birds.

                            QUICK CONCEPT REVIEW If we look around we will notice different types of animals around us. Some of them are big, some are small, some live on land, some live under water, some can fly, some only crawl and so on.   CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS Terrestrial animals are those that live on the land, either completely or mostly inside burrows below the surface. "Terre" means earth and terrestrial means "of the earth". Terrestrial animals have various features that enable them to live on land. They have legs to walk. They have well-developed sense organs. Their claws and teeth are very sharp which enables them to catch and eat their prey. For example: Rabbit, Cow, Kangaroo, Cat, dog, Camel.   An aerial animal is any creature that spends time in the air, typically in flight. Their bones are light and hollow to make their movement easy in the air. They fly with the help of wings. For example birds and insects. Birds have feathers, a beak and no teeth. They eat fruits, nuts, plants, seeds, nectar and various small animals. Do you know that birds also talk to each other and also give signals to their friends. You must have heard the voices of Parrots, Crows and Cuckoos. Some parrots (Macaw) are known to copy our voices. You must have seen many flies, mosquitos, ants, wasps and grasshoppers at various places in your surroundings. These are all insects. Insects are the most diverse groups of animals on earth. They are found in nearly all environments. Some of these insects can crawl, for example ants, some can fly for example bees and wasps. Have you ever been stung by a wasp? The wasp sting is very painful. You should immediately rush to the doctor in such cases.   Reptiles Reptiles have scales on their bodies. They are not as slimy as the amphibians. Lizards, snakes, crocodiles, alligators, tortoise and turtle belong to reptile group. Snakes have no legs, they have two teeth called fangs, but they don’t chew food, rather swallow it. Reptiles are cold blooded vertebrates.   Arboreal animals live and dwell in trees. These animals consider trees to be their home base, more...

LEARNING OBJECTIVES This lesson will help you to: -

• understand the properties of water.
• determine various sources of water.
• know about various uses of water.
• learn the importance of water conservation.
• learn and incorporate different ways of saving water.
• understand the concept of water cycle.

  Real Life Examples

• When someone is sweating, the sweat evaporates and cools down the person.
• Mechanical cooling apparatus like refrigerating and air- conditioners use evaporating gas to extract heat from what we like to cool down
• The phenomenon of condensation can be seem when water appears on your windshield after you park your car outside on a particularly humid night.

  Amazing Facts

• A rat is the only animal that can stay the longest without water.
• It takes 1900 liter of water to make 1 kg of rice.
• A person can survive without food for more than 30 days but less than a week without water.
• The longest river in the world is the Nile River. It reaches 6650 kilometers in length.
• Set in the desert of Dubai, the Tiger woods golf course uses 4 million gallons of water every day to maintain its lush appearance.

  QUICK CONCEPT REVIEW

• Water is the most common substance found on Earth. About 3/4 of Earth is covered with water.
• The body content of plants, animals and humans comprises mostly of water.

  STATES OF WATER Water exists in three states- Solid (Ice), Liquid (Water) and Gas (Vapour/Steam). Earth is the only planet that supports all these states. As seen in the picture, we can observe that when ice is heated it gets converted to water which on further heating turns into vapour. When vapour is cooled it becomes water again. And on freezing the water we see the formation of ice.                                     PROPERTIES OF WATER Water is

• Shapeless i.e. it takes the shape of the container in which it is poured
• Colourless-pure water is colourless
• Tasteless-pure water has no taste. It can be made sweet or salty by adding sugar/salt to it.
• Odorless-pure water has no smell.

  SOURCES OF WATER Rainwater, oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, ponds and springs are natural sources of water. Dams, wells, tube wells, hand pumps, canals etc., are manmade sources of water.    Some of the rain water seeps through the more...

LEARNING OBJECTIVES This lesson will help you to: -

• study about the reasons behind the changing weather.
• learn about different seasons in our country.
• study about wind and air currents.

  Real Life Examples

• India is one of the highest flood prone countries in the world coastal areas and the states close to the seas or rivers are more prone to get flooded. In recent past, Assam and Jammu and Kashmir have faced severe floods due to high level of rainfall.

  Amazing facts

• The highest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica is 14.6°C, recorded on January 5, 1974.
• The Met Office uses a super-computer- one of the fastest in the world – to help make its weather forecasts. Its newest machine has as much computing power as 20,000 normal PCs.
• The South Pole is the least sunny place-only 182 days a year get sunshine.

  QUICK CONCEPT REVIEW Temperature

• It is the measure of how hot or how cold the day is.
• It is measured in Celsius.
• The temperature of the environment varies from place to place and depends on various factors.
• Maximum temperature is the hottest/highest
• Temperature noted in the day and minimum temperature is the coldest/ lowest temperature noted in the day.

  Weather

• The state of the atmosphere at a place and time with regard to heat, cloudiness, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain, etc.
• Weather can be changed by sun, rain, clouds and wind.

Sun  

• Sun gives us solar energy that is a renewable source, It also gives us heat and light.                                
• The heat of the sun keeps the Earth warm.
• The sun rises in the early morning and sets in the evening. As the sun rises, the temperature starts to rise and in the afternoon, maximum temperature of the day can be recorded. As the sun sets, the sun disappears and thus the temperature also decreases.
• The sun also plays a crucial role in the water cycle as it helps in evaporation of water from the surface of Earth, which eventually comes down as rain.

Rain  

• Rain is very important for cooling down the temperature of the Earth.
• Rains are also very important for the farmers as the plants get water.
• Excess of rains causes a lot of damage and also causes floods.
• Cherrapunji in more...

LEARNING OBJECTIVES This lesson will help you to:-

• become aware of the dangers inside and outside your homes.
• learn about the precautions one must take to avoid accidents.
• know about first aid so that you can help yourself and others too when in need.
• learn about good and bad touch

  Amazing Facts

• In 2010, a traffic jam on National Highway 110, near Beijing, kept cars stuck in traffic for 10 days.
• Of all the road accidents occurring in the world, half of the victims are pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

  QUICK CONCEPT REVIEW What is the meaning of safety Safety means to keep yourself protected from any harm by being attentive. Like the building of our home protects us from cold, heat and rain etc. in the similar way we have to be care full while walking on the road, playing in the ground , at school or at home. Let's discuss them one by one.   SAFETY ON ROAD While walking on the road we should always follow these safety rules:

• Always walk on the footpath along the left side of the road.
• While walking on the road/hold your elders hand if they are along with you.
• While crossing the road first see to your right then left and again to your right and cross the road only if some vehicle is not coming.
• Always cross the road on zebra crossing.
• If there are signal lights, cross when the pedestrian lights are on.
• Never play on the road.
• Do not run on the road.
• Always help the person to cross the road if he/she needs help.
• Do not step on nails and glass pieces.  
• While waiting for a bus always stand in a queue.
• Never push others while getting in or stepping out of a bus.
• Do not get in to or get out of a moving bus.
• Never put your head or arm out of a moving bus. It can be very dangerous.
• Tell your parents not to drive with high speed as this becomes the main reason of most of the accidents.

AT SCHOOL Always play in the playground. Never play inside the class. Never use geometrical instruments for playing as they can cause serious injuries. Do not use classroom properties like duster, chalk etc for playing. Always be careful while getting up and coming down from the stair case                               AT HOME more...

Historical Preview Origin of question mark. When early scholars wrote in Latin, the would place the word question- meaning ?question?- at the end of sentence to indicate a query. To conserve valuable space, it was soon shortened to go, which caused another problem- readers might mistake it for the ending of word. So they squashed the letters into symbol: a lowercased q on top of an o. Over time the o shrank to a dot and the q to a squiggle, giving us our current question mark.       LEARNING OBJECTIVES This lesson will help you to:-

• learn about punctuations.
• understand different types of punctuations.
• examine the usage of punctuations.  

  QUICK CONCEPT REVIEW Learning punctuation is an important skill of acquiring a complete grammatical knowledge. Punctuation is used to was goon create sense, clarity and stress in sentences. It means the right use of putting in Points or Stops in writing. The following are the principal stops:

Full Stop or Period (.)

Comma (,)

Semi colon (;)

Colon (:)

Note of Interrogation or Question Marks (?)

Note of Exclamation or Exclamation Marks (!)

Dash (_)

Parenthesis ( )

Inverted Commas or Quotation Marks (? ?)

Examples: Full Stops and Commas Full Stops are used to put an end of a Declarative, Imperative or Negative sentence. E.g. Ashoka was a great Indian King. Sit here. He is not the best person for this job. A comma informs the reader to pause before continuing the sentence. Unlike a period, the sentence is not over but simply being paused for a moment. E.g. health, wealth and peace go together. I bought bread, butter, eggs and milk from the market.   QUESTION AND EXCLAMATION MARKS Like a full stop, a question mark- finishes a sentence. Unlike a full stop, a question mark turns the sentence into a question rather than a statement. E.g. what are you writing in your copy? He said, "Who is there?" An exclamation point also ends a sentence like a full stop, but the sentence is turned into an exclamation rather than a simple statement. Readers should read a sentence with an exclamation mark with excitement. E.g. Bravo! We have won the match. Alas! His dog is dead.     COLONS AND SEMICOLONS A semicolon connects two free-standing but related sentences where the conjunction has been left out. Semicolons are typically used before introduction words such as namely, however, therefore, that is, for example or for instance. E.g. God gave her peace: her land reposed. A colon is used before a sentence that expands on the previous one. Colons are often used before listing items. E.g. Shakespeare says: "Sweet is the uses of adversity."     APOSTROPHES AND PARENTHESES An apostrophe is used in a contraction in place of the letter that has been removed. "It's" uses an apostrophe more...

Real Life Example You watch cartoons every day. They all are stories. Chota Bheem, Doraemon, Shin Chan they all are characters which take you to the imaginary worlds. The movies we watch are also stories told. LEARNING OBJECTIVES This lesson will help you to:-

• understand how story is written.
• develop a story with the help of prompts.

  QUICK CONCEPT REVIEW In class-3 you can learn to communicate in complete thoughts for different purposes. At the beginning of class-3, you may still write in short, literal, choppy sentences but as you progress through the year, you learn to write more detailed essays and stories to communicate what you are learning. The outline of a story is the basic framework of a story. It is often just a skeleton outline. It shows us some of the main facts of the story and tell in brief what the story is alike. We have to fill in all the details relevant to the story and thus make up a readable story.     IMPORTANT HINTS The following few hints will tell you how to build up a story from a given outline:

Read the given outline carefully.

Note all the points.

Follow as strictly as possible the sketch provided.

Be careful to connect the various points given in the outline.

The conclusion or ending of a story should be striking and interesting.

If you are asked to give a title or heading to the story you may name it, after the main character, object or incident of the story.

Revise your writing and remove all mistakes in spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.  

  Try This Out HINT BASED (A) An old Brahmin __ had four sons __quarrelsome ___ was very much pained to see this __advised them many a time in vain ___ the old Brahmin on his deathbed ___ summoned all his sons ___ asked the eldest to bring a bundle of sticks ___ the bundle tied with string __ no son could break it alone __ Brahmin told them to break the bundle together ___ they succeeded ___ the Brahmin's advice___ moral.                                  Complete Story: Title: "Unity is the greatest strength". An old Brahmin had four sons who constantly quarrelled among themselves. He was very much pained to see all this. He was anxious to leave behind a united family. So when his end drew near, he called all his sons together and asked the eldest to bring a bundle of sticks. As the bundle was tied with string so the Brahmin told his sons one by one to break the bundle. None of the sons could break it alone. Now the Brahmin told them to break the bundle together, they tried a lot and finally succeeded in breaking the bundle. So the Brahmin advised them not to fight again and remain together in their life and work. Moral more...

Real Life Example Knowledge of good vocabulary boosts one's self-confidence. It adds beauty to your language. You can also solve crosswords, charts and other puzzles where multiple meanings are required   LEARNING OBJECTIVES This lesson will help you to:

• learn new words and improve your ability to express in English language.
• increase self-confidence. 

  QUICK CONGEPT REVIEW Vocabulary is an ornamentation of language. The way we beautify ourselves with jewellery, vocabulary makes the language more impressive and logical. Developing a strong vocabulary not only promotes reading comprehension but also enables us to actively participate in our society. People often consider a strong vocabulary the hallmark of an educated person. Good readers have a diverse vocabulary. They ask questions when they are unclear about what a word means, they use the context of a conversation or the happenings in a book to decipher the meaning of unfamiliar words and they use varied vocabulary in referring to familiar objects (this bird is big, but this elephant is gigantic). Get into the habit of picking a word of the day. Choose a new word and try to use it in different ways throughout the day. Can you imagine how many words you will learn in the whole year? 365. Wow! Try it. Words are like the leaves of an evergreen true. They fill your mind with fresh waves of powerful thoughts. Given below are a few words in order of increasing difficulty. Read them along. 1.  Cherish - To hold something as very important. Usage - I cherish this trophy I won. 2. Foster - To help to develop a feeling or skill. Usage - She fosters a sense of honesty in the little boy. 3. Prompt - To do something without any delay. Usage - He gave a prompt reply of my letter 4. Attentive - To give close notice to something or Usage - We should be attentive in the classroom. 5. Glorious - Worthy of great fame or honour. Usage - Kalpana Chawla has left behind her The best place to find words is a dictionary. Picture dictionaries are available for kids.     ACTIVITY FOR VOCABULARY "The Picky Puppet" Using a favourite puppet, explains that the puppet is picky - he only likes things that start with a certain letter. For example, "he only likes things that start with the letter T." Now think of some examples of things that begin with the letter. Then look around the house (or around the neighbourhood during a walk) and pick out things that begin with that letter. Introduce a new letter for the puppet to be picky about each day.     PLAY TIME The vocabulary-centered game of Scrabble was originally conceived long back. it now sells in more than 120 countries, making it one of the most successful board games ever. You can play Scrabble using 100 lettered tiles, each with its own number value that you must to form words on the board. more...

Amazing Facts There are only three ?eed? words- exceed, proceed, succeed.     Poem on Spelling and Pronunciation Author not known, I take it you already know OF TOUGH and BOUGH and COUGH and DOUGH. Others may stumble but not you ON HICCOUGH, THOROUGH, LOUGH and THROUGH Well done! And now you wish, perhaps, To learn of less familiar traps, Beware of HEARD, a dreadful word That looks like BED, not BEAD. For goodness sake, don't call it DEED! Watch out for MEAT and GREAT and THREAT: They rhyme with SUITE and STRAIGHT and DEBT.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES This lesson will help you to:

• prepare your spellings and make you comfortable
• support our skill level and learn spellings in multiple
• understand the need of live interaction and importance of audio to memorize the words.  

QUICK CONCEPT REVIEW

• Spelling problems are very common, even the brightest student struggle with spellings.
• There are two ways through which children memorize spellings either by decoding the words or by memorizing the whole word.  

  SOME RULES OF SPELLING Rule No.1: I before E, except after C It helps to spell words such as receive, chief, achieve Rule No. 2: Dropping final E Drop the final ?e? if the ending begins with a vowel- advancing, surprising. Rule No. 3: Dropping final Y When adding and ending to a word that ends with 'y? to ?i? is, if it is preceded by a consonant. Worry becomes worries. Supply becomes supplies. Merry becomes merrier.   Rule No. 4: Doubling final consonant When adding an ending to a word that end in a consonant, the consonant gets doubled in many situations if not always. Submit becomes submitting. Flap becomes flapping.       WORKING ON YOU SPELLINGS

• One must work with commitment to improve his/ her
• Keep a dictionary at hand.
• Prepare a list of words you have trouble with.      

  METHODS USED TO LEARN SPELLINGS

• There is no universal rule or method to improve your spelling skills.
• Learning spelling by rote (cramming) is a traditional method of elementary education.
• Regular spelling tests help to assess spelling skills. Free spelling tests are available on internet.  

  BRITISH VS AMERICAN SPELLING We usually get confused when we see the spelling of "colour" with the omission of "u". Some other British and American spelt words are-     Historical Preview English spelling was first developed in 7th century. In 1066, Norman French became the official language of England.     SIGHT MEMORIZING APPROACH

• There's a good progress when we start sight memorizing words because early books have lots of pictures, images etc.
• Eventually, the text gets more complex and this strategy gets harder and harder.
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Amazing Facts You might not realize it, but you brain is a code ?cracking machine. For emaxple: it deson?t mttaer in what order the ltteers in awrod aepapr, the only iprmoatnt tihng  is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pcale. The rset can be a total mses and you can still raed it wouthit pobelrm. S1M1L4RLY, YOUR M1ND 15 R34D1NG 7H15 4U70M471C4LLY W17HOU7 3V3N 7H1NK1NG 4BOU7 17.     LEARNING OBJECTIVES This lesson will help you to:

• comprehend the meaning of jumbled sentence.
• put the jumbled sentence in order.  

  QUICK CONCEPT REVIEW Proper sentences are divided .into phrases. These phrases are jumbled. The student is expected to look at the jumbled phrases, comprehend the meaning implied, and put the sentence in order. Look at the explosion given above! I bet you can't make the head or tail of it. It is just motley or a zigzag arrangement of letters. It is of no use unless you arrange it in a logical order. It spells BACKWARDS. I am sure you know what it means! So what we need is not just letters but letters arranged in a logical order so as to form meaningful words. Now, Read this! There are bricks of words on a road.     Let us Arrange them to form sentence. That makes good sense, doesn't it? The very purpose of this lesson is to help you to make sense out of letters, words and sentence.     Shortcut to Problem Solving It's always a good idea to read the answer options to figure out the most correct sentence, than to try solving the jumbled sentence yourself. First identify the jumbled sentence then try and solve the predicate. After this find the tense and then the verb.