NCERT Solutions for Class 6 English Chapter 3 Nurturing Nature (PDF) – 2027

Uses of a tree to write in the clouds:

Sample chart:

Column 1 is what you already know; Column 2 is written as questions about what you want to find out.

Neem helps farmers in these ways:

• Neem seed powder mixed in water and sprayed on plants keeps locusts away.
• It saves the crop from termites, which eat the roots, and stops other crop-eating insects from breeding.
• Used in rice fields where water stands, it stops mosquito breeding and increases crop yield.
• Neem seed powder added to stored grain keeps insects away.

Uses of the neem tree:

1. The neem tree was born millions of years ago in North India or Myanmar. I never thought the tree in our street belonged to such an old family.
2. Kajal made from neem flowers can cure itching in the eyes. I did not know that even its tiny flowers are useful.

Amber played in the shade of the neem tree in her courtyard (Neem Baba).

Neem Baba reminds her: “You played in my shade in your childhood.”

Neem seed powder protects crops from locusts, termites and other insects that eat crops.

Neem Baba says the sprayed powder keeps locusts away and “saves the crop from termites, which eat roots of the crop”.

Putting the powder of neem seeds in it is a cost-effective method to stop mosquitoes from breeding in stagnant water.

Amber says: “if we put the powder of neem seeds in stagnant water around our homes, mosquitoes won’t breed in them! This must be a cost-effective method…”

One reason why doctors advise us to use neem leaves for someone suffering from measles is that neem leaves have chemical properties that destroy germs and do not allow germs to breed.

Another reason: measles causes itching all over the body, and neem leaves give comfort.

The leaves, bark, flowers, fruits and even the roots of the neem tree are used to make medicines.

The story of the neem tree’s name is thought-provoking because the tree was born in India and given Sanskrit names such as Arishta, Nimba and Nimbaca, yet its best-known name, ‘Neem’, was given by the Iranians. It also makes us think about Neem Baba’s words, “we become well known for what we do” — neem is famous because it is so useful.

More words you may add:

Personification means giving human qualities or actions to a thing, an animal or an idea. Leaves cannot really whisper and flowers cannot dance — only people can.

In this lesson the neem tree is personified: it is called ‘Baba’, it talks to Amber, remembers her childhood and blesses her — “Bless you, my child!”

Correct.

Her surprise shows in her question: “How did he plant so many trees all over the country as a child?”

Not correct.

She admires him: “That’s wonderful,” and “He is really doing great work. We should learn from him and plant more trees.”

Correct.

She keeps asking questions — “Who is he and what does he do?”, “Where did he get this idea from?”, “But how did he come to be known as Peepal Baba?”

Correct.

After hearing about Peepal Baba, Rahul agrees they should plant more trees and says, “Yes, Maa. We must tell others to do the same.”

Not correct.

Rahul is excited, not worried. He begins eagerly — “Maa, have you heard about Peepal Baba? Our teacher told us about him today.”

Steps:

1. Fold a sheet of thick paper in half so that it stands like a card.
2. On the top (front), draw the shape of the dry leaf and colour it.
3. Inside, write the name of the tree or plant and one of its uses.
4. Make four such cards, one for each leaf.

The picture: a tall green tree. On one branch is a nest with three chicks, and a red parent bird is flying towards them. A green parrot clings to the trunk.

A baby bird thinks that whatever it can see around it is the whole world, because it has seen nothing else. Inside the egg it may think the world is a small shell; in the nest it may think the world is just the nest.

Rewritten sentences:

1. The colour of the feather was not dark but light.
2. The butterfly fluttered on to the flower.
3. At last, I finished my bird painting after trying many times.
4. The pretty flowers were the prize for the gardener’s labour.

ROUND

Stanza 1: “I thought the world was small and round.” Its first house was the egg.

STRAW

Stanza 2: “I thought the world was made of straw.”

LEAVES

Stanza 3: “I said the world is made of leaves.”

FLEW

Stanza 4: “At length I flew beyond the tree.”

Recite it as the bird’s own story, and let your voice grow as the bird’s world grows:

• Stanza 1 — soft and small, as if inside a shell.
• Stanza 2 — warm and gentle on nestled and mother.
• Stanza 3 — quick on “One day, I fluttered”, slow on “I have been very blind.”
• Stanza 4 — open and confident, then puzzled on the last two lines.

Where to pause: Pause slightly at the end of each line. Bring out the rhyming pairs — well/shell, other/mother, find/blind, labours/neighbours — lightly, without shouting them.

True.

It moved from the egg (“a little house”) to the nest, and from the nest it finally “flew beyond the tree” into the open world.

False.

The poem says, “I don’t know how the world is made, / And neither do my neighbours.” The neighbours do not know either.

Its mother lived in the nest along with the baby bird.

The line “And nestled by my mother” shows that the mother bird stayed beside the chick in the straw nest.

B. its nest was made of straw

The chick had not yet left the nest, so the straw of its nest was all it knew of the world.

The word is ‘nestled’.

To be nestled is to be settled warmly and comfortably in a soft, safe place — here, beside the mother in the straw nest.

The bird thought the world was made of leaves because when it first fluttered out of its nest, leaves were all it could see around it on the tree.

C. spoke

‘Said’ is the past form of ‘say’, which means to speak. The bird is not shouting or crying; it is simply telling us what it thought.

The bird felt that it had been very blind because it could not see the leaves from inside the nest.

Because its first world was the egg it lived in. The egg-shell was small, round and pale blue, and it was the only thing the bird could see and feel, so it thought “the world was small and round, / And made of pale, blue shell.”

The bird was not foolish. It described its world exactly as it found it. Its only mistake was thinking that its own small world and the world were the same thing.

It went out on to the leafy branches of its tree, just outside the nest, “to see what I could find”.

It did not go far — it only fluttered — so all it found was leaves. It flies beyond the tree only in the last stanza.

It said it was “quite fit for grown-up labours” — strong and able enough to do the hard work of a grown-up bird. The quality is that it had become grown-up and able to look after itself.

The bird’s neighbours were probably the other birds and small creatures living in the same tree and the trees nearby — sparrows, parrots, crows, squirrels. I think so because the bird had spent its whole life in that one tree, and it speaks of its neighbours as equals: “I don’t know how the world is made, / And neither do my neighbours.”

know rhymes with low; best rhymes with rest.

Six sentences using the describing words:

1. A small wooden birdhouse hangs from the branch of a tree.
2. Its roof is pointed and painted red.
3. There is a round hole in the front of the birdhouse.
4. A brown bird is sitting at its door.
5. The birdhouse is hanging from a thin branch.
6. Fresh green leaves grow on the branch above it.

The model describes the bird’s world stage by stage, in time order:

Sample list — my home is made of:

Our homes are not made of straw because straw is weak, catches fire easily and does not last. Rain rots it, strong wind blows it away and insects eat it. It cannot hold up a heavy roof or a door with a lock, so a straw house would not be safe.

A house is a building made of bricks, wood and cement that gives us shelter. A home is a place where a family lives together with love, care and memories. An empty building is still a house, but it becomes a home only when people live in it and feel they belong there.

1. Haldi (turmeric)
2. Jeera (cumin seeds)
3. Kali mirch (black pepper)

Sample answer (Hindi names, as used in the letter):

Yes. Many spices are also used as home remedies for common illnesses. For example, haldi reduces body pain, heeng gives relief from gas, and dalchini and laung give relief from toothache.

She found the cures in the spices kept in the kitchen — such as haldi, methi, jeera, heeng, dalchini, laung, adrak and kali mirch.

Daadi says, “Let me share some of the benefits of the spices that most of us have in our kitchen.”

Cough and cold is an example of a weather-related common illness.

Daadi says heeng and adrak (ginger) help when we have cough and cold.

The speaker had a close and loving relationship with her grandmother, who was also her teacher. As a child she learnt the home remedies from her — “When I was a child, I learnt them from my grandmother” — and she still remembers and uses them.

Daadi soaked methi seeds overnight and drank the water in the morning to manage her sugar level and her body weight.

She writes: “it helps me in keeping my sugar level and my body weight in control.”

2. Fennel seeds (saunf)

The letter says saunf helps in the digestion of food, not in body pain. Turmeric, ginger and black pepper all give relief from pain.

Daadi asked them to share the natural cures because the cures had helped them get better, and they could help their friends too. Sharing also keeps this old knowledge alive, just as Daadi learnt it from her own grandmother.

Her final advice was to go into the kitchen and try to identify the herbs and spices, and always consult an elder before using them.

We know it from the letter itself. Daadi learnt the cures from her grandmother when she was a child, and now she is passing them on to her grandchildren, Vikram and Vaibhavi. She also asks them to remember the cures and share them.

We should know about the healing properties of spices because they are easily available in our kitchens, cost little and can give quick relief in common illnesses like cough, cold, gas or toothache. Knowing them also keeps our traditional knowledge alive.

Answer: (i)–b, (ii)–d, (iii)–e, (iv)–c, (v)–f, (vi)–a.

Plan of a good ‘I am the spice’ talk: greeting → name in both languages → part of the plant → colour and texture → taste → benefits → one line people will remember.

1. Cut strips of paper 2 inches wide.
2. Join the two ends with glue or a stapler to make a band that fits your head.
3. Make a small card with a picture of your spice and colour it.
4. Attach the card to the front of the headband, and wear it while you speak.

Phrases not needed: some leaves of basil and for high fever.

Heeng (asafoetida).

Daadi writes, “when you were babies and had gas in your tummy, I used to put heeng water on your tummy to give you some relief.” The ‘funny tummy’ is the gas, and ‘granny’ is Daadi.

Adrak (ginger).

Ginger grows under the ground; it “has been used in cooking for more than 4000 years”; it “is extensively used in cooking Indian food”; and it “can help us when we have cough and cold.”

Daadi writes that methi helps in “keeping my sugar level and my body weight in control”. (reduce or manage also fits the last blank.)