NCERT Solutions Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 5 · THE WORLD AROUND US

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 9: Rhythms of Nature

NCERT Textbook — Our Wondrous World

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

147 – 160 13 30 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 48 pages

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 5 · THE WORLD AROUND US · OUR WONDROUS WORLD

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 9: Rhythms of Nature
Chapter 9 of Our Wondrous World opens Unit 5, Our Amazing Planet. Saba and Aparna meet after a year and
notice how much has changed — in themselves, in their school, and in the world around them. From there the
chapter looks at the changes that come back again and again: the change from day to night, and the
change of seasons through the year. It carries one numbered Activity with a torch-and-globe demonstration,
a long Classroom Activity — Seasons' Chart in four steps, three Write boxes, a Find out box, a Discuss box,
a festival-matching table and the closing Let us reflect set of 6 items. There is no separate exercise at the end
— the questions are spread through the chapter.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Our Wondrous World (Class 5) 147 – 160

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

13 30

MEDIUM

English

Write — Page 147

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Saba and Aparna meet after a year

WRITE

Q1 Try to remember the time you were in Grades 3 and 4. Think and write about the
changes that you have noticed in yourself and your friends, in your school, and in
your environment. Fill the table given on page 148.

GRADE 3 GRADE 4 GRADE 5

Yourself and your friends

School

Surrounding area

The blank table printed on page 148.

ANSWER

Think of one thing under each heading that was true in Grade 3, one that was true in
Grade 4, and one that is true now. Then you can see the change with your own eyes, the way
Saba saw that Aparna had grown taller.
How to do it, step by step:

1. Close your eyes and picture yourself on the first day of Grade 3. How tall were you? Who sat
beside you?
2. Ask at home. Old photographs, an old school diary and an old notebook help a lot.
3. Write only one short line in each box. This table is for noticing change, not for writing an
essay.
4. Fill one row fully before you start the next one, so you can compare across the three years.

Sample answer — your own table will be different, and that is exactly right.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

GRADE 3 GRADE 4 GRADE 5

Yourself and I was the shortest in my I grew about 5 cm I am taller than Meena now. I
your friends row. I could not tie my taller. I learnt to ride a can swim a little and I have
own shoelaces. Meena bicycle. Two new started learning the dholak. My
was my only friend. friends joined our best friend has moved to another
class. city.

School Our classroom was on We got new benches. Our class is upstairs now. There
the ground floor. We sat A drinking-water tank is a small library and a science
on mats. There was one was put up near the corner. A new teacher takes our
blackboard. field. music class.

Surrounding The road in front of the The road was The neem saplings planted near
area school was of mud. cemented. Two new the gate are taller than me.
There was an open field shops opened. Streetlights have been put up.
beside it. The pond behind the school is
smaller than it used to be.

Why this table matters: Change is happening all the time, but it is slow, so we do
not notice it while it is happening. Writing down what things were like a year or two
ago turns an invisible change into something you can actually see. That is the same
trick you will use later in this chapter with the seasons' journal.

Tip: Keep this page. If you fill the same table again in Grade 6, you will be able to see
two more years of change at one glance.

Write — Pages 148–149
How long does a change take?

WRITE

Q1 1. Can you think of something that takes a really long time to change, maybe over
years?

ANSWER

A big tree. A banyan or a mango tree takes many, many years to grow tall and thick. If you see
it every day you notice nothing at all. Come back after ten years and you cannot believe it is the
same tree.
Other things that change only over years:

Page 3 of 48

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature
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Mountains and rocks. Wind and rain wear them down grain by grain. It takes thousands of
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A river's path. A river slowly cuts its bank on one side and drops sand on the other, so its

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A coastline. The sea eats away the shore very slowly.
A person growing up. A baby becomes a school child, then a grown-up.

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A village becoming a town. New houses, new roads and new shops come up one by one.

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A tortoise's size. A tortoise can keep growing for fifty years or more. ag
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Why we do not notice these: The change in one day is far too small for our eyes to
catch. Only when a lot of tiny changes add up over years does the difference become
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big enough to see. That is why a photograph is so useful — it holds one day still so
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you can compare it with today.
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Mark it again after six months. The gap between the two lines is a change that was
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happening every single day without you feeling it.

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2. What about something that changes within just a few years?
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m you plant in the school ground. In two or three years it is taller than you and starts
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WHAT CHANGES IN ABOUT HOW LONG HOW YOU CAN TELL

A puppy
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A calf 3–4 years It becomes a cow that gives milk

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why these are faster: Living things that have a short life grow quickly — a puppy
has to become an adult dog in about a year, so it changes fast. A banyan tree lives
for hundreds of years, so it can afford to grow slowly.

Q3 3. Are there changes that happen every year, again and again?

ANSWER

Yes — the seasons. Summer, then the rains, then winter, and then summer again. This happens
every single year, always in the same order. That is why we call it a rhythm of nature.
Other changes that come back every year:

Trees shedding and growing leaves. Old leaves fall in autumn and pre-winter; new leaves
come out in spring.
Flowering. The mango tree flowers in February–March. The gulmohar flowers in summer.
The marigold flowers around Diwali.
Fruits. Mangoes and litchis in summer, guavas in winter — every year at the same time.
Birds arriving and leaving. Migratory birds like cranes and ducks come to our lakes in
winter and fly back when it gets warm.
The koel calling. It starts calling again as spring comes.
Crops. Paddy is sown in the rains and wheat in winter, year after year.
Festivals. Pongal in January, Holi in spring, Diwali in autumn — they follow the seasons, so
they come back too.
Your birthday. It comes once every year, because that is how long the Earth takes to go once
round the Sun.

Why they repeat: The Earth takes one year to go once round the Sun. When the
round trip is over, everything is back where it started, so the same weather returns
and nature does the same things again. This is why we can say with confidence what
the weather will be like next June.

Q4 4. Can you name something that changes in just a few minutes or even seconds?

ANSWER

The colour of the sky at sunset. In a few minutes it goes from blue to orange to pink to grey.
Things that change very fast:

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WHAT CHANGES HOW FAST WHAT HAPPENS

A soap bubble A few seconds It floats up, wobbles and bursts

A lightning flash Less than a second The whole sky lights up and goes dark again

Ice in your hand A few minutes It melts into water

A hot chapati A few minutes It becomes cool enough to eat

Clouds on a windy day A few minutes They change shape and cover the Sun

Your face A second It changes from serious to smiling

A touch-me-not (chhui-mui) leaf A second It folds up as soon as you touch it

Water on a hot tawa Seconds It hisses and disappears as vapour

Seconds → a bubble bursting

Minutes → ice melting

Days → a seed sprouting

Months → a season passing

Years → a tree growing tall

Thousands of years → a mountain wearing down

What all four questions together teach us: Change is not one single thing. It
comes at many different speeds. Some changes we can watch happening; some we
can only see by comparing today with a photograph; and some are so slow that no
one person can ever see them finish.

In-text Questions — Page 149

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Changes Around Us in a Day (Day and Night)

Q1 What causes day and night?

ANSWER

Day and night happen because the Earth turns round on itself. The Earth is a huge ball. The
Sun can light up only the half of it that is facing the Sun. That lit half has day. The other half is in
shadow, and it has night. The Earth keeps turning, so every place moves from the lit half into
the dark half and back again.
Follow one full turn, step by step:

1. The Earth turns round on an imaginary line through its middle. That line is called its axis.
This turning is called rotation.
2. One full turn takes about 24 hours — that is one day and one night together.
3. When your town is just coming into the light, you see the Sun at the edge of the sky. We call
it sunrise.
4. As the Earth turns further, your town comes fully into the light. It is midday.
5. Then your town starts moving out of the light. The Sun looks lower and lower. That is sunset.
6. Now your town is on the dark side. It is night. The Earth keeps turning, and in a few hours
the Sun rises again.

The Earth
rotates

DAY NIGHT

axis
Sun (or torch)
stays in one
One full turn = about 24 hours
place

Only half the Earth can face the Sun at a time. That half has day; the other half has night.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why the Sun cannot light the whole Earth: Light travels in straight lines. It cannot
bend round a ball. So the far side of the Earth is always in the Earth's own shadow.
Since the Earth never stops turning, that shadow keeps moving across the world —
and that moving shadow is what we call night.

Did you know? Dong village in Arunachal Pradesh is called India's ‘First Village of the
Sunrise’. Because it lies furthest east in our country, it turns into the sunlight before
anywhere else in India does.

Q2 The Sun seems to be rising in the east moving across the sky and setting in the
west. So, is the Sun moving?

ANSWER

No. The Sun is not going round the Earth. The Sun stays where it is. It is the Earth that is
turning, and that turning makes the Sun look as if it is travelling across the sky.
You have felt this trick before:

1. Sit in a moving bus or train and look out of the window.
2. The trees and poles seem to run backwards, past you.
3. But the trees are not moving at all. You are.
4. In exactly the same way, the Earth turns towards the east, so the Sun appears to slide across
the sky towards the west.

The bus really moves this way

The trees only seem to
move this way
The trees stand still; the bus moves. The Sun stands still; the Earth moves.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature
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WHAT WE SEE WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING

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The Sun rises in the east
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Our part of the Earth turns into the sunlight from the east side

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The Earth keeps turning under the sunlight

The Sun sets in the west Our part of the Earth turns out of the sunlight on the west side

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Why it must be the Earth and not the Sun: The Sun is enormously bigger than the

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Earth and it is very, very far away. It is the small thing that spins, not the huge one
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Activity 1 — Page 150
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Day and Night — the Sun-and-Earth game and the torch-and-globe demonstration
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ACTIVITY

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Let one student be the ‘Sun’ and another the ‘Earth’ standing at a distance. The Sun

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1. Clear a space in the class or go out to the ground.

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2. One student stands still in the centre. This student is the Sun. The Sun must not move or
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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

4. The Earth now turns slowly on the spot — like a top, without walking anywhere. This turning
is rotation.
5. The Earth must keep looking straight ahead and must not turn the neck to peep at the Sun.
That is the whole point.
6. While the Sun is in front and can be seen, the Earth says “day … day … day”.
7. The moment the Sun goes out of sight, the Earth says “night … night … night”.
8. The rest of the class counts the turns and notices when the word changes.

WHERE THE ‘EARTH’ HAS TURNED CAN THE ‘SUN’ BE WHAT THE STUDENT
TO SEEN? SAYS

Facing the Sun Yes, straight ahead Day (this is like midday)

Turned a quarter way round Only at the very edge of Day, but just ending — like
sight sunset

Back towards the Sun No Night (this is like midnight)

Turned three-quarters round Coming back into sight Day beginning — like sunrise

Why the game works: Your eyes can only see what is in front of you, just as sunlight
can only fall on the side of the Earth that faces the Sun. So “I can see the Sun” means
exactly the same thing as “sunlight is falling here”, which means day. Half a turn later
that same place is facing away, and it is night. One full turn of the student stands for
one full turn of the Earth — about 24 hours.

Make it clearer: Ask the ‘Earth’ to turn very slowly and to say the word out loud on
every step. The class will hear day change into night and back into day in a steady
rhythm — which is exactly what a rhythm of nature sounds like.

Q2 Demonstration — Day and Night. Step 1: Place a globe on a table and flash a torch
on one side of the globe. The torchlight represents the Sun. The side where the light
falls has day, and the side with no light has night. Step 2: Rotation — Slowly rotate
the globe while keeping the torch steady. Step 3: Observe how different parts of our
globe face the light as it rotates.

ANSWER

What you will see: the torch lights up exactly one half of the globe and leaves the other half
dark. As you turn the globe, India moves out of the bright part into the dark part and then back
into the bright part again. The torch has not moved even a little. Only the globe turned.
How to set it up:

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

1. Darken the room as much as you can. Close the curtains, or do it in a corner away from the
window.
2. Place the globe on a table so that everyone can see it.
3. Stand about one metre away and shine the torch straight at the middle of the globe. Hold
the torch steady with both hands, or rest it on a pile of books so it cannot move at all.
4. Find India on the globe. Turn the globe so that India is right in the middle of the bright part.
5. Now turn the globe slowly, always in the same direction. Do not move the torch.
6. Keep your eyes on India and watch what happens to it.

WHAT YOU DO WHAT YOU OBSERVE WHAT IT MEANS ON THE
REAL EARTH

Shine the torch and do One half is bright, the other half is At any moment, half the world
not turn the globe completely dark. The line between them is has day and half has night
sharp.

India is in the middle India is fully lit Midday in India
of the bright part

Turn the globe a India reaches the edge of the light Evening — the Sun is setting
quarter way

Turn it further India is in the dark half Night in India

Keep turning India comes back into the light from the Morning — the Sun is rising
other edge

Look at the far side Countries like the U.S.A. are in the dark It is night there while it is day
while India is lit here

Why the torch is a good stand-in for the Sun: Like the Sun, the torch stays in one
place and sends out light in straight lines. Straight light cannot curve round a ball, so
exactly half of the ball is lit — no more, no less. Everything that happens on the
globe on your table is happening on the real Earth at this very moment, only much
bigger.

Check it yourself: Try moving the torch around the globe instead of turning the
globe. You will get day and night that way too — but that is not what really happens.
The Sun does not travel round us; we turn. Doing it the wrong way once makes the
right way easier to remember.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 Did you notice how the light made day on one side of the globe and night on the
other?

ANSWER

Yes. The torch lit up one half of the globe and left the other half dark — and both halves were
there at the same time. That is the most important thing to notice: day and night are not one
after the other on the whole Earth. They are happening together, in different places.
Three things worth noticing carefully:

1. Always exactly half. However you turn the globe, the bright part is always about half. It is
never a small patch and never the whole globe.
2. The dividing line keeps moving. The line between light and dark does not stay over the
same countries. As the globe turns, that line sweeps across the world. Where the line passes,
it is either sunrise or sunset at that moment.
3. The Sun never moved. The torch stayed exactly where it was the whole time. Every bit of the
change came from the globe turning.

Half the Earth lit = day

Half the Earth in shadow = night

Earth keeps turning ⟶ each place gets its turn in the light
One full turn = about 24 hours = one day and one night

Why this answers the question we started with: On page 149 we asked what
causes day and night, and whether the Sun moves. The globe and the torch have
now shown us both answers at once. The Sun is fixed, like the torch. The Earth
rotates, like the globe. Day and night are simply the lit side and the shadow side of a
turning ball.

One more thing to try: Stick a tiny paper flag on the globe where your own town is.
Now turn the globe slowly and watch your flag go into the light and out of it. That is
your day and your night.

Find out — Page 151

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Study the globe

FIND OUT

Q1 Study the globe and write in the space given below, when it is day time in India,
which countries will have night?

ANSWER

When it is day in India, it is night in the countries on the opposite side of the globe —
mainly the countries of North and South America. These include the United States of
America, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile.
How to find this out on the globe:

1. Find India on the globe and put your finger on it.
2. Now turn the globe halfway round, until the point exactly opposite India comes to the front.
3. Look at which countries are near that point. Those are the countries that are in darkness
while India is in sunlight.
4. Check it with the torch: keep the torch shining on India and look at the other side of the
globe. It is completely dark there.

COUNTRY ROUGHLY WHAT TIME IT IS THERE WHEN IT DAY OR
IS 12 NOON IN INDIA NIGHT?

United States of America About 1:30 in the morning Night
(New York)

United States of America About 10:30 at night Night
(Los Angeles)

Canada Between about 11 at night and 3 in the morning Night

Mexico About half past midnight Night

Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Between about 1:30 and 3:30 in the morning Night
Chile

Japan and Australia Afternoon Day

Countries in Europe, such Early morning, about 6:30 Day (just
as the U.K. beginning)

Page 13 of 48

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature
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Why it works out this way: The Earth is a ball, and the Sun can light only one half of

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Bringing a whole year of observations onto one chart

ACTIVITY

Q1 Step 1: Making a Chart for Classroom. Let us begin by preparing a large wall-sized
chart in your classroom to note the observations from our journals. The chart will
have the following time periods: April – June, July – September, October – December,
and January – March marked in columns. The themes: plant life, birds and animals,
air, heat and light, water and water bodies, and human activities listed in rows.

THEME TIME PERIOD

APRIL– JULY– OCTOBER– JANUARY–
JUNE SEPTEMBER DECEMBER MARCH

Plant life

Birds and
animals

Air, heat and
light

Water and
water bodies

Human
activities

Chart Template, page 153 — the blank chart for the classroom wall.

ANSWER

Make one big chart with 4 columns and 5 rows. The four columns are the four parts of the
year. The five rows are the five things you have been watching all year. That gives you 20 boxes
to fill.
How to make it:

1. Join two or three chart papers with tape to make one large sheet. It should be big enough
for the whole class to read from their seats.
2. Leave a wide strip on the left for the row names, and a strip at the top for the column names.
3. Use a ruler and a dark marker to draw the lines. Draw lightly in pencil first, then go over it.
4. Write the four time periods across the top: April – June, July – September, October –
December, January – March.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

5. Write the five themes down the left side: Plant life, Birds and animals, Air, heat and light,
Water and water bodies, Human activities.
6. Draw the small picture-sign for each theme next to its name, as the book does — a leaf, a
bird, a sun, a water drop and a person walking.
7. Give the chart a title at the top: Our Seasons' Chart, and write the year under it.
8. Fix it on the classroom wall where everyone can reach it, so that anything new can be added
later.

THEME APRIL – JULY – OCTOBER – JANUARY –
JUNE SEPTEMBER DECEMBER MARCH

Plant life

Birds and animals

Air, heat and light

Water and water
bodies

Human activities

Why a chart and not just the journals: Each of you saw only a little bit of the year.
Your journal has your street and your tree. Put everybody's notes together in one
place, and suddenly the whole class can see the shape of the entire year at one
glance. A pattern that is invisible in one notebook becomes obvious on one wall.

Tip: Leave plenty of space inside each box. Twenty or thirty children will want to add
something, and the boxes fill up faster than you expect.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 Step 2: Fill the Chart. For each of the boxes (for example, April to June for plant life)
one of you can stand up and ask for observations from the class. Each of you may
share your observations from your journal. Discuss and write the main
observations on the chart.

THEME TIME PERIOD

APRIL– JULY– OCTOBER– JANUARY–
JUNE SEPTEMBER DECEMBER MARCH

Plant life

Birds and
animals

Air, heat and
light

Water and
water bodies

Human
activities

Chart Template, page 153 — the blank chart for the classroom wall.

ANSWER

Take the boxes one at a time. One student stands up, reads out the box — “April to June, plant
life” — and the rest of the class calls out what they wrote in their journals. The class agrees on
the main points, and those go on the chart. Then the next student takes the next box.
How to keep it orderly:

1. Fix the order first: go across one row at a time, not jumping about.
2. The student who is standing writes on the chart. Everyone else reads from their journal.
3. Write only short points — three to five words each, not full sentences.
4. If two people saw different things, put down both. Different streets really do see different
things.
5. If somebody says something nobody else noticed, ask “When exactly did you see it?” before
writing it in.

Sample filled chart. Your class chart will be different, because it depends on where you live.
This one is written for a place in the plains of north India.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

THEME APRIL – JUNE JULY – OCTOBER – JANUARY –
SEPTEMBER DECEMBER MARCH

Plant life Mango, jamun and Everything turns Marigold and Mustard fields turn
litchi ripen. green. New grass on chrysanthemum yellow. Wheat
Gulmohar and bare ground. flower. Paddy turns grows tall. Peas,
amaltas covered in Mushrooms come up. golden and is cut. carrots and spinach
flowers. Grass Moss on damp walls. Guava, orange, custard in the plots. Mango
turns brown and Paddy is planted in apple and sugarcane trees put out their
dry. Leaves look the fields. are ready. Some trees flower in February.
dusty and droop by begin dropping leaves. Palash and semal in
afternoon. bloom. New leaves
in March.

Birds and The koel calls Frogs croak at night. Migratory birds arrive Migratory birds
animals loudly all day. Earthworms and at the lake — ducks, still at the lake, then
Crows and snails come out on cranes, geese. Fewer leave by March.
sparrows sit in the wet ground. insects. Cattle graze in Birds start building
shade with their Dragonflies the cut fields. Squirrels nests. The koel
beaks open. Dogs everywhere. Many store food. begins calling again.
lie under parked mosquitoes. Snakes Butterflies and bees
cars. Cattle are come out of flooded return with the
taken to water burrows. flowers.
again and again.

Air, heat Very hot and dry. Sky often cloudy. Sky clear and deep Coldest in January.
and light Hot wind (loo) in Less sunshine. Air blue. Air turns cool Thick fog on many
the afternoon. Days feels wet and sticky. and dry. Mist in the mornings. Days are
long, nights short. Not as hot as May, early morning, dew on shortest at the start,
Sunrise by about but heavy. Thunder the grass. Days getting then slowly get
5:30 a.m., sunset and lightning. Days shorter — dark by longer. The
near 7 p.m. start getting shorter. 5:30 p.m. afternoon sun feels
Sunlight is harsh pleasant. Warm
and white. again by mid-
March.

Water Puddles and small Puddles everywhere. Ponds still full but the Water feels icy cold.
and ponds dry up. Ponds and rivers fill level slowly falls. Frost on the grass
water Cracks in the pond up and sometimes Water in the tap feels on the coldest
bodies bed. Handpump overflow. Water looks cold. Heavy dew on the mornings. Pond
water comes slowly. muddy — it has to be grass in the morning. level low. We drink
We drink much boiled or filtered. much less water
more water. Water Wells rise. and feel less thirsty.
in the earthen pot
stays cool.

Human Summer holidays. School reopens. Sweaters come out of Woollens, mufflers,
activities Thin cotton clothes Umbrellas, raincoats the boxes. Harvest socks. Bonfires in
and caps. Fans and and gumboots. Paddy brought home. Wheat, the evening. Gajak,
coolers on. Lassi, and maize sown. mustard and gram til laddu, gur,

Page 18 of 48

as e
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

aam panna, sattu, Corn on the cob and sown. Navratri,
co m
sarson ka saag.

e m.
watermelon, ice. pakoras. Raksha Dussehra, Diwali, Lohri, Makar

m l a sSankranti,
.comorning or after
Work done early Bandhan, Chhath, Guru Nanak Pongal,

m sunset. Fields
Janmashtami, Onam, Jayanti, Christmas.
ag Republic Day,

l a se Ganesh Chaturthi, Quilts put out in the Vasant Panchami,

a g ploughed and kept
ready.
Nag Panchami. sun. Holi. Kite flying.
Wheat harvest

com
begins in late

m. ag
March.

as e
a g l
What the filled chart shows: Read any row from left to right and you will see the

m
same story told five different ways — hot and dry, then wet and green, then cool and
co
m.
golden, then cold and yellow, and back to hot again. Plants, animals, air, water and

as e
com l
people are not doing separate things. They are all answering the same change in the
. a g
em
weather.
a s
a gl
Add the dates: Next to each point, write the month you saw it in. Next year your
m a s
.co agl
juniors can check whether the mango flowered at the same time — and that is how
real nature-watching is done.
se m
g l a
a

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl

co m
m .
m ase
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m as e
.co


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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 Step 3: Tracking Changes in a Year. Let us form five groups. Each group can choose
one theme from the chart and study the patterns of change observed across
different time periods during the year. Create a poster on your theme. Present how
your theme changed throughout the year.

THEME TIME PERIOD

APRIL– JULY– OCTOBER– JANUARY–
JUNE SEPTEMBER DECEMBER MARCH

Plant life

Birds and
animals

Air, heat and
light

Water and
water bodies

Human
activities

Chart Template, page 153 — the blank chart for the classroom wall.

ANSWER

Each group takes one row of the chart and turns it into a poster that shows the whole
year at a glance. Group 1 takes plant life, Group 2 birds and animals, Group 3 air, heat and
light, Group 4 water and water bodies, Group 5 human activities.
How to make a good poster:

1. Divide the chart paper into four parts, one for each time period. Left to right, so the year
reads like a story.
2. Write the months clearly at the top of each part.
3. Draw one big picture in each part instead of many small ones.
4. Write only three or four short points under each picture.
5. Use colour to carry the message — green for the rains, yellow and brown for summer, grey
and white for winter fog.
6. Put a title across the top and the group members' names at the bottom.
7. Practise once before you present. Decide who speaks about which part.

What each group's poster should show:

Page 20 of 48

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

GROUP THEME IDEA FOR THE POSTER

Group 1 Plant life The same tree drawn four times — bare in summer heat, deep green in the rains,
dropping leaves in autumn, and covered in new leaves and flowers in spring. Add
a strip below showing which fruit is in the market each season.

Group 2 Birds and A pond drawn four times. Show the koel calling in summer, frogs and dragonflies
animals in the rains, migratory ducks and cranes arriving in winter, and nest-building in
spring.

Group 3 Air, heat and A picture of the sky in each season — white and glaring in summer, dark with
light clouds in the rains, clear blue in autumn, foggy in winter. Add the sunrise and
sunset times for each season and show how the day gets longer and shorter.

Group 4 Water and The same pond or puddle drawn four times — cracked and dry, overflowing,
water bodies slowly falling, and low with frost on the grass. Mark the water level with a line
each time.

Group 5 Human Four pictures of the same street — a hand-cart selling lemon water, people under
activities umbrellas, the Diwali market, and a bonfire with people in shawls. Add the
festival names and the clothes people wear.

Why one theme per group: If you follow only one thread through the whole year,
you see it change clearly instead of getting lost in everything at once. Then, when
the five posters go up side by side, the class discovers that all five threads change at
the same moments — and that is exactly what a season is.

Do not fake it: Put on the poster only what your class really wrote in its journals. If
nobody saw a migratory bird, do not draw one. A poster of what you actually saw is
worth far more than a pretty poster of what you think should have happened.

Page 21 of 48

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q4 Step 4: Looking at the Year Together. Form new groups, each with one student from
each theme, one group for each time period. Each group will analyse the
observations on the chart across all five themes for their chosen time period. Use
these observations to create a short story about your time period, linking what you
saw in nature with what you have noticed in people's lives. Read it out in the class.

THEME TIME PERIOD

APRIL– JULY– OCTOBER– JANUARY–
JUNE SEPTEMBER DECEMBER MARCH

Plant life

Birds and
animals

Air, heat and
light

Water and
water bodies

Human
activities

Chart Template, page 153 — the blank chart for the classroom wall.

ANSWER

Now mix the groups up. Each new group has one plant person, one bird person, one air
person, one water person and one people person — and each new group takes one part of the
year. Between them, the five of them know everything the chart says about those three months.
How to build the story:

1. Sit together and read out your five sets of points for your time period, one after the other.
2. Choose one character — a child, a farmer, a sparrow, a pond, even a mango tree.
3. Take that character through the three months and let them meet all five themes on the way.
4. Keep it short — ten or twelve sentences is plenty.
5. Make sure at least one point from each theme is in the story, so no group member is left out.
6. Read it aloud in the class, taking turns sentence by sentence.

Sample answer — a story for January – March
The Sparrow Who Waited for Spring

Page 22 of 48

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

In January the mornings were so foggy that Chiku the sparrow could not see the neem tree
from the roof. The grass was white with frost and the water in the pot outside the shop was icy
cold. The children who came to the shop had wrapped mufflers round their ears and their
grandmothers made them eat gajak and til laddu on Makar Sankranti. Chiku's tree was bare,
and he was hungry, because the insects had gone away.
Then, one day in February, Chiku noticed something. The field behind the shop had turned
bright yellow — the mustard was in flower. Bees came back. A few butterflies came back. The
mango tree at the corner smelt sweet, and on its branches there were tiny brown flowers.
By March the fog had gone. The days had grown longer, and the afternoon sun was warm
enough for the children to play without their sweaters. Colours were thrown on Holi and the
whole street looked like the mustard field. The ducks that had spent the winter on the lake flew
away northwards, and Chiku began carrying bits of straw to the neem tree, because it was time
to build a nest. The wheat in the field had turned golden, and the farmer said the harvest would
begin next week.
Chiku had not read any chart. But he knew, the way every living thing knows, that the cold part
of the year was over and the warm part was beginning again.

Why the story is the best last step: A chart shows the facts side by side. A story
shows how they are joined. The fog, the mustard, the bees, the mufflers, the kites
and the nest are not five separate facts — they all happened because the coldest
part of the year was ending. Telling it as a story is how you prove to yourself that you
have understood the pattern and not just memorised the boxes.

For your own time period: April–June could be told by a pond that is drying up.
July–September by a paddy seedling. October–December by a crane flying in from
far away. Choose a character that has to live through the change, and the story
writes itself.

In-text Questions — Page 155
Discovering Seasons

Q1 We observed these changes throughout the year, but do you think the same things
happened last year too? Will they happen again the next year?

ANSWER

Yes to both. The same things happened last year, and they will happen again next year. That is
exactly what makes them a pattern — something that comes back, in the same order, again and
again.
How you can check this for yourself:

Page 23 of 48

ase
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

1. Ask your grandparents when the mango tree in your street usually flowers. They will say
co m
“around February”, without having to think.
se m.
o m g l a
.c has to sow at the right time.
2. Ask a farmer when the rains normally begin. He will name the same weeks every year,
m a
seat an old calendar. Diwali and Pongal fall at almost the same time of year, every year.
because he
l a
ag
3. Look
4. Look at your own last year's clothes. The sweaters came out at about the same time as this
year.
co m
m . ag
l a se
ag
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DOES IT REPEAT?

Days become very hot April – June Yes, every year

co m
e m.
The rains come Around late June, July Yes, every year

Migratoryco
m g l as
. a
em
birds arrive October – November Yes, every year

a s
agl
Mustard fields turn yellow January – February Yes, every year

a s
com
Mango trees flower February – March

agl
Yes, every year

m .
e
asexactly one year to travel once round the Sun. When
g l
that round trip is finished, a
Why it repeats: The Earth takes
the Earth is back where it started, facing the Sun in the
same way — so the same weather comes back and nature does the same things
co m
again. This repeating pattern of change through the year is what we call the
m .
m as e
.co
seasons.
a g l
a s em
agl Not exactly the same, though: The rains may come a week late one year. One
winter may be colder than the last. The pattern repeats, but never perfectly — a bit
se m
com g l a
. a
like the same song sung slightly differently each time.
m
ase
agl
m
What are the seasons called in your region?
co
Q2

m .
m as e
.co
ANSWER
a g l
a s emAsk at home and write down the names your own family actually uses. In everyday Hindi
agl speech most people name only three or four seasons — garmi (summer), barsaat (the rains),
.c
e m
sardi (winter) and sometimes basant (spring) — even though the book names six.

m a s
. co agl
Sample answer: In my region we mainly speak of three seasons — garmi from April to June,

e m
as
barsaat from July to September, and sardi from November to February. The short pleasant weeks

a g l
in between are called basant around February–March and patjhar in October–November when
the leaves fall.

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

IN THE BOOK (SANSKRIT IN EVERYDAY IN SOME OTHER INDIAN LANGUAGES
NAMES) HINDI

Vasanta (Spring) Basant Bosonto (Bengali) · Ilavenil (Tamil) · Vasant
(Marathi)

Grishma (Summer) Garmi Grishmo (Bengali) · Mudhuvenil (Tamil) ·
Unhala (Marathi)

Varsha (Monsoon) Barsaat Borsha (Bengali) · Kaar (Tamil) · Pavsala
(Marathi)

Sharad (Autumn) Sharad / patjhar Sharat (Bengali) · Koothir (Tamil)

Hemant (Pre-winter) Hemant Hemonto (Bengali) · Munpani (Tamil)

Shishir (Winter) Sardi / shishir Sheet (Bengali) · Pinpani (Tamil) · Hivala
(Marathi)

Why the number of names is different in different places: People name the
seasons they actually feel. In the north there is a sharp winter, a burning summer
and a clear monsoon, so those three names are used most. In Kerala the year is
warm all through and it is the rain that changes, so people there talk mostly about
the rainy months. Nature makes the seasons; people make the names.

Find out: Ask an elderly person in your family for the season names in the language
they grew up with. Some of those old names are slowly being forgotten, and writing
them down is a small way of saving them.

Seasons of India — Page 156
The six seasons and their months

Q1 Do you know how many seasons we have in India?

ANSWER

India has six seasons. They are Vasanta (Spring), Grishma (Summer), Varsha (Monsoon),
Sharad (Autumn), Hemant (Pre-winter) and Shishir (Winter). Each one lasts about two months,
and together they make one full year.

Page 25 of 48

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Shishir Vasanta
Jan–Feb Mar–Apr

Hemant ONE Grishma
Nov–Dec YEAR May–Jun

Sharad Varsha
Sep–Oct Jul–Aug

Go round the circle and you come back to where you started.

The six seasons of India, in order. When Shishir ends, Vasanta begins again — the rhythm of the year.

Why six and not four: Many countries name only four seasons. India names six
because our year really does have six clearly different spells of weather. We have a
long, separate rainy season that most cold countries do not have at all, and our cold
weather comes in two steps — a gentle, dewy Hemant first, and then a sharp, foggy
Shishir. Naming them separately describes India better.

Did you know? India holds both the wettest place on Earth — Mawsynram in
Meghalaya — and one of the driest, the Thar Desert in Rajasthan. Both are in the
same country and both get the same six seasons, but they feel completely different.

Page 26 of 48

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 Fill in the table: Seasons — Month of the Year (Fill it up for your region).

SEASONS MONTH OF THE YEAR
(FILL IT UP FOR YOUR REGION)

Vasanta (Spring)

Grishma (Summer)

Varsha (Monsoon)

Sharad (Autumn)

Hemant (Pre-winter)

Shishir (Winter)

The blank table printed on page 156.

ANSWER

Each season covers about two months. Below is the usual pattern for most of northern and
central India. Your own region may be a few weeks earlier or later, so check with your teacher
and your elders before you write in your book.

SEASONS MONTH OF THE YEAR WHAT IT FEELS LIKE
(SAMPLE ANSWER)

Vasanta Mid-February to mid-April (March Pleasant days, cool mornings. Flowers bloom,
(Spring) – April) new leaves come, the koel calls.

Grishma Mid-April to mid-June (May – Very hot and dry. Long days, hot wind, ponds
(Summer) June) drying up.

Varsha Mid-June to mid-August (July – Heavy rain, cloudy sky, sticky air. Everything
(Monsoon) August) turns green.

Sharad Mid-August to mid-October Rain stops, sky turns clear blue, crops ripen and
(Autumn) (September – October) are harvested.

Hemant (Pre- Mid-October to mid-December Cool and dry, dew in the morning, days getting
winter) (November – December) shorter.

Shishir (Winter) Mid-December to mid-February Coldest weeks, fog and frost, bare trees, long
(January – February) nights.

Page 27 of 48

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Some regions are quite different:

REGION HOW THE YEAR RUNS THERE

Kerala and the The rains come earlier — around the first week of June — and there is a second spell of
west coast rain in October–November. Winter is only mildly cool.

Kashmir valley Winter is long and snowy, from November to March. Spring comes late, in April, when
the almond and cherry trees blossom.

Rajasthan (Thar Summer is extremely long and hot. The monsoon is short and gives very little rain.
Desert) Winter nights are surprisingly cold.

Tamil Nadu The main rain comes in October–December from the returning winds, not in June–July.

Assam and the The rains begin early and last very long, with a lot of rain in April–May as well.
north-east

Why the months are only approximate: Seasons do not begin on a fixed date the
way a school term does. They shade into one another. The monsoon reaches Kerala
first and takes about a month to spread across the country, so July in Kerala and July
in Punjab are not the same thing at all. That is why the book says “fill it up for your
region”.

Check it against real life: Ask when the school announces summer holidays, when
the first heavy rain fell last year, and when the woollens were taken out. Those three
dates will tell you your region's seasons better than any book.

Write — Page 157
How does a change of season feel?

WRITE

Q1 How do you feel when the season changes? Would you prefer one season to
continue throughout the year? Give the reasons for your answer.

ANSWER

No — one single season all year round would not be good, however much we like it. Each
season gives us something the others cannot, and the change itself is what keeps everything
alive and growing.

Page 28 of 48

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answer: When the season changes I feel excited. The first rain after the long summer
co m
se
smells wonderful and everybody runs out into it. The first cold morning means quilts and gajak.
m.
o m l a
g and wells would dry
.cstay all year. If it were summer for twelve months the ponds
The first warm day after winter means I can go out without a sweater. But I would not want any

m a
e would burn and there would be no water left to drink. If it rained all year the crops
scrops
one season to

l a
ag
up, the
would rot in the fields and roads would stay flooded. If it were winter all year nothing would

m
ripen and we would have no mangoes at all. I like the seasons because each one brings its own

. co
fruit, its own festival and its own kind of fun — and because after a few months of each, I am
ag
e m
l as
ready for the next one.

a g
IF THIS SEASON WHAT WOULD BE WHAT WOULD GO WRONG
STAYED ALL NICE
co m
YEAR…
se m.
Summer.co
m Ponds and wells would dry g l a
em
Long days, holidays,
a up. Crops would fail. There
a s
agl
mangoes, swimming would be no water for drinking, cooking or farming.

Monsoon Everything green, Crops would rot. Floods would not stop. Clothes would

m a s
.co agl
plenty of water, no never dry. Illnesses spread by dirty water would increase.

em
heat

a s
Cool air, no lsweating,
ag
Winter Rice and mangoes need heat to grow — there would be
sound sleep none. Very poor people would suffer badly in the cold. Fog

m
would stop trains and buses.

. co
em
m l as
.co a g
Why the change itself is needed: Different crops need different weather. Wheat

s e m cool months to fill its grain; paddy needs a wet, warm season; mango needs a
needs

agla hot summer to ripen. Trees drop their old leaves in one season and grow new ones
in another. Birds come here in one season and go home in another. Take away the
se m
com
change, and you take away half of what lives here. That is why the chapter says
g l a
m . a
ase
change is natural and necessary.

agl
Say what you really feel: This is a “Write” box, not a test. Some people dislike the

. c om
muddy roads of the monsoon and some love the rain most of all. Write your own

m a s em asks.
honest feeling — but always add the reason for it, as the question

m .co agl
l a se
ag
.c
Discuss — Page 157
s e m
m a
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m as e
.co


a g l Page 29 of 48

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The same season, different places

DISCUSS

Q1 Winter in Kerala is different from winter in Kashmir valley. Monsoon in Assam is
different from Rajasthan. Why do you think it is so?

ANSWER

Because India is a very large country, and the weather at a place depends on where that
place is — how far it is from the equator, how high it stands, how near the sea it is, and
whether there are mountains around it. The season is the same; the place is not.
Why the winters are different:

1. Distance from the equator. Kerala is close to the equator, where the Sun's rays fall almost
straight down all year. Kashmir is far to the north, where the rays come slanting and bring
much less heat.
2. Height above the sea. The Kashmir valley lies high up among the mountains. The higher
you go, the colder it gets. Kerala is at sea level.
3. Nearness to the sea. Kerala has the sea on one side. Water warms up slowly and cools
down slowly, so the sea keeps the coast even — never very hot, never very cold. Kashmir has
no sea near it.
4. The Himalaya. Snow falls on the mountains around the Kashmir valley in winter, and the
cold air from the snow settles into the valley. Kerala has no snow anywhere near.

Why the monsoons are different:

1. The monsoon winds pick up a great deal of water vapour as they blow over the Bay of
Bengal.
2. They reach Assam and the north-east first, while they are still full of moisture.
3. The hills there force the wind to climb. Rising air cools, and cool air cannot hold its water —
so it rains, and rains heavily. Mawsynram in Meghalaya, near Assam, is the wettest place on
Earth.
4. By the time the winds reach Rajasthan they have travelled far over land and lost most of
their water.
5. Rajasthan is deep inland, far from the sea, and the Aravalli hills lie along the path of the
winds instead of across it, so they do not force the air to rise.
6. The result is the Thar Desert — one of the driest places in India.

Page 30 of 48

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

KASHMIR VALLEY (WINTER) KERALA (WINTER)

How cold Freezing; below zero on many nights Only slightly cool, about 22–28 °C

Snow Heavy snowfall Never any snow

Clothes Pheran, heavy woollens, kangri to keep warm The same cotton clothes as the rest of the year

Trees Chinar and other trees stand bare Coconut palms stay green all year

ASSAM (MONSOON) RAJASTHAN (MONSOON)

Rain Very heavy, for months together A little rain on only a few days

Rivers The Brahmaputra swells and floods Streams fill for a short while and dry again

Land Green, wet, thick forest and tea gardens Sandy, dry, thorny bushes

Farming Paddy, which needs a lot of water Bajra and jowar, which need very little

The idea underneath all of this: A season is a change in the weather that comes to
the whole country, but the land it arrives at is different everywhere. High land is
colder. Coastal land is even-tempered. Land behind a mountain gets little rain. So the
same monsoon that drowns Cherrapunji only sprinkles Jaisalmer — and both are
having their monsoon.

Talk about your own place: In the discussion, compare your town with a place a
relative lives in. Ask “Is it hotter or colder there in May? Does it rain more or less?
Why do you think so?” Use the four reasons above to explain the difference.

Celebrating Seasons — Page 157

Page 31 of 48

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Songs of the seasons, and the crops of each season

FIND OUT

Q1 In India, we have many songs associated with seasons. Do you know any? Find out
some songs.

ANSWER

Yes — almost every part of India has songs for the seasons, especially for the rains and for
spring. Ask your grandmother, your music teacher and your neighbours, and write down at
least three.
How to find them:

1. Ask the oldest person at home to sing one they learnt as a child.
2. Ask your music teacher which season songs are sung at your school functions.
3. Listen at festival time — the songs sung at Teej, Holi and Bihu are all season songs.
4. Write down the first two lines, the name of the season it belongs to, and who taught it to
you.

SEASON KIND OF SONG EXAMPLES FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF
INDIA

Varsha Rain and swing songs, sung by Kajri and Jhula songs of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar;
(Monsoon) women on swings hung from Malhar, the raga sung for the rains; Teej songs of
trees Rajasthan; Barsaat songs in Punjabi

Vasanta Songs of flowers, colours and Hori and Phaag songs of Holi in the Braj region; Basant
(Spring) new beginnings songs sung at Vasant Panchami; Rabindranath Tagore's
spring songs in Bengal

Sharad / Songs of thanksgiving after the Bihu songs of Assam; Bhangra and Giddha songs of
harvest crop is cut Punjab at Baisakhi; harvest songs sung at Pongal and
Onam

Shishir Bonfire and festival songs Lohri songs of Punjab, such as the well-known song
(Winter) about Dulla Bhatti, sung round the fire

Why seasons became songs: Before there were newspapers and weather reports,
songs were how people remembered when to sow, when to reap and when to
celebrate. Singing about the first rain is a way of watching the sky together. That is
why almost all these songs also mention a crop, a tree or a bird.

Page 32 of 48

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Do this in class: Ask each student to bring one song. Sing them in season order —
spring, summer, rains, autumn, winter — and you will have sung your way right
round the year.

Q2 With the help of your teacher and elders, name the crops that grow in summer and
winter in your region. Fill the table given below.

SUMMER CROPS WINTER CROPS

The blank table printed on page 157.

ANSWER

Ask a farmer, or ask at the vegetable market which vegetables are in season now. Below is
a sample answer for the plains of northern India. Fill in the crops of your own region.

SUMMER CROPS WINTER CROPS

Paddy (rice) — sown with the first rains Wheat

Maize (makka) Mustard (sarson)

Bajra (pearl millet) and jowar Gram (chana) and peas (matar)

Cotton and sugarcane Potato, carrot, radish and turnip

Watermelon, muskmelon and cucumber Spinach, methi, mustard greens and coriander

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature
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REGION WHAT IS GROWN THERE

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Punjab and Haryana Paddy in the rains; wheat and mustard in winter
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need little water

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Kerala and coastal Paddy, coconut, banana, pepper and tapioca, grown almost all year in the warm,
Karnataka wet weather
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Assam and West Bengal
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Paddy, jute

Maharashtra and Gujarat
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Cotton, jowar and groundnut in the rains; wheat, gram and onion in winter

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Why a crop belongs to a season: Every plant has its own needs. Paddy must stand
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A crop planted in the wrong season either dries up or rots — which is why farmers

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called kharif crops. Crops sown after the rains and harvested in spring are called

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rabi crops. Ask a farmer and he will use these two words at once.
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Festivals and Seasons — Page 158
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Match the festivals to the season they are celebrated in
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Many of our festivals are connected with seasons. See if you can match these
festivals to the season they are celebrated in! 1. Pongal, Makar Sankranti 2. Holi 3.

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Diwali 4. Baisakhi, Gudi Padwa, Vishu, Rongali Bihu — with — (a) Spring — when

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

S.NO. FESTIVAL ANSWER SEASON WHY IT MATCHES

1. Pongal, Makar (d) Winter They fall in the middle of January, the
Sankranti coldest part of the year. Til laddu, gajak,
gur and khichdi are eaten to keep warm,
and kites are flown in the clear winter sky.

2. Holi (a) Spring — Holi comes at the full moon of Phalguna,
when flowers in February or March, just when the
bloom palash and semal are in flower and the
fields are yellow with mustard. The
colours of Holi are the colours of spring.

3. Diwali (b) Autumn — Diwali falls in October or November, after
after crops the kharif crop has been cut and brought
are harvested home. The barns are full, so it is a time to
light lamps and celebrate.

4. Baisakhi, Gudi (c) New year and All four fall in the middle of April. They
Padwa, Vishu, harvest mark the new year in Punjab,
Rongali Bihu festival Maharashtra, Kerala and Assam, and they
also celebrate the cutting of the rabi
harvest.

Why our festivals sit on the seasons: For hundreds of years almost everyone in
India lived by farming. The big moments of the year were sowing and harvesting,
and those moments are fixed by the weather. So the festivals grew up around them
— a festival when the crop is safely home, a festival when the year turns, a festival
when the flowers come back. Our calendar of festivals is really a calendar of the
seasons.

Look carefully at 1 and 4: Both are harvest festivals, so both could seem to fit (c).
The difference is that Pongal and Makar Sankranti fall in January, in the cold — so
they go with Winter. Baisakhi, Gudi Padwa, Vishu and Rongali Bihu fall in April and
are also the new year in their regions — so they go with (c).

Let us reflect — Pages 159–160

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Closing questions

LET US REFLECT

Q1 1. Narrate your experiences about the season changes.

ANSWER

Tell it as a story of the year, from one season to the next, and say what you saw, smelt, ate
and felt. A good answer names things — a tree, a fruit, a bird, a festival — instead of only
saying “it was hot” or “it was cold”.
What a good answer must have:

1. The name of each season and roughly when it came.
2. One thing you saw in nature in that season.
3. One thing that changed in your own life — clothes, food, games, school.
4. One moment you remember clearly.

Sample answer
Our summer began in April. The ceiling fan ran all day and the road felt hot under my slippers
even in the evening. We drank litres of water from the earthen pot and ate mangoes almost
every day. The pond behind our lane became a patch of cracked mud, and the koel called from
morning till afternoon.
Then, one afternoon in the last week of June, the sky turned dark grey in a few minutes and it
poured. That first rain is the thing I remember best in the whole year — the smell of the wet
ground, and all of us standing outside getting soaked while our mothers shouted from the
doors. After that, everything turned green in about a week. Frogs croaked all night. We wore
gumboots to school and my notebook corners stayed damp.
By October the rain had stopped and the sky turned a very clear blue. My grandmother took the
quilts up to the roof to dry. We made a rangoli for Diwali. In November the mornings became
misty and I needed a sweater for the first time.
January was the coldest. There was fog until nine in the morning and my hands went numb on
the way to school. We had a bonfire on Lohri and ate gajak. Then in February the mustard field
near the school turned bright yellow and the mango tree began to smell sweet. We played Holi
in March, and by the end of that month I had put my sweater away again — and the whole thing
was ready to start over.

Why this question comes at the end: The whole chapter has been teaching you to
notice. This question asks you to prove that you noticed. Anyone can copy the six
season names out of a book; only someone who really watched can say when the
first rain fell and what the ground smelt like.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Tip: Open your seasons' journal before you write. The dates and small details you
wrote down through the year are exactly what will make this answer good.

Q2 2. Ask your family members and write about seasons. Do you find any major
differences in the patterns or changing seasons? What could be possible reasons for
these differences?

ANSWER

Yes — most elders will say the seasons have changed. The commonest things they say are
that summers are hotter and longer, that winters are shorter and less cold, and that the rain is
less regular than it used to be.
How to do this properly:

1. Ask at least three people of different ages — a grandparent, a parent, and an older
neighbour or a farmer.
2. Ask the same questions to each of them, so that you can compare the answers.
3. Good questions: “When you were my age, when did the rains begin?” “Did you need a
sweater as early as we do?” “Was there a pond or a field here that has gone?”
4. Write down their exact words, and their age, next to each answer.

WHAT THEY A SAMPLE ANSWER FROM AN ELDER
USUALLY SAY

About the rains “The rain used to come by the middle of June, almost on the same date every year. Now
it may come in the last week of June or even in July, and sometimes a whole month's
rain falls in two days.”

About summer “Summer was hot, but the nights cooled down. Now even the nights are warm, and
nobody sleeps on the roof any more.”

About winter “We used to wear woollens from Diwali till Holi. Now the cold comes only in January
and is over quickly.”

About the “There were mango and neem trees along this road and a big pond behind the school.
surroundings Both are gone now, and the road is much hotter.”

Possible reasons for these differences:

Cutting down of trees. Trees give shade, hold water in the soil and keep the air cool. When
forests and old roadside trees are cut, a place gets hotter and drier.
Towns growing bigger. Cement, tar and brick soak up heat all day and give it back at night.
That is why a city stays warm even after sunset.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Ponds, tanks and wetlands being filled in. Open water cools the air around it. Once it is
built over, that cooling is lost.
Smoke and gases from vehicles, factories and burning waste. These collect in the air and
slowly make the whole Earth warmer. People call this global warming.
More vehicles, air conditioners and machines, each of which throws out heat.

Why one person's memory is not enough on its own: Memory can play tricks, and
everyone thinks their childhood summers were better. That is why you ask three
people, and why scientists measure temperature and rainfall with instruments every
single day. When the memories and the measurements say the same thing — and
here they do — we can trust it.

What can be done: Plant trees and look after the ones already there. Do not fill up
ponds. Walk or cycle for short distances. Do not burn leaves and plastic. A single
class cannot cool the Earth, but a school that plants and protects fifty trees really
does cool its own street.

Q3 3. Seasons have local names. Find out and write the seasons mentioned below are
called in your region, and your local language. (a) Spring (b) Summer (c) Monsoon
(d) Autumn (e) Pre-winter (f) Winter

ANSWER

Ask the elders in your family for the names they use, and write those in your book. Below
are the names used in some Indian languages, so you can see how they compare.

Page 38 of 48

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature
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m
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SEASON HINDI / BENGALI TAMIL EVERYDAY SPOKEN
NAMEm
m a se
SANSKRIT

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agBasant
(a) Springm
a s e वसंत — Vasanta বসন্ত — இளேவன ல் —

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(b) Summer ग ीष्म — Grishma গী — Grishmo முதுேவன ல் — Garmi, unhala

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Mudhuvenil

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(c) वष — Varsha
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বষা — Borsha கார் — Kaar Barsaat, pavsala
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(d) Autumn शरद — Sharad শরৎ — Sharat கூத ர் — Koothir
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हेम ंत — Hemant

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agl(f) Winter শীত — Sheet ப ன் பன — Pinpani Sardi, thand, hivala
िशिशर / शीत —
Shishir

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Sample answer for a student in Uttar Pradesh: (a) Basant (b) Garmi (c) Barsaat (d) Patjhar (e) agl
l a se
Hemant — but at home we simply say “Diwali ke baad ki thandak” (f) Sardi or jaada.
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Why the names are worth collecting: A name tells you what people notice. Tamil
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calls spring Ilavenil, meaning “young heat”, and summer Mudhuvenil, “old heat” — so
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the two are seen as one heat that grows up. Bengali keeps all six names in everyday
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as your class knows between them.
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five languages is thirty names

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q4 4. Fill the table below based on your observations and experiences.

NAME OF FOOD CLOTHES FESTIVALS YOU NATURE
THE SEASON YOU EAT YOU WEAR CELEBRATE AROUND YOU

Spring

Summer

Monsoon

Autumn

Pre-winter

Winter

The blank table printed on page 160.

ANSWER

Fill each row from your own life — what your family actually cooks, what you actually wear,
which festivals your family actually celebrates. Here is a fully filled sample you can compare
with.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

NAME OF FOOD YOU EAT CLOTHES FESTIVALS YOU NATURE AROUND
THE YOU WEAR CELEBRATE YOU
SEASON

Spring Fresh peas, carrots, Light cotton Vasant Panchami, New leaves on the trees,
(Vasanta, oranges, sugarcane clothes; a thin Maha Shivaratri, mango blossom,
Feb–Mar) juice, gujiya and sweater in the Holi, Gudi Padwa, mustard fields yellow,
thandai at Holi early morning Ugadi palash and marigold in
only flower, the koel starts
calling, bees and
butterflies return

Summer Mango, watermelon, Thin cotton Baisakhi, Rongali Very hot days and long
(Grishma, muskmelon, clothes in light Bihu, Vishu, evenings, hot wind, dry
Apr–Jun) cucumber, curd, colours, a cap or Puthandu, Rath grass, ponds shrinking,
lassi, aam panna, a cotton scarf, Yatra gulmohar and amaltas
sattu, bel sharbat slippers in bloom, birds panting
in the shade

Monsoon Corn on the cob, Raincoat, Nag Panchami, Teej, Everything green,
(Varsha, pakoras, khichdi, umbrella, Raksha Bandhan, puddles everywhere,
Jul–Aug) ginger tea, hot food; gumboots, Janmashtami, Onam, ponds full, frogs
less raw salad quick-drying Ganesh Chaturthi, croaking, earthworms
because of the risk of clothes Independence Day and snails out,
illness dragonflies, mushrooms
on damp ground,
rainbows

Autumn New rice, guava, Cotton clothes Navratri, Durga Clear blue sky, white
(Sharad, pomegranate, in the day, a Puja, Dussehra, kaash grass in flower,
Sep–Oct) custard apple, light sweater or Diwali, Chhath, Bhai marigolds, harvested
festival sweets shawl at night Dooj, Gandhi Jayanti fields, first migratory
birds at the lake, cool
nights

Pre-winter Sugarcane, sweet Sweater, socks, a Guru Nanak Jayanti, Heavy dew in the
(Hemant, potato, groundnuts, cap in the Kartik Purnima, morning, cool dry air,
Nov–Dec) gur, hot milk, fresh morning; quilts Christmas mustard fields turning
green vegetables come out of yellow, leaves falling,
storage days becoming short,
dark by 5:30 p.m.

Winter Sarson ka saag with Woollen Lohri, Makar Fog and mist in the
(Shishir, makki di roti, gajar sweater, jacket, Sankranti, Pongal, morning, frost on the
Jan–Feb) halwa, gajak, til shawl, muffler, Magh Bihu, Republic grass, longest nights,
laddu, hot soup, woollen cap, Day bare trees, migratory
methi and palak blanket at night birds on the lake,
bonfires in the evening

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What the filled table proves: Read any row across and you will see that the food,
the clothes, the festival and the nature outside all match one another. Nobody
planned it that way. We eat mangoes in summer because that is when mangoes
ripen; we celebrate Pongal in January because that is when the rice comes home.
The seasons are quietly deciding all four columns.

Be honest in your own table: Write the festivals your family really celebrates and
the food you really eat. Your table and your classmate's table will be different — and
comparing the two is the most interesting part of this exercise.

Q5 5. Share your experience of seasons' journaling.

ANSWER

Say what you did, what was hard, what surprised you, and what you would do differently
next time. The journal is not a homework book — it is the record of a whole year of watching,
and the interesting part is what the watching taught you.
What a good answer should cover:

1. How you kept the journal — how often you wrote, and what you wrote about.
2. One thing that was difficult.
3. One thing you would never have noticed without the journal.
4. What you would do better next year.

Sample answer
I kept my seasons' journal in a thin ruled notebook and wrote in it every Sunday. Each time I
wrote five things: the date, the weather, what the neem tree outside our house looked like,
which birds I had seen, and what we had eaten that was new. Sometimes I drew a small picture
of a leaf or a flower and stuck it in.
The hardest part was remembering to write. In the middle of the summer holidays I forgot for
three weeks, and later I could not fill in what had happened, because I simply could not
remember. That taught me that writing on the same day matters.
The best surprise was the neem tree. I had walked past it every day of my life and thought it
never changed. But my journal showed that its old leaves fell in March, that it had tiny white
flowers in April which smelt faintly sweet, that small green fruits came in June, and that birds
came for those fruits. I had never once noticed any of this before I started writing it down.
I also learnt that the first heavy rain came on 27 June, and that the koel stopped calling by the
end of July. Next year I want to add the time of sunset once a month, because the class chart
showed that the days get shorter and I would like to see that happen with my own eyes.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why journaling works so well: Nature changes too slowly for us to see it while it is
happening. A journal freezes each moment, so that later you can put the moments
side by side and watch the change. That is exactly what scientists do — a scientist's
notebook is a journal too, and it is kept for exactly this reason.

For next year: Keep the same journal going. Two years of notes let you compare —
did the mango flower on the same date? Did the rain come earlier? That is when a
journal stops being homework and becomes real evidence.

Q6 6. Make a comparative drawing of the three major seasons. (Summer, Monsoon,
Winters)

ANSWER

Draw the same scene three times, once for each season, side by side. Keeping the scene the
same is the whole idea — then everything that differs between the three drawings must be
caused by the season.
How to do it, step by step:

1. Choose one scene you know well — a house with a tree and a pond, or the corner of your
school ground.
2. Divide the page into three equal columns and head them Summer, Monsoon, Winters.
3. Draw the same house, the same tree and the same pond in all three, in the same position.
4. Now change only the things the season changes — the sky, the tree, the water, the clothes
people wear, the animals and birds.
5. Colour carefully. The colours carry most of the meaning: yellow-brown for summer, deep
green and grey for the monsoon, white-grey and pale for winter.
6. Write three or four labels in each column, with arrows to what they point at.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature
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co m
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WHAT TO SUMMER MONSOON WINTERS
DRAW
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Sky and Sun m Big white sun, glaring pale Dark grey clouds, slanting Pale sky, small weak sun low

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a
sky, no clouds rain lines, a flash of lightning down, mist near the ground

The tree Dusty, drooping leaves; dry Bright green, dripping; new Bare or thin branches; fallen

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brown grass below grass all around leaves on the ground

m
Almost dry, cracked mud at se Full to the brim, water
a
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The pond Half full, still, with mist
the edges rising off it

People Thin cotton clothes, a cap, Umbrella and raincoat,
co m
Sweater, muffler and cap,

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drinking water, sitting in gumboots, splashing in a hands near a small fire

m l as
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shade puddle

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Animals and A dog asleep in the shade, a Frogs, a snail, dragonflies Ducks or cranes on the

a g birds koel on a branch over the water pond, a cow with a sack on
its back

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Food or

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Mangoes on the tree, a cart A field of yellow mustard,
plants
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Summer Monsoon
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Same tree, same pond, same ground — only the season
a s em is different.
. gl and let the season do all the
coA rough plan for your three-column drawing. Keep the scene afixed
a s em
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changing.

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Why the drawing must be “comparative”: If you draw three different scenes, the
m changed and what you simply chose to draw.
reader cannot tell what theeseason
s
a gla times and the change becomes proof. This is the same
Draw the same tree three
idea as the class chart: put things side by side and the pattern shows itself.

co m
m .
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.co


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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Finish it well: Under the three columns write one line that ties them together — for
example, “The same tree, three times in one year. Nothing new was added; the
season did all of it.”

Chapter at a glance
Everything around us keeps changing. Look at the four trees on page 148. They are the
same tree drawn four times — full green, then yellow with leaves falling, then covered in
orange flowers, then bare. Some changes are slow, like a tree growing tall or a hill wearing
down. Some are quick, like a cloud crossing the sun or a soap bubble bursting. You yourself
changed between Grade 3 and Grade 5 — you grew taller, your handwriting improved, you
made new friends.
Some changes come back again and again. Day turns into night, and night turns back
into day. Leaves fall and grow again. Flowers bloom, dry up and bloom again. A change that
repeats in the same order, over and over, is called a rhythm — a pattern in nature. This
chapter is about two such rhythms: the rhythm of a day and the rhythm of a year.
Day and night happen because the Earth turns. The Sun looks as if it rises in the east,
crosses the sky and sets in the west. But the Sun is not going round us. The Earth is turning
round on itself, like a top. This turning is called rotation. The Earth spins around an
imaginary line through its middle called its axis, and one full turn takes about 24 hours. The
half of the Earth facing the Sun has day. The half turned away is in the dark, and has night.
As the Earth keeps turning, every place gets its turn in the light.
A globe is a small model of the Earth. It is shaped like a ball, just as the Earth is. Its blue
parts are the seas and oceans, which cover about three-fourths of the Earth. Oceans are
huge and open; seas are smaller and are partly closed in by land. The rest of the globe is
land, where all the countries are. Shine a torch on one side of a globe and turn the globe
slowly — you have made day and night on a table.
The year has its own rhythm, and we call it the seasons. Through the year the weather
warms up, gets very hot, then it rains, then it turns cool, then cold, and then warms up
again. The same thing happened last year. The same thing will happen next year. This
repeating pattern is what we call a season. Keeping a seasons' journal — a notebook
where you write down what you see in nature each month — is how you notice the pattern
for yourself.
India has six seasons. They are Vasanta (Spring), Grishma (Summer), Varsha (Monsoon),
Sharad (Autumn), Hemant (Pre-winter) and Shishir (Winter). Each one lasts about two
months, and each brings its own weather, its own flowers, its own birds, its own food and its
own festivals.
Why do the seasons change? Besides spinning on its axis every day, the Earth also travels
once round the Sun every year. And the Earth's axis is not straight up — it leans a little to
one side, like a spinning top that tips over slightly. The lean always points the same way. So

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

for part of the year our half of the Earth leans towards the Sun and gets strong, straight
sunlight — that is summer. Six months later the same half leans away, the sunlight comes
slanting, and it is winter. Seasons are not caused by the Earth coming nearer to or going
farther from the Sun.
The same season is not the same everywhere in India. Winter in the Kashmir valley
brings snow; winter in Kerala only means slightly cooler days. Places far from the equator,
and places high up in the mountains, are colder. Places near the sea stay even — neither
very hot nor very cold. Mountains also decide the rain: the hills of the north-east force the
wet monsoon winds to rise and drop their rain, so Assam and Meghalaya are soaked, while
Rajasthan, far inland with no hills to stop the winds, stays dry.
Seasons decide what we grow, eat, wear and celebrate. Farmers sow paddy, maize and
bajra in the rains, and wheat, mustard and gram in winter. We drink lassi and eat mangoes
in summer, and eat gajak and saag in winter. Our festivals follow the same rhythm — Pongal
and Makar Sankranti in the winter harvest, Holi in spring, Diwali after the autumn harvest,
and Baisakhi, Vishu, Gudi Padwa and Rongali Bihu as the new year begins. India celebrates
over 1,000 festivals in a year, and most of them are tied to a season.
Nature gives its own signals. In Odisha, when the koel calls, farmers know the rains are
near and it is time to sow. When ants carry their eggs to higher ground, rain is coming soon.
During the monsoon, snakes come out of their flooded burrows — which is why Nag
Panchami is celebrated then. Dong village in Arunachal Pradesh is the first place in India to
catch the sunrise. Mawsynram in Meghalaya is the wettest place on Earth, and the Thar
Desert is one of the driest — both in the same country.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Quick revision

WORD WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT APPEARS AN EVERYDAY
EXAMPLE

Change Something becoming different Page 148, the four trees You are taller now than
from what it was before in Grade 3

Rhythm Something that happens again Discovering Seasons, page 155 Day, night, day, night…
(pattern) and again in the same order

Rotation The Earth turning round on itself, Activity 1, page 150 A spinning top, or a
once in about 24 hours merry-go-round

Axis The imaginary line through the Demonstration, page 150 The metal rod through
middle of the Earth that it turns the middle of a school
around globe

Day The time when your side of the Page 150 From sunrise to sunset
Earth is facing the Sun and
getting its light

Night The time when your side of the Page 150 From sunset to sunrise
Earth has turned away from the
Sun

Globe A small round model of the Earth Do you know?, page 151 The globe kept in the
classroom

Ocean A very large, open body of salty Do you know?, page 151 The blue parts of the
water; a sea is smaller and partly globe
closed in by land

Season A part of the year with its own Discovering Seasons, page 155 The monsoon, which
kind of weather, which comes returns every June–July
back every year

Seasons' A notebook in which you write Seasons' Journal, page 151 Saba and Aparna's
journal what you notice in nature through journals
the year

Migratory Birds that fly a long way to Seasons' chart, autumn Cranes and ducks at a
birds another country for one season observations lake in winter
and go back later

Harvest Cutting and gathering a crop Festival table, page 158 Pongal, after the rice is
when it is ripe and ready harvested

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 9 Rhythms of Nature AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WORD WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT APPEARS AN EVERYDAY
EXAMPLE

Revolution The Earth's one full round trip Not printed in the chapter — it Your birthday comes
around the Sun, which takes one is the reason the seasons come once every round trip
year back

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