Water – A Precious Gift – Class 3 The World Around Us Chapter 7 Notes & NCERT PDF

Introduction

This chapter opens Unit 3: Gifts of Nature, which is about water and food, the precious resources we need for healthy living. The chapter begins with a riddle: "What comes down, but never goes up?" The answer is rain. Children follow the journey of water: from the rain, into streams, ponds and wells, into our homes, and finally into our daily lives. They learn why every drop counts.

What's in this Chapter

1. Here comes the rain! Children watch the sky every day for a week and guess whether it will rain. They write at least two clues for "I think it will rain today because…" and ask an elder how they guess. When it rains, they ask many questions. Is it heavy or light? Are the raindrops big or small? Is the rain falling straight down or slanting? They collect rainwater in a vessel to see if it is clean or dirty, draw the rain, and sing rain songs, like "Rain, rain, come again!"

2. What happened to the rainwater? Rain falls on different surfaces. Some water soaks into the soil and slowly flows under the soil to join a stream or pond. Some is stored under the ground between rocks and soil, and "the water in our wells comes from this underground water." Streams later join rivers. Water also gathers in puddles, ponds, lakes, seas and oceans. Water left on hard surfaces dries up in the sun.

3. Water is a precious gift! Surya and Barkha get water from taps at home and at school. They follow the pipes and find a tank on the roof, and then wonder how water reached the tank. Children find out where their own water comes from: a tap, a tank, a well, a borewell (drawn up with a pulley, hand pump or electric pump), a tanker, or a river or lake some distance away. They say a big "thank you" to the people who bring water.

4. Water in our daily lives and storing water. One day the society pipeline burst and there was "No water today!" Luckily, Surya and Barkha's family had stored two buckets of water. When we know we will not get water all the time, we store it. The book shows vessels such as a clay pot, clay surahi, copper vessel, brass pot, glass bottle, plastic bottle and plastic bucket.

5. Stop for a moment and think! Water comes down as rain. It fills streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, wells and groundwater. We bring it home, store it and use it in many ways. After we use it to clean things, the water becomes dirty. We cannot drink it or cook with it, but we can reuse waste water for watering plants or flushing toilets. We should not add too much soap and chemicals to water.

6. Every drop counts. Water is considered sacred because we cannot survive without it. In some dry places, people walk long distances to get water. Many places keep pots of water outside homes so anyone who is thirsty can drink, especially in summer.

Key Ideas

Activities from the Book

Words to Learn

Tips for Parents & Teachers

Common Mistakes