Cats: NCERT Class 1 English Poem (Raindrops Chapter 12)

etmantra5 Feb 20208 min read

Anyone who has watched a cat knows it can nap in the strangest places. This short poem lists those places with a smile, and children love imagining a cat curled up in a shoe.

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From the NCERT English book Raindrops for Class 1, chapter 12. NCERT’s newer Class 1 book is Mridang, but many schools still teach Raindrops.

Watch: Cats

Play the video three or four times. The first time, just listen. Then point at the pictures, and from the third time, say the lines along with the video. Short, repeated listening is how CALP builds a child’s English.

What your child learns

Words for things at home: table, chair, drawer, shoe
Using "any" and "anywhere"
Noticing how animals behave
Saying a short poem with rhythm

What the poem is about

The poem says that cats sleep anywhere. It names places: any table, any chair, an open drawer, an empty shoe, or anybody’s lap.

Cats do not care where they are. The poem is light and funny. It helps children notice how animals behave and gives them easy words for things found at home.

New words, with Hindi meanings

anywhere: in any place at all (हिंदी: कहीं भी)
drawer: a box in a table or cupboard that slides in and out (हिंदी: दराज़)
empty: with nothing inside (हिंदी: खाली)
lap: the top of your legs when you sit down (हिंदी: गोद)
care: to feel that something matters (हिंदी: परवाह करना)
table: a piece of furniture with a flat top and legs (हिंदी: मेज़)
chair: a seat for one person, with a back (हिंदी: कुर्सी)

Sing and dance

Once your child knows the poem, sing it together with actions. Children who can’t sing yet can still do the moves.

Talk about it

Ask these aloud after reading or watching. Let your child answer in English if they can, or mix in their home language. Both help.

Where can cats sleep, according to the poem?
What kind of shoe does the poem talk about?
Do cats care where they sleep?
Where do you like to sleep or take a nap?

Answers for parents

On any table or any chair, in an open drawer, in an empty shoe, or on anybody's lap.
An empty shoe.
No. Cats do not care; they sleep anywhere.
For example: I like to nap on the sofa next to my grandmother.

Grammar corner: Using "any" and "anywhere"

"Any" means it does not matter which one. "Any chair" means this chair, that chair or every chair. "Anywhere" means in any place at all.

Our kitten will drink milk from any bowl.
You can sit on any chair you like.
My cat curls up and naps anywhere in the house.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: The cat is sleeping in an ___ shoe. (empty / angry)
Match: drawer, lap, chair with (a) a seat you sit on, (b) where a baby sits on Mummy, (c) a box that slides out of a table.
Make a sentence with the word "anywhere".

Answers: 1. empty · 2. drawer: (c); lap: (b); chair: (a) · 3. For example: I can read my book anywhere.

Try this

Play “where is the cat”. Use a soft toy as the cat and put it to sleep in places named in the poem: on a chair, in a drawer, in a shoe, on someone’s lap. Each time, ask your child to say in English where the cat is sleeping.

Tip for parents

Ask in Hindi first, "बिल्ली कहाँ सो रही है?", and then in English, "Where is the cat sleeping?" Let your child answer with a Hindi word, then help with the English: मेज़ is table, कुर्सी is chair. Praise every answer, even a half-English one.

Questions parents ask

What is the poem Cats about?

It is a short, funny poem about how cats can fall asleep anywhere and do not care where they are.

Where do cats sleep in the poem Cats?

On any table or chair, in an open drawer, in an empty shoe, or on anybody's lap.

Which book and class is the poem Cats from?

It is Chapter 12 of Raindrops, NCERT's older English book for Class 1. The newer NCERT English books are Mridang for Class 1–2 and Santoor for Class 3–5.

Learn every Class 1 lesson with CALP

Every lesson of Mridang, NCERT’s new book, with read-along videos, new words with Hindi meanings, and listen-and-say practice with a score, made for young children with a parent nearby. ₹999 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →