Merry-Go-Round: NCERT Class 1 English Poem (Marigold Unit 5)

etmantra13 Jun 20206 min read

If your child has ever been on a merry-go-round at a fair, this poem will bring back that happy feeling. The words go round and round just like the ride, so children can move along as they listen.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 1, unit 5. NCERT’s newer Class 1 book is Mridang, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: Merry-Go-Round

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

Ride words: merry-go-round, horse, round
Opposites: up and down
Colour and size words together: a big brown horse
Saying a short poem aloud with actions

What the poem is about

A child climbs up on a merry-go-round and sits on a big brown horse. The ride goes round and round, and the horse goes up and down.

The child sits high up on the horse and rides around again and again. The poem repeats its words, so it feels like the turning ride itself. It is full of fun and excitement.

New words, with Hindi meanings

merry-go-round: a fair ride with toy horses that turns in a circle (हिंदी: गोल झूला)
climbed: went up using hands and feet (हिंदी: चढ़ा)
round: moving in a circle (हिंदी: गोल-गोल)
horse: a big animal that people ride (हिंदी: घोड़ा)
brown: the colour of mud or chocolate (हिंदी: भूरा)
rode: sat on something and moved along (हिंदी: सवारी की)
high: far up from the ground (हिंदी: ऊँचा)

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.

What did the child climb up on?
What colour was the horse?
How did the horse move?
Have you been on a ride at a fair? How did it feel?

Answers for parents

The child climbed up on a merry-go-round, onto a big brown horse.
The horse was brown.
It went round and round, and up and down.
For example: Yes, I sat on a swing at the mela. It went very fast and I laughed a lot.

Grammar corner: Opposites: up and down

Some words mean the opposite of each other. 'Up' means going higher and 'down' means going lower. In the poem the horse goes up and down as the ride turns.

The toy horse goes up, and then it comes down.
I climb up the steps to the ride and walk down after it stops.
The child sits high up, and the ground is far down below.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: The horse went up and ___.
Choose the right word: The horse was big and (brown / blue).
Say aloud and show with your hand: 'up', 'down', 'round and round'.

Answers: 1. down · 2. brown · 3. Hand goes up for 'up', down for 'down', and draws a circle in the air for 'round and round'.

Try this

Make your own merry-go-round. Hold hands in a circle and walk round as you say the poem, bending down low and standing up tall for "up and down". Ask your child to show "round" with a finger in the air and "up and down" with a hand.

Tip for parents

First talk about a real fair ride in Hindi: "गोल झूले पर घोड़ा ऊपर-नीचे जाता है." Then say the English line together, "The horse went up and down." If your child says "horse ऊपर गया", that is fine; praise the try and say the full English line back.

Questions parents ask

What is the poem Merry-Go-Round about?

It is about a child who climbs on a big brown horse on a merry-go-round. The ride goes round and round, and the horse goes up and down.

What colour is the horse in Merry-Go-Round?

The horse is big and brown.

Which NCERT book has the poem Merry-Go-Round?

It is Unit 5 of NCERT's older Marigold 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.

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