My Shadow: NCERT Class 5 English Poem (Marigold Unit 3)

etmantra20 Jul 20209 min read

Who follows you everywhere when there is light? Your shadow. In this charming poem, a child talks about their shadow as if it were a playful little friend. It mixes fun with a bit of simple science about light.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 5, unit 3. NCERT’s newer Class 5 book is Santoor, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: My Shadow

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

Seeing how a shadow grows and shrinks
Old-style words: proper, arrant, India-rubber ball
Rhyming pairs: me and see, head and bed, grow and slow
Reading a poem aloud with fun and expression

What the poem is about

The child in the poem has a little shadow that goes in and out with them. They cannot understand what use it is. It looks just like them from heels to head, and it jumps into bed before them.

The funniest thing, the child says, is the way the shadow grows. It is not slow like real children. Sometimes it shoots up tall like a rubber ball, and sometimes it gets so small that it disappears.

One morning the child gets up very early, before the sun, and sees the shining dew on the buttercups. But the shadow is not there. The child jokes that the lazy little shadow stayed at home, fast asleep in bed. The poem is playful and full of wonder.

New words, with Hindi meanings

shadow: the dark shape made when something blocks the light (हिंदी: परछाईं)
heels: the back parts of your feet (हिंदी: एड़ियाँ)
proper: real, or the right kind (हिंदी: असली)
India-rubber ball: a bouncy ball made of rubber (हिंदी: रबड़ की गेंद)
dew: small drops of water on grass and leaves in the early morning (हिंदी: ओस)
buttercup: a small yellow wild flower (हिंदी: पीला जंगली फूल)
arrant: complete, total (हिंदी: पूरा)
sleepy-head: someone who is very sleepy or lazy about getting up (हिंदी: आलसी)

Explained in Hindi

If your child finds the English hard, watch this explanation of the poem and its word meanings in Hindi, then go back to the English video.

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.

How is the shadow like the child?
What does the child find funniest about the shadow?
Why was the shadow not with the child early in the morning? What does the child think?
When have you noticed your shadow becoming very long or very short?

Answers for parents

It looks very much like the child, from heels to head, and goes in and out with them.
The way it grows: sometimes it shoots up tall like a rubber ball, and sometimes it gets so small that it disappears.
The sun had not come up yet. The child jokes that the lazy shadow stayed at home, fast asleep in bed.
For example: In the evening my shadow becomes very long, and at lunchtime it is short.

Grammar corner: Rhyming words

Rhyming words end with the same sound. In this poem, head rhymes with bed, and grow rhymes with slow. The rhymes give the poem its bouncy, playful sound.

I play with my shadow on the wall; sometimes it is big, sometimes small.
My shadow runs when I run; we play together in the sun.
At night I look under my bed; my shadow is gone, I shake my head.

Practice at home

Spot the rhyme: which word rhymes with bed? (head, cup, ball)
Fill in the blank: Small drops of water on grass early in the morning are called ___.
Say aloud: is your shadow longer in the early morning or at noon?

Answers: 1. head · 2. dew · 3. It is longer in the early morning (and evening), and shortest around noon.

Try this

Go outside on a sunny day, in the morning and again at noon, and look at your shadows. Trace them with chalk or mark them with stones and compare the sizes. In the evening, make shadow animals on a wall with your hands and a torch.

Tip for parents

Take your child outside and ask in Hindi, “तुम्हारी परछाईं कहाँ है?” Then say together, “Here is my shadow.” Talk about the poem in Hindi first if that is easier, and let your child answer in a mix of languages; praise them for noticing how the shadow changes.

Questions parents ask

What is the poem My Shadow about?

A child talks about their shadow like a playful friend: it looks just like them, grows tall and small, and once seems to stay in bed while the child gets up early.

Which words rhyme in My Shadow?

Some rhyming pairs are me and see, head and bed, grow and slow, and ball and all.

Which NCERT book has the poem My Shadow?

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

Learn every Class 5 chapter with CALP

Every chapter of Santoor, NCERT’s new book, with notes in English and Hindi, say-it-aloud practice with a score, grammar, speaking and writing practice. ₹1,299 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →