Picture Time: NCERT Class 1 English Lesson (Mridang Unit 2)

etmantra3 Nov 20264 min read

Picture Time invites children to look at animals and birds and name them in English. Two fun counting rhymes, one about a fish and one about five monkeys, make numbers easy. Children love to act them out.

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From NCERT’s new English book Mridang for Class 1, unit “Life Around Us”. Unit 2.

What your child learns

Names of animals: monkey, lion, fish, frog, rabbit
Counting from one to ten, and back from five
Rhyming words: tree and knee, five and alive
Talking about a picture

What the lesson is about

The chapter opens with a busy picture of animals, birds, a monkey and some snakes. Children look, count and talk about what they see and where they have seen these animals.

Next comes a number rhyme where a child catches a fish while counting to five and then lets it go while counting to ten. In Five Little Monkeys, the monkeys jump on a tree and one falls down each time, until no monkey is left jumping. Children also match animals like the lion, frog and rabbit with their names.

New words, with Hindi meanings

animal: a living thing like a dog or cow (हिंदी: जानवर)
bird: an animal with wings (हिंदी: पक्षी)
snake: a long animal with no legs (हिंदी: साँप)
monkey: an animal that jumps in trees (हिंदी: बंदर)
fish: an animal that lives in water (हिंदी: मछली)
knee: the middle of your leg (हिंदी: घुटना)
fell: dropped down (हिंदी: गिर गया)
bumped: hit something (हिंदी: टकराया)

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 do with the fish?
What happened to the monkey who fell down?
How many monkeys were jumping at the start?
Where have you seen a monkey?

Answers for parents

The child let the fish go again.
He bumped his knee.
Five monkeys.
For example: I saw a monkey on a tree near the temple.

Grammar corner: Rhyming words

Rhyming words end with the same sound, like tree and knee. Songs use rhyming words so they are fun to sing. We can make new ones by changing the first letter: ten, hen, pen.

A bee sat on a tree.
The fish was alive, and I counted to five.
A red hen sat near number ten.

Practice at home

Spot the rhyme: tree, cat, knee. Which two rhyme?
Make a word that rhymes with ten: h__ or p__.
Count back aloud from five to one.

Answers: 1. tree and knee · 2. hen, pen · 3. five, four, three, two, one

Try this

Play Five Little Monkeys at home. Five family members or five soft toys are the monkeys. Each time you sing, one monkey 'falls' and holds its knee. Children count how many are left after each verse.

Tip for parents

First ask, 'Bandar ko English mein kya kehte hain?' and help with 'monkey'. Count in Hindi and then in English, side by side. If your child mixes the two, that is fine, just smile and repeat the English word.

Questions parents ask

What is the poem Five Little Monkeys about?

Five monkeys jump on a tree, and each time one falls and bumps his knee. In the end no monkey is jumping, and each one is holding his knee.

Which words rhyme in Picture Time?

Tree and knee rhyme in Five Little Monkeys. Five and alive rhyme in the fish rhyme.

Is Picture Time in the new NCERT book?

Yes. It is Chapter 1 of Unit 2, Life Around Us, in NCERT's new Mridang book for Class 1.

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 →