The Bubble, the Straw & the Shoe: NCERT Class 1 Story, Marigold Unit 2

etmantra20 Jun 20209 min read

This is a short, silly story with three unusual friends, and children love the surprise ending. It also gets them thinking about which things float, which things break and which things sink.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 1, unit 2. NCERT’s newer Class 1 book is Mridang, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: The Bubble, the Straw and the Shoe

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

New words: bubble, straw, forest, river bank, float
Telling a story in order: first, then, at last
Sound words like 'splash' and 'bang'
Thinking about why a plan did not work

What the story is about

A bubble, a straw and a shoe live together. One day they go into the forest and reach a river. They do not know how to cross it. The shoe asks if they can float across on the bubble, but the bubble says no. Instead, it says the straw should stretch from one bank to the other so they can walk across.

The straw stretches across the river. But when the shoe jumps on it, the straw breaks, and the shoe falls into the water with a loud splash. The bubble laughs so much that it bursts with a big bang.

New words, with Hindi meanings

bubble: a thin ball of water filled with air (हिंदी: बुलबुला)
straw: a thin dry stem of a plant (हिंदी: तिनका)
forest: a large place with many trees (हिंदी: जंगल)
cross: go from one side to the other (हिंदी: पार करना)
float: stay on top of water (हिंदी: तैरना)
bank: the land at the side of a river (हिंदी: नदी का किनारा)
splash: the sound of something falling into water (हिंदी: छपाक)
burst: break open suddenly (हिंदी: फूट जाना)

Explained in Hindi

If your child finds the English hard, watch this explanation of the story 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.

Who were the three friends in the story?
Where did they want to go, and what was in their way?
What happened when the shoe jumped on the straw?
Have you ever made bubbles? What happens to a bubble in the end?

Answers for parents

The three friends were a bubble, a straw and a shoe.
They went into the forest and wanted to get across a river, but they did not know how to cross it.
The straw broke, and the shoe fell into the water with a loud splash.
For example: Yes, I made bubbles with soap water. They flew up and then went pop.

Grammar corner: Past tense with -ed

When something has already happened, we often add -ed to the action word. Stretch becomes stretched, and jump becomes jumped. The story is told in the past, so it has many of these words.

The shoe looked at the deep river and jumped.
The friends walked to the river.
The bubble laughed at the wet shoe.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: The shoe fell into the water with a loud ___.
Choose the right word: A bubble can (float / sink) in the air.
Add -ed and say the new word aloud: jump, laugh, walk.

Answers: 1. splash · 2. float · 3. jumped, laughed, walked

Try this

Try a small float-or-sink test with a bowl of water. Drop in safe things from home, such as a leaf, a spoon, a bottle cap or a piece of paper, and let your child guess first. Then retell the story with three family members acting as the bubble, the straw and the shoe.

Tip for parents

Tell the story first in Hindi, with बुलबुला, तिनका and जूता, so your child knows what happens. Then tell it again in English and pause for your child to say 'bubble', 'straw' and 'shoe'. If your child mixes Hindi and English, that is fine; praise every try.

Questions parents ask

Who are the characters in The Bubble, the Straw and the Shoe?

There are three characters: a bubble, a straw and a shoe. They live together and go into the forest one day.

What happens at the end of The Bubble, the Straw and the Shoe?

The straw breaks when the shoe jumps on it, and the shoe falls into the river. The bubble laughs so hard that it bursts with a big bang.

Is The Bubble, the Straw and the Shoe in the new NCERT book?

The Bubble, the Straw and the Shoe is a chapter from NCERT's older Marigold book for Class 1. The newer NCERT English book for Class 1 is Mridang, so check your child's school book list to see which one the school uses.

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 →