1 What is History?

blackboard, pictures, charts, E-cards, electronic

gadgets and others;

 History is a collection of many people's stories of the past - you and me make history
03:00
 Movers and shakers of the past are great source of inspiration for us

 To know what is history and the different sources of At the end of the lesson the students will be able to
history;  identify the different sources of history;
 To understand and recognise the importance of history;  define various terms related to history;
 To be able to gain an understanding of the social and  produce a flow chart of different sources of history neatly;
cultural life of the past from various sources;  infer and interpret data such as cave paintings and
 To appreciate the importance of historical research in sculptures to know the social and cultural life of the past.
finding about the past;

Warm up and introduction Warm up leading to the concept

Teacher
 To show timeline chart of his/her life – highlighting
important personal and professional events;
 To ask probing questions to direct students’ attention to
00:10 history being events of the past;
 To generate an informal discussion as to what makes
history and how we know about distant past;
 To show pictures such as Ashoka, Rajaraja and get the
students talking about what they know;

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Two students can play the two people – mother and Introduction of the lesson – through the dialogue at the
daughter and read aloud; beginning of the lesson;
The students may be asked quick questions such as
 What does Grandpa’s diary tell us?
00:10  Do you feel the diary tells us about the past?
 How do we know about the life of the people of Stone
Age?
 What is prehistory?

Teacher - explaining with writing the terms/words on Teacher – to reinforce the sources by doing the
the blackboard after the students’ response; classification on blackboard with the students drawing
00:05 the flow chart simultaneously in their notebooks;

Students - studying in pairs the different sources of

history;
00:15

Recommended activities: Can share stories of ordinary Indian citizens – making a

change in their community/town/village like Mrs Rajani
00:10 Paranjpe who has started ‘Doorstep School’.
She takes her school wherever the children are –
pavements, construction sites, outside big markets,
railway stations, and so on;
(sourced from 'The Better India', article by Shreya Pareek,
Dec, 2014)

Teacher – taking up; Independent working time – students to read the

Moving from the known to unknown; show the Ashoka section of case study (Ashoka) silently with marking
Chakra in flag, emblem, coins, and so on; words and phrases which require explanation;
Brief idea of Ashoka’s change of mind after Kalinga 00:15
war, his great deeds, concern for people and spread of
Buddha’s teachings by way of edicts and inscriptions;

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Quick review to know how far the students have
understood and explain whatever requires further
clarification using blackboard;
Review questions such as the following could be
asked to assess the students’ understanding:

 What was the religion that spread to different parts

00:20 of Asia during Ashoka’s time?
 Why did Ashoka give up war?
 He devoted his life to spread the message of
…………….. and …………….. .
 Why do you think that people did not know about
Ashoka till the 20th century?
 What are the evidences that brought to light the
greatness of Ashoka?

Support learning with pictures and additional information about Efforts of William Jones and James Prinsep (their
rock, pillar edicts of Ashoka; interest in deciphering Brahmi script);
Emphasise the value of research; importance of
Focus on how to analyse and interpret paintings (cave paintings);
artefacts, pottery pieces in constructing the history
of the period when written records were not there
(Stone Age);

Brain-teasers: Pose the questions to the whole class.

Emperor Ashoka ruled from 268 to 232 BCE.  What could be the reason for such ignorance about
He was almost forgotten till about 1850s when the rock a great king? Why did we not know about our own
edicts were linked to him and the script was deciphered. rulers or about the great religion of Buddhism
00:05 which originated here?
 There is Buddhist literature such as ‘Mahavamsa’
which mentions King Ashoka. Scholars were not
ready to accept it as fact of the past. Why?

A group discussion and writing down their conclusions as a Each group to present their views to the class;
group report;
Teacher:
An open discussion of each other’s views; Directing the discussion in such a manner to bring out
00:20 the importance of documenting the important events
Guiding the course of the discussion and summing up; in a country/kingdom such as wars, laws, reforms, govt
measures, and so on;

Reinforcing through the textual exercises A thorough discussion of the text questions;
Map work - referring the text; The work has to be completed as home assignment ;

00:20

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Recommended fun project:  Each student to get two family members to talk
about/describe (the same) an important family
Any one project can be chosen depending on the event (from the past);
accessibility and aptitude of the students; project Student – to compare the two versions and
presentation and review is taken after a week’s time
00:20 write their own version;
To share in the class how different each person’s
way of looking at a thing.
 Visit a museum if one is nearby/get hold of a
person who collects coins and know about old
coins/visit an old temple/fort;
Make a presentation as a team work about the
historical facts, mention the type of source, how
difficult it was to understand and analyse the
information present;

00:15 ICT

What is History?

Archaeological Sources Literary Sources

• Artefacts — potteries, toys, tools, • Secular literature — epics and
and ornaments poems, accounts by foreign
• Coins travellers, works by Indian
• Inscriptions — rock edicts, temple authors, and folk songs and
wall inscriptions, and metal pillar ballads
• Monuments — palaces, forts, • Religious literature — epics and
temples, stupas, and monasteries devotional literature

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 2 Human Evolution

Blackboard, pictures, charts, flash cards,

electronic gadgets and others;

 Learning the value of the constant efforts of early ancestors to improve life;
 Importance of fire and wheel;
02:15
 Moving towards the early civilisations;

Students will be able to

 To understand the gradual stages of evolution of
 explain the different stages in the evolution of man
man to the present stage (Homo Sapiens);
such as the Homo Habilis/Homo Erectus and others;
 To appreciate the significance of the land mark  list the changes in the physical features such as
inventions — fire, wheel, domestication of standing erect, opposable thumb, brain size and so on
animals, and cultivating crops; in the evolution of modern man;
 To know about the different types of stone tools  describe the hunting processes and the art of flaking;
and the improvements made based on the  apply themselves to the situation of the early
needs; ancestors;
 examine and interpret the cave paintings;
 use the keywords appropriately to write about early
agriculture;
 locate places on the given India map.

Warm up and introduction Warm up with recall questions about what the students
Leading from recall of cave paintings, Stone Age know about Stone Age man;
(previous lesson); Make them compare the life in the jungle along with
00:05 other animals and the present day settled life with all
modern technology – have all these comforts due to
electric and electronic gadgets suddenly appeared one
day? What according to them is the most important
discovery/invention that dramatically changed man’s life?

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Focus on the natural development of human species from Visual aids
Australopithecus to Homo Sapiens with pictures and black Have charts with colourful big pictures of cave scenes/
board illustration; hunting scenes, Homo Habilis man, Homo Erectus man
and Homo Sapien man put up;
Draw the attention of students to simultaneous
developments in social life/improvements and
00:10 Bring their attention to the term ‘EVOLUTION’ and its
meaning;
innovations; how it enabled the human beings to move Let them think about how and what brings changes in
from caves to cities; the life of people, their physical attributes also – through
questions – “Have you heard stories of grandparents
who have experienced life 70/80 years ago?” “Are there
significant changes from the past to now? What factors
can bring about changes?”

Reading Pages – 132 – 135 first column (including the illustration);

Reading of the first section — silent reading by the
students, going carefully line by line to note the places/ Introduction of the lesson:
words where they require clarification; 00:15 Imagine you lived 100 years ago. How would your
(i) costume (ii) food (iii) house (iv) transportation
(v) communication be

Students’ activity : Guided class activity – working as pairs wherein one

Make their own table/flow chart or mind mapping about
the stages of human evolution
00:10 person – be able to help the other;

Compare 1850 with 1950 and period -8000 years ago

Ask the students to give a brief account of what they with 18000 thousand years ago;
had read — to measure their understanding; 00:15 Get the students to do it by turn on the board;
What do they infer about human life from different
periods?

Teacher explanation Visual aids such as charts showing different kinds of

stone tools, axe with wooden handle and so on;
With this question to go the next section of the lesson – Observation and application:
the stages from hunter- gatherer to cultivator; Bringing different shaped stones to class – asking
Use of blackboard to write the different stages – the them to crack some nuts choosing a stone or
important development in each stage; (outdoor/in the ground where trees, sand, stones are
found)
A quick silent reading individually by the students to 00:25 Give them some pepper and ask them to think of a
follow; way to powder it without any other gadget; (to think,
observe around them, and use what is available
around);

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 Draw the attention of the students to the conditions
(wild jungle with different animals to compete for
food) and let them recognise the significance of the
skill of observation and analysis that set human beings
apart from other beings;
Teacher to point:
To observe round rolling objects in nature – may be
easy but to think of an axle and hub – made it a land
mark invention;
To think of the idea of selecting seeds to grow what is
needed – requires an analytical and curious mind;

The following questions can be asked to assess the

students' level of understanding:

 What could have been the means of

Questions to check students' level of understanding: communication before the advent of language?
 ............. is the first art of humanity.
As and when the students respond, teacher can reinforce  How did man start to use fire for cooking?
the learning with further explanation;  List the ways in which wheel was used by our
00:15 ancestors.
 Did the cave paintings use colour? (Read the
sentence from the text that gives you the answer.)
 Did the early man hunt animals for food? Why did
he go in search of fruits and vegetables? Did he
prefer vegetarian food?
 Which animals were and are still very useful in
farming after domestication?
 What is barter system?
 The invention of ............. was a great help in
farming activities.
Textual questions and exercises – discussion;
Map work marking the places given in the text; Given as home assignment.
(Find how and why each place is important); write down the Students can choose any two activities (Out of the first
importance as map key; three – whichever is feasible);

Recommended activities: Exercise to reinforce learning and also to enhance the

 Visit to a museum which displays stone tools and pottery (if process;
any museum is nearby; Using the following key words, the students can write
about the beginning of agriculture;
 Arrange slide shows if possible – about cave paintings and
what they depict; Seeds, soil, new shoot of plants, water, sowing, oxen,
organised life, cooking and storage, harvest, surplus,
exchange of goods, trade, emergence of cities;

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 Invite a research scholar to share his/her experiences about
the finding of artefacts and how he/she draws conclusions;
 Write a short story – imagining time travel to a period in the
past describing student’s experience meeting those people;
(Not more than 4 pages on A 4 sheet)
 “Make your ‘cave art’,” – draw simple figures such as the early
paintings using natural colours; (other students should be able
to understand what is communicated through the painting)
 Find more information about the role of archaeology in
history; present it as an article with suitable pictures; make it a
team work;

The following can be one way of a quick exercise in summing up; the students can arrange the stages in chronological order as
what follows which activity;

Worth getting a copy of ‘The Forbidden Temple’ from Tulika publication to be read aloud in the class (It is a collection of stories
with historical facts mixed with imagination. There is a story about hunter-gatherer stage life –Hunt’)

Focus on the transition from one stage to the next — How necessity drives man to find an alternate arrangement which leads to
discovery of fire or wheel;

Improved Pottery on
stone tools wheels

Growing crops
Invention of
that are needed
wheel Human Evolution

Discovered the
use of fire

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 3 Indus Civilisation

blackboard and pictures of Indus Valley;

 Growth of civilisation and complex social structures with the emergence of cities
 Role of archaeology in constructing the early history
 Need of interdisciplinary approach

 To understand the extent of Indus Civilisation and At the end of the lesson the students will be able to
how it was connected to other civilisations of the  recall the important features of urban civilisation;
same period;  reproduce the town planning features of the
 To appreciate the urban culture, planned cities, skills Harappan Civilisation;
in making toys, jewellery, and pottery;  list all the evidences of trade connection with other
 To know and identify the sites of the Civilisation; civilisations;
 To recognize the work of archaeology in knowing the  create/make toys with movable limbs using
social and cultural life of Indus people; available materials;
 identify and label the Indus sites.

Warm up and introduction Warm up with recall questions about how agriculture
developed near water sources (rivers);
 Why did the people prefer locations near rivers for
farming?
 With surplus production, what would have happened
00:10 to the small group of people?
(guide the answers in such a way to get a response – the
growth of the human community, exchange of food
crops for some other things);

1
Have a chart with all the important concepts/terms with Use of blackboard to show the stages: from small group
the definition – neatly written or have the terms in the → farming operations expanding → need of planning
form of placards – pinned up where the students can see the tasks and allocation of responsibilities→ growth in
them easily; population, emergence of different occupations such as
(Words such as civilisation, culture, explore, excavation,
urban civilisation, Neolithic, maritime, seals, decipher,
00:10 pottery, basket weaving, growing vegetables, jewellery
making and so on;
script – with the meaning/definition)
Wall map of India with rivers to show Indus, Ganga,
Cauvery;
Draw attention to the fact of cultivation along river banks;

Have the following question on the board and get students’

responses:
 Can people in larger societies live – each thinking about
his/her convenience only?
Write the responses closer to rules, organisation,
government.
Guide the attention to organisation, division of labour, rules,
and government.

On a world map, show other river valley civilisations – Teacher – explanation of civilisation, its various aspects;
Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China; Write ‘civilisation’ on board and explain.
How can we find the connections––what would be the
evidence? Who studies them?
00:10 Ask the students to observe the world map and find how
each of these civilisations would have connected with
the other;

Introducing the concept of alloy and bronze; Can the students guess what the material is?
When man used stone tools in various activities, we Arrange some sharp stones, pestle and mortar and iron
refer to the period as Stone Age. Now, the growth of
civilisation was facilitated by the use of better tools;
00:25 knives, axe; to be observed by the students;

the use of bronze Questions to guide from known to unknown;

 Which tool makes the work easier? What is it made
of?
 What other metals can you think of besides iron to
make sharp tools and other items?

Display a bronze vessel or some tool;

 Can they identify the material?
 Introduce the name ‘bronze’ and also the idea of
alloy.

2
Teaser questions to start the new section (Questions to be Probing questions - to read with more attention to
written down on a big chart beforehand); find the answers;
 We call the earliest civilisations as river valley
civilisations. Why? What favours the choice of
location?
 Who first describes about the ruins of Harappa?
 Where is Harappa?
00:20  What material belonging to the Harappan
civilisation was used in the railway line
construction?
Silent reading by the students to find the answers; to note  When did the excavations of Harappa begin?
difficult words/phrases;  Why are Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro called lost
cities/forgotten cities?
 Who was Sir John Marshall?
 What objects do the archaeologists study?
 Do you know what burnt bricks are?
To answer the questions, the students would read through  Look at the map on page 146 and write down the
the text carefully, word by word; sites/cities shown there. (Which cities are now in
Student responses would indicate their level of Pakistan and which are in India?)
understanding and the areas which need reinforcement;  How do radar and remote sensing methods help
archaeologists?
 Can you locate Mehergarh on the map of Asia?

Group study: Note making:

Unique features of the civilisation be studied within Town planning:
the group wherein peers would help reading and  Streets – in grid pattern, intersecting each other
understanding; at right angles; roads – wide;
Each group be given one feature to prepare as mind map 00:55  Houses – on both sides of the street, one or
or notes with only keywords and present it in class so as two storeys; many rooms and a courtyard; each
to share with the rest of the class (This enables learning house – toilet and bathrooms;
efficiently);  Made of baked bricks of uniform size;
Teacher guidance as and when required;  No evidence of a palace or place of worship;

Discussion of textual exercises: After discussion, the exercises can be written in the
Map work as given in the text (page 159); notebooks as home assignment;
00:30

Extended learning Make the chart (the points given below can be shown
Visual learning techniques to enhance learning and help as one);
retaining in memory; 00:25 Using the sample – given on the blackboard or as
chart– students can make such aids for learning other
topics;
Example: a flow chart or mind map can be done for
trade and transport by the students;

3
Recommended activities:

To appreciate the importance of archaeology in finding

about the past particularly of the prehistoric times;
Point out the difficulty of recognising the evidence
and collecting them without disturbing the structure/
00:25
shape;
Bring the attention of students to know what are
artefacts, where are they found and in association with
what other materials;

1. Let’s be the detectives:

Team activity:
a. Can prepare thick flash cards with pictures of
different flint tools with some clues such as
“I am rather wide and I might have been used for
cutting”;
The teams will be provided with a sheet wherein
they will record their observation (imagining
themselves to be archaeologists); the reasons for
their inferences also to be given;

b. Collect some objects from around the classroom as

artefacts.
Make a list of them; think of people in the future
(500 years later);
 What do you think they will learn about us/our
lifestyle/customs from these artefacts?
 Which of the objects would remain undamaged?
 Imagine yourself as people from the future and
write your observations and inferences.

2. Know the scholars:

The challenge of the script, the mystery of seals and
the remarkable urban civilisation draw many scholars
to the study and research of the Civilisation;
A brief explanation by the teacher to guide them.
00:25 Iravatham Mahadevan, Asko Parpola, Mark Kenoyer,
Richard H. Meadow, Shereen Ratnagar, Rita P. Wright and
many others are active in the field;
Find out one important contribution towards the Indus
research by each one of them – explain briefly;
Present your findings with suitable pictures/drawings in
a chart;

00:20 ICT

4
The mind map given below is about engineering skills and technology; can be shown as a mind mapping chart/flow chart or any
other visual learning arrangement.

Indus Civilisation
Engineering Skill and Technology

Drainage system Great Bath Great Granary Assembly hall

(covered drains) • large rectangular • massive building • found in
• drains – have tank lined with with solid brick Mohenjo-Daro
gentle slope bricks, coated foundation, • multi-pillared
• every house – its with plaster used to store hall with 20
own soak pit, • layered with grains pillars in 4 rows
allowing the natural bitumen • remains of to support the
water to flow to make it wheat, barley, roof
into the street water-tight millets, pulses,
drain • water drawn and so on found
from the well there
located in the
courtyard

5
 4 Ancient Cities of
Tamilagam

blackboard, pictures, e-gadgets

 Advanced society with cultural and literary developments;

 Maritime connections;
01:30
 Literary evidence – supported by archaeological evidences;

 To learn about the social, cultural, and economic life At the end of the lesson the students will be able to
of the great Tamil cities – Poompuhar, Madurai, and  explain/reproduce the information about the
Kanchi; ancient cities;
 To know what the Sangam works describe about these  locate the different cities of Tamil Nadu on the
cities; map;
 To understand how the geographical location helped  investigate about the past of the places; report the
these cities in attaining cultural/economic prominence; same;
 To gain a better understanding of the ancient Tamil  collect literary evidences from the Sangam work
kingdoms; and create stories;
 To appreciate the value of archaeological research in  compare the past with the current situation.
supporting the literary information;

Warm up and introduction The text has a simple and interesting introduction; can
modify that a little.
For example, substitute another town/city/village that a
student belongs to;
May be questions such as
00:10  Can you recollect how your hometown developed?
 Is there any historical importance for your hometown?
If so, tell about it.
 How would you know the place is old or not so old?

1
Visual support:  Have you heard of the great temples of Kailasanatha of
Have large size colour pictures of these temples and some Kanchi or Madurai Meenakshi temple?
more monuments;  Have you wondered how people lived long back in
these cities?
00:05  How do we come to know about them?
 Have they heard about the Sangam works –
Pattinappaalai, Silappathikaram and Madurai Kanchi?

Reading
Reading of the text aloud in class by students;
Explanation of each city – to be taken as one sub unit;
Explanation by teacher wherever needed; 00:30 After the reading session, students have to answer a
small worksheet;
Answers can be immediately called for from the students
and checked by them;
On a scale of 10, they can assess themselves (this is just
for evaluating the level of understanding and to give
reinforcements);
 Who were the literary characters to have lived in
Poompuhar?
 Is the city located along the coast or inland?
 Which river drains into sea near Puhar?
 Name the work of Sangam which describes the trade,
culture, and other aspects of Puhar.
 Which city is called “Sangam Valartha Nagaram”?
 Name the ruling dynasties which ruled over Madurai
in the ancient period.
 How was King Solomon of ancient Israel associated
with Madurai kingdom?
 Name the Chinese traveller/scholar who visited
Kanchi.
 Name the religions which flourished in Kanchi and
contributed to its greatness.
 What does the presence of Roman coins in Madurai
indicate?
(The above is a sample; teacher may have a different
worksheet)

Textual exercise – discussion Students to answer (by turn) the questions;

Map skill (as given in the text along with the places Teacher to add and improve the answer, explaining
where the students live; each one’s hometown 00:15 wherever necessary;
such as Thanjavur, Kaayal, Uraiyur – now part of
Thiruchirappalli);

2
Recommended activities:
Collecting information – requires some time like a
1. Team work (groups of 4/5) week or ten days;
 With the help of the teacher/elders at home, approach So a specific time/deadline to get the completed
the town administration to know about the history project (both 1 and 2);
– for how long they have records and note down the
important landmark events which show the social and
cultural life of the place;
 Visit some old temples nearby which may have some
00:40 Have a special session to share your findings;
stories to offer; Invite teachers, principal, and some other students to
 Try to get the significance/meaning of the name of the listen to your stories;
town (that may give you some idea about the past);
 Sort out the information, make a historical story of the
past in order with your own ideas/conclusion at the end
about the changes and the present condition;
 Add pictures to make it interesting;
2. Team work  Get the help of Tamil teachers to help you select the
‘A day in Pandian Nedunchezhiyan’s Madurai’/ ‘On the sea front verses and understand the meaning;
of the Puhar harbour’/ ‘Viharas, Pallis and temples of Kanchi’  Then make a story board/picture stripes (example:
Your source – the Sangam works of Silappathikaram, comics) of the life in the great cities of those days;
Pattinappaalai, Madurai Kanchi and any other;  Or write a traveller’s account imagining that you time
travel back to that time and your fellow travellers are the
great Chinese travellers or Roman traders (depending on
the city);

Ancient Cities of Tamilagam

Poompuhar Madurai Kanchi

• Also called Puhar and • Sangam Valartha Nagaram • Educational centre
Kaveripoompattinam • Trading town • Temple town
• Port town • Cultural blending – ruled by • One among the seven
• Books - Pattinappalai and early and later Cholas and sacred places
Silappathikaram Pandyas, Kalabras and Nayaks • District of lakes – water
• Facilitated maritime trade in the • Markets, Tamil sangam, Greek management through
early Chola era and Roman associations canals and lakes
• Separate settlement for each
social group

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 1 The Universe and
the Solar System
black board, globe, animated videos of rotation and revolution,
charts showing the solar system, revolution and seasons, e-gadgets

 Learning the formation of the Universe;

 Understanding the components of the solar system;

 To learn about the solar system, rotation and Students will be able to
revolution of earth;  describe the solar system;
 To become familiar with geographical terms;  explain the chart showing the revolution of earth
around the sun;
 demonstrate the rotation of earth and revolution
around the sun;
 collect data and present it neatly;
 sketch the revolution of earth around the sun
neatly with proper labelling;
 describe the sphere of earth;
 define various geographical terms.

Warm up and introduction Introduction

For a Geography lesson, it helps to have a word wall/ Reading of the first part of the lesson – substituting
word book or Pictionary made with the geographical one of the students in the place of Iniya and
terms; we can keep adding as new terms are to be continue.
introduced;
00:15 Some more questions from the teacher to explore/
probe:

1
So for this unit, the terms are – Let the students think and answer whatever they know;
celestial bodies, universe, galaxy, stars solar system,  Have you looked at the night sky? What do you see there?
planets, satellite, asteroids, comets, meteors, meteorites, When we say full moon, what do we see on the sky?
latitudes, rotation, axis, revolution, orbit, leap year,  Are the moon, sun and the stars similar in their nature?
hemisphere, Equinox, summer and winter solstice, sphere,
 How is earth related to sun, moon and stars?
lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere.
 Do you know what a planet is? Is it different from a star?
The way the lesson is introduced in the text is simple and
clear; teacher can make two students read that part aloud  How would you describe the shape of the earth?
and take over from there. Students can read aloud their wordbook definitions and
discuss with one another.

Cooperative learning Check for understanding

 Ask the students to keep their wordbook/Pictionary 00:35 Teacher can pose questions to engage the students'
ready and make them sit in pairs. (The teams – to be attention and find out how far they have understood.
already arranged by the teacher); Questions such as
 Have the chart depicting the solar system put up for  Which planets are referred to as the celestial planets?
the class to see; Why?
 Reading in pairs (pages – 174 -180);  How huge is the Sun?
It must be a slow reading. Ask them to underline the  Name the gases that make up the Sun.
key words and the words that they do not understand.
 What are celestial bodies?
 What does the universe consist of?
 How are the huge cluster of stars of a galaxy held
together?
 What is the evidence that shows that the early Tamils
knew about the Sun being the centre of the solar
system?
 The only planet not named after the Greek/Roman
gods is .......... .
 What is unique about the earth?
It is important to provide pauses after posing the
questions to the students; (They need time to think,
analyse and give their response)

00:10 A pop quiz can be conducted dividing the students into

teams on the components of the Universe.

Visual aid
From the internet sources given at the end of the lesson,
teacher can show an animated video/slide show of the
big bang and the creation of universe;
00:15

2
Explore and engage  Do you think we experience day and night
Questions to draw attention of the students to the day and uniformly all over the world?
night changes and the cycle of seasons;  What can be causing day and night when the
Sun is always there pouring its heat on us?
00:15  In the morning when we see the Sun, how do
we describe it? (to lead to ‘rising in the East’)
 Where do you see the Sun in the afternoon/
evening?
 Where does it go in the evening?

Teacher guidance Students – by turn can call out their definition of

To write the terms – AXIS and ROTATION on the top of the the words, AXISand ROTATION.
board so as to have space to write the key points later.  Get students to do the spinning in their places –
Demonstration by teacher (safety measures to be checked so that they will
 By spinning around – show both clockwise and
00:40 not fall or get hurt);
anti-clock wise rotations;  Ask the students how it would be if there is no
rotation or revolution.
 Explain the axis – showing a top spinning on its axis; bring
the students' attention to the globe and how it is tilted at  What would happen if the Earth is not tilted at
an angle; an angle?
 With a lamp in the centre of the class , pin/affix a small  Get the students to spread out, their desk/table
figure on the globe in the location of their city/town; near them, to rotate anti-clock wise and go
around the desk (as the Sun) – also in counter
 Make the figure to directly face the Sun (lamp) to show
clockwise direction;
day light;
 To explain how the other side of the Earth – not facing the
Sun -- would have night; (It would be a fun and effective way of internalizing
the knowledge.)
 Can show by slowly rotating the globe but let the lamp
remain in the same position to show the different hours
– how by the evening – long shadows fall; how when the
figure is completely on the other side it is in darkness;
 Write REVOLUTION on the board and the teacher to show
the revolution of the Sun by going around the lamp/table;
 Teacher to show rotation and revolution simultaneously
and explain the path known as ORBIT;
 Draw the attention of students to the shape of Earth –
sphere and the imaginary lines of latitude – which helps
them understand at what angle sun light is received at a
particular location; (due to the spherical shape);
 Chart display – to show revolution and the different
positions of Earth around the Sun (solstice and equinox);
 With the globe and blackboard drawing –parallels of
latitude can be explained.
 With the simple illustration – how the sunlight falls at
different locations – can be explained.
(Students can draw the revolution of the Earth in their
copies with suitable labels)

3
 00:20 Match the following can be given on the new terms
learnt such as revolution, axis and so on along with their
definitions.

Reading aloud in class – spheres of the earth They will make notes of only the key points.
Example –
After each paragraph (because each describes one Most suitable for life ; three major realms/
concept), give time for students to discuss among the 00:20 components- lithosphere, atmosphere,
team, clarify doubts with the teacher (teacher can go hydrosphere;
around and help) The 3 realms and suitable climate – makes life
possible; life exists – in a narrow zone of contact
Recommended activities between the 3 realms – called biosphere;

To do as team work: Textual exercise as an assessment

Students can refer to encyclopedia, other books and Let students provide the answers, teacher to give
search the net for interesting information about other support wherever needed.
planets, comets, asteroids and meteors; To be completed by students as home assignment.
With suitable illustrations, write three/four sentences
about each one in their own words (what they
understood only; should not copy from any source ;)

4
Universe
Satellites

8 planets

Galaxy

Dwarf planets
Sun
Stars
Asteroids

Comets Meteors

Meteorites

5
 2 Land and Oceans

blackboard, globe, maps and e-gadgets

 Appreciate the variety of land forms;

 Recognise the different continents;

 To learn about the continental drift and how the The students will be able to
super continent gave way to the present seven  define the terms such as oceans, continents,
continents; valleys, isthmus and so on;
 To recognise the location of the continents in relation
 locate and label the continents, oceans and seas on
with the oceans surrounding them;
a map;
 To know about the different landforms such as
mountains, valleys, plains and others;  recall information about the continents, oceans,
 To gain an understanding about the continuous mountains, plains and plateaus;
work of gradation, erosion and deposition and the  give examples of mountains, plains, seas and
resultant landforms; plateaus;
 To recognise the importance of oceans and know  compare and contrast different oceans;
about the major oceans and how they are connected  write articles about the related topics.
to each other /separated from each other (isthmus
and strait);

In Geography lessons, the students can prepare their

word book/Pictionary for the terms that they will learn:
Terms: continent, ocean, sea, isthmus, strait, erosion,
mountains, plateau, plains, valleys, beaches, sand dunes,
deposition, trench and islands

1
Warm up and introduction:  Do you remember the questions that the teacher asks
Done through recall questions related to the previous the student in the last lesson about where she lives?
lesson;  So, what is your country’s name?
Have the world map and globe ready on display; 00:10  Where is India?
 Can you show me Asia? (on the wall map/globe)
 Is continent different from country? What is shown by
the blue shade on the map/globe?
 Can you read the name? (teacher pointing to the
Indian Ocean/Pacific)

Teacher can have a few more questions – the idea is not to

get a perfect right answer but to know what the students
think about all these.

Guided practice:
Reading aloud the text – the first part; Observation by students
(First order and second order landforms) Map and globe to recognise and familiarise with the
names and location of different continents and oceans;
Teacher questions – to clarify/explain wherever needed:
 The continents that we see now – how were they
00:40
200 million years ago?
 What brought the change?
 Explain with the help of their copies of atlases and
charts showing how the super continent broke away to
the current position;
 A brief and simple explanation of how the intense heat
and energy in the interiors move the outer plates is
enough (grade – appropriate);

 On an outline map of the world mark the continents

and oceans.
00:20  Which ocean touches South America’s Western
border?

2
Explore/probe with guiding questions from the teacher: Writing the words on the board, get them to read and
 Have you been to Chennai and visited the beach there? share their definition of mountains, plateaus and plains
with their partners;
 How many of you have spent time in Kodai/Ooty or
Shimla?
 Have you walked along the banks of River Cauvery in 00:40 With the help of the wall map and their copy of atlas,
Thanjavur/Karur/Kulittalai? students can identify and locate the important mountain
ranges of the world as well as the continents on an
 What can be the difference between these places?
outline map of world;
Guide them to supply related terms such as sea, mountain
(Himalayas, Andes, Rocky, Alps, Western and Eastern
or any other land form;
Ghats;
 Draw their attention to the information/questions in
Iceland, Andaman and Nicobar, Maldives, Lakshadweep,
the box;
Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Malacca Strait, Persian Gulf, Red
Guide them to give appropriate answers; Sea, Bay of Bengal, China Sea, Sea of Japan, Philippines,
Hawaii and Greenland;
On another world map, locate and label the oceans,
Strait of Gibraltar, Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean Sea,
North Sea, Gulf of Mexico; )

The students can do the textbook activity in groups of

three.
00:20 Give time to find answers for the table on page 192
related to peaks, elevation and so on. Have that table
with details copied onto their notebooks;

Teacher questions: to extend and expand knowledge base;

 What can you see on mountains? The relevant responses such as the source of rivers,
habitat for wild life and forestscan be written on the
 Even when you live away from the mountains they are board;
said to be important for our lives. How? 00:20
 Can you tell the importance of plateau with reference to
India?
 Do you know the historic significance of the plains?
 Do you remember the Indus civilisation?
 Do you recall the lesson about the ancient Tamil cities?

3
  Give home assignment to prepare a write up
with suitable pictures of green mountain slopes,
steep mountains, hill stations, flora and fauna of
mountains;
To be brought the next day to share in class(OR)
00:20  They can write about the importance of plains
with specific examples like Indus plain, Ganga
plain or plains of Cauvery/Vaigai in TN;
(Work in their teams of 2)
 Those who are not able to write an articlecan
make beautiful picture representation on charts
to be put up in class;
Guided reading:
The students can read in pairs the Students – to read their definitions in their team
last section of the lesson; and discuss the meaning;
Explanation should be given by teacher about the natural Example, Beaches – deposit of things carried by
agents such as river, waves and wind; waves on the shore
 How the force and speed working constantly on the Teacher – to go round to help them in
rocks break them or carry the pieces elsewhere to 00:40 understanding of erosion, deposition, valleys, sand
deposit them; dunes and so on;

Draw the attention of students to the fact that

in nature – excess will be constantly moved to fill
places of deficit.

00:10 Textual exercises can be done. A group discussion

can be conducted for students on the book
exercises.
The answers to be written as home assignment.

4
Recommended activities:
 Slide shows or videos showing mountains, valleys, sand
dunes, plains and plateau can be shown for better
internalisation of the terms;
 Classification of land by ancient Tamils:
 Find out about land classification from Tamil teachers to
understand the idea;
 Make picture representation of the five lands with pictures of
one flower, tree, animal and occupation of the people there;
 Collect some interesting and special facts about each
continent; [class is to be divided into seven groups
(7 continents)] and put them neatly on the chart and affix
colourful pictures related to the information or write about
the continent of your group with relevant pictures and
present neatly;

Classification of Landforms

First Order Second Order Third Order

• Continents-Asia, • Mountains- • Valleys
Africa, North Himalayas, Rocky and • Beaches
America, South Andes • Sand dunes
America, Antarctica • Plateau-Tibetan,
and Europe Chotanagpur, Deccan
• Oceans-Pacific, • Plains-Indo-gangetic,
Atlantic, Indian, Coastal
Arctic and Southern

5
 1 Understanding
Diversity
blackboard, pictures of different landforms, festivals
and temples, charts, and newspaper clippings;

 Appreciate the influence of the vast size of the land, different races — indigenous and others
— from an early period
 Role of ‘unity in diversity’

 To understand the different diversities we see in At the end of the lesson the students will be able to
Indian society;  define the terms––culture, race, and ethnicity;
 To know how different land terrains and climatic  give examples of the different types of diversity
conditions result in different lifestyle, culture, and present in India;
so on;  relate the different customs to the physical features
 To recognize the different dance, music, and art of the land and climate;
forms of different regions;  create posters or slogans connected to unity in
 To appreciate the underlying bond that brings diversity;
people closer and to feel as one nation;  apply the value of “we are different; we are same”
in class and outside.

Warm up and introduction Get the responses to the questions and note their
Ask the students the following questions: reaction to the last question;
 Do you like ice cream?  Do they like it?
 What is your favourite flavour?  Would they say ‘boring’ or ‘not interesting’?
Write such remarks on board;
 Imagine, you are all taken to an ice
cream parlour but you all get only vanilla
00:15 Give them another ‘Imagine’ situation.
flavoured ice cream. By some sudden spell or magic – imagine as you enter
 How would it be? the class tomorrow – all of you are looking exactly the
same. Describe your feeling.

1
Ask the students the following questions. Would you like looking at ‘you’ sitting next to you?
In what ways are they different from one another? Do Now, how do all of us look like?
all of them speak the same language at home? Let them describe their neighbours (without any negative
Are their food habits the same? comment –teacher to guide that);
What about important festivals celebrated at home? Get them to bring out the word – different/variety;
Write the word ‘diversity’ on the board; ask them for the
meaning and explanation.

Guided reading: They can stop wherever they have doubts; however, it is
Students to read aloud by turn; Teacher should make it to be done with a prearranged signal like raising left hand
clear what is expected of the students while discussing 00:50 or thumbs up sign or any other.
the text; Students' doubts can be thrown open to the entire class
Positive reinforcement: for clarification.
Whenever the students carry forward the lesson by When students respond, it enables the teacher to know
sharing their ideas, the teacher can appreciate the the level of understanding of the class;
class with some stickers (or anything else); also for
the students who show a better understanding and
contribute to the class discussion;

Extended knowledge:
Explain the terms ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ in clear terms –
how race includes physical characteristics such as skin 00:40
colour, hair, eyes, and other physical characteristics while
ethnicity includes cultural factors such as country of
birth or origin, language, and nationality; (Ethnic group
refers to people with a set of shared social, cultural and
historical experiences);
Appreciating diversity with the teacher’s explanation
and additional facts such as emphasis on the close
connection between the physical features of the land, its The students to interpret the pictures and come out with
climate and the socio-cultural life of people; their impressions; Guide them with probing/leading
Show examples with pictures or charts of people, land, questions so that they will be able to appreciate the wide
food, and so on from Rajasthan and the northeast; range of climate, flora and fauna, and also the variety of
similar pictures of land in the south to be put in contrast customs, cultural practices, and so on;
with pictures from Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir;

Recommended reading:
The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss by the
students in group (if the book is not available in the
library, the teacher can recommend getting copies for
the school library or if the students can afford it, ask 00:25
them to get it as a shared possession);

2
 A class discussion of what they understood from the story
00:25 – the idea that we can be different but that does not mean
the superiority of any one group has to come through
definitively;
Ask the students to narrate instances from their lives where
the idea “we are different; we are same” can be applied.

Textual exercise:
Discussion – students can find the answers with guidance from
teacher;include exercise given in page 213;
The answers to be written as home assignment;

Recommended activities:
A celebration of appreciating cultural diversity can be arranged
with the permission of the head of the institution and the
cooperation of other teachers, parents, and class students; this
can happen over a week or four days.
 A day for showing diversity in terms of functions, festivals
and associated songs and dances where the students can
put up colourful charts showing celebration of different
festivals, showcasing the songs and dances on stage;
 Fun with food (another day) where children can bring special
and unique dishes belonging to different states or regions
from the chaat varieties, dhokla, chole bhature, sandesh,
rosagulla to our own idli, paniyaram, puttu and dosa; Can
be shared with friends, teachers or put up small stalls to sell 00:40
them if it is permitted; (this has to be supported by colourful
pictures of different dishes with their names and a few
recipes as visual representation);
 A day for competitions – all the students or only class 6
students (choice as per the convenience and feasibility) to
prepare music/dance/posters/banners/collage (Theme –
appreciating unity in diversity); Parents or some teachers or
important people in the community (who work for a social
cause) to be the judges;
 A day for dress up and role play – the students of class 6 in
groups of three can dress up as people from different states
or tribes and walk on the stage, speaking a few sentences
about their unique nature in the respective language;

3
 A day for quiz – this is to be opened for the entire
school after going around the work about diversity;
they should be able to answer the questions with the
help of the teacher; students will frame the rules and
With the help of the teacher, small cards with pictures of
assign points; Two students can be quiz masters – one
different monuments, temples, folk dances, festivals, or
person to note down the points. The participants can
any other feature can be prepared. Ask the students to
pick up the card and within the allotted time, they
prepare three clues for each picture.
should identify the picture or answer any related
question;

Understanding Diversity

Diversity Diversity in India Unity in Diversity

• Language • Landforms • National flag
• Food diversity — valleys, • National Anthem
• Festivals etc., mountains, plains, • National
islands, deserts, and holidays such as
coastlines Independence Day,
• Social diversity Republic Day ,and
— religion, caste, Gandhi Jayanthi
language, culture • The Constitution and
freedom struggle

4
 2 Achieving Equality

blackboard, news clippings, charts, dictionary

02:15
 To understand, appreciate, accommodate and not discriminate against physical features, gender,
economic conditions, race and religion.

 To understand the meaning of prejudices and how that Students will be able to
would result in discrimination and inequalities;  describe the terms such as prejudices,
 To recognize the steps taken by the government in discrimination, stereotypes, and so on;
guaranteeing the right to equality and freedom as the  recognize the prejudices leading to unequal
fundamental rights in the constitution; treatment;
 To appreciate the work done by great persons in removing  examine the real time ads, news, and films to find
discrimination and inequality in the Indian society; how stereotypes are depicted in them;
 To think of the role of students in removing prejudices and  analyze discriminatory actions and point out
to appreciate the importance of bringing a positive change measures to remove such practices;
in the classroom and school;  argue about the social beliefs that lead to such
discriminatory practices.

Warm up and introduction Introduction:

Through recall questions related to the previous lesson  Students are expected to provide answers such as
(Understanding diversity); the differences in age, gender, ethnicity, religion,
 What is diversity? social/economic status and others;
 Why do you think there is such a difference?
 Students are expected to remember the idea from
 Mention the types of diversities we see around us.
the last lesson –“We are different, we are same”;
 Are differences good or bad?
 Are there some differences that are created by us –
in our minds?
00:15

1
Guided learning of concepts:  Should we treat people who are different from us
 Besides language, gender, religion, what other without equal respect?
social/economic differences/inequalities do we see  Lead a discussion to probe and find out their ideas,
in our society? 00:30 attitude towards differences; teacher to guide the
following point:
 Give an example of how one boy/girl is isolated
even among the students of his/her age due to People different from us – physically/economically/gender
poverty/speaking different language/any other such wise or any other way are not inferior or superior to us;
differences; we are all equal and we should treat others with dignity
and respect;
(It is crucial as this is a formative period/age to form right
opinions);

Visual support to learn new ideas/concepts:  Ask them to call out small sentences with adjectives
 Get charts with big cut out pictures of such as ‘He is a tall man/ She is a plump woman/Vinu
advertisements showing stereotypes like boys/ is a poor boy and so on;
men who are aggressive and taking up bike riding Question: Why does such isolation take place?
and girls/women who are worried about their skin  Focus on our notions without any reason for such
colour or any other reason; 00:30 behaviour (some children can point this out on their
 Show them and ask what is depicted and own); give some pause to get the answer;
whether that is correct depiction; (Girls with  Write the word, PREJUDICE on the board;
dark complexion cannot be happy/Boys can be
 Ask the students to find the meaning;
aggressive while riding)
 Ask them what would be the causes for prejudices;
 Causes for prejudice on page 218 to be explained by
the teacher;
Example - Socialization – tendency to categorize people
into groups and special treatment to people of the same
group;

00:20
Write an article on any discrimination and prejudice
faced by them or the people they know.

2
Further questions to lead them to new ideas and concepts  Give them time to catch the implication of a wrong
such as equality and freedom, fundamental rights and idea/approach;
constitution;
 They may like to provide quite a few examples
 How do you think prejudices can lead to inequalities? themselves;
 What will be the result of stereotyping a person?  Write the word on the board –STEREOTYPE and
 When you think the other person is not your equal, explain;
how would you treat her/him?
00:25 “a set idea that people have about what someone or
something is like, especially an idea that is wrong”
 What will you do if a fellow classmate is made fun of or  What you will say if all are not given same
left out? opportunities and respect in the society?
 Each and every one of us should be treated equally –  Treating bad or not equally – may be the students’
introduce the terms –equality and freedom; response;
 Who can assure/guarantee that we are all equal?  Write the word ‘DISCRIMINATION’ on the board
and explain;

Students can be asked to debate on the

topic, “What is the most prevalent and worst
discrimination?”(caste, gender, religious, or socio-
economic)
The class can be divided into four groups and each
group can give their opinions.

Student learning  Explain how CONSTITUTION is a great guide of

 Reading aloud of the lesson in class and stopping Indian Democracy;
wherever the teacher thinks is appropriate, to give an  how the government should be formed;
explanation.
 how the laws are made,
 Support and guidance is needed in explaining the
 what are the rights of people that are to be
context;
protected by the government;
 Direct the students to read the information in the
boxes and discuss; 00:20  For a better comprehension, additional reading
on the fundamental rights such as the right
 Ask them to analyze the tables on page 220 about to equality, right to freedom and right against
literacy rate and sex ratio; exploitation can be done in class with explanation
 What does the reading/data indicate? by the teacher;
 Does it show discrimination?
 On what basis?
 Is the sex ratio affected by the literacy rate?
 Ask them to read about the achievers (page 221);

3
Extra Reading:
Please check the following story and see if you can use it Textual exercise:
without any problem.  Discussion of the exercises among students to find the
How These Inspiring Child-Brides Are Challenging The answers with guidance from the teacher;
Tradition  The answers are to be written as home assignments;
Jhilli and other girls in Kandhamal district in Odisha have
come together and formed the Kishori Kalyan Samiti, which
helps raise awareness about the ill-effects of child marriage.
Find out how these girls are challenging this regressive social
practice.
Watch this story onYouTube (oxfamIndia). Please check the
following link –

https://matadornetwork.com/.../8-everyday-indian-women-challenging-stereotypes-in

for stories of women.

Recommended activities:
For a better tomorrow:
Make teams of 3/4
1. Students to collect items of news/stories from magazines
about incidents of discrimination/practice of certain
prejudices under the guidance of the teacher (the incident/
news should be age appropriate); Understand the event,
analyze the reasons for such a discrimination, make
conclusions and suggest ways to get rid of such practices;
Present the observations, analysis and suggestions in their
own words neatly as an article with suitable pictures.
2. Another team work:
Listen to advertisements that are telecast and read the ones
which come in print media and pick the ones which show
00:40
stereotypes, pick movies as well which often show such
stereotypes. You can make a critical review, share it in class,
and send it to newspapers/magazines or any other social
media forum to be shared.
(OR)
Present alternate ideas by removing stereotypes from the
advertisements and doing it in a different way. Prepare a
dialogue/speech to present in the assembly of your class on
the topic -the challenge of being left out in class activities
(when one does not conform to the general behaviour/
pattern, when one is completely from another social/cultural/
religious group) and how to practise ‘inclusion’; (The teacher
gives a short explanation of 'inclusion' in the system of
education.)

4
 Achieving Equality

Prejudice Stereotypes Discrimination Methods to

Causes for prejudice • Strong prejudice • Caste achieve equality
• Socialization develops into a discrimination • Remedial
• Conforming stereotype • Gender measures
behaviors • False view or idea discrimination • Constitutional
• Economic benefits about something • Socio- Economic measures
• Authoritarian discrimination
personality
• Ethno-centrism
• Group closure
• Conflicts