Unit 7: 

Topsy turvy Land

Now read about one such upside-down land.

The people walk upon their heads,

The sea is made of sand,

The children go to school by night,

In Topsy-turvy Land.

The front-door step is at the back,

You're walking when you stand,

You wear your hat upon your feet,

In Topsy-turvy Land.

And buses on the sea you'll meet,

While pleasure boats are planned,

To travel up and down the streets

Of Topsy-turvy Land.

You pay for what you never get,

I think it must be grand,

For when you go you're coming back,

In Topsy-turvy Land.

                                                        H.E. WILKINSON

Reading is Fun

1. When do children go to school in Topsy-turvy Land?

2. In the poem, if buses travel on the sea, then where do the boats travel? How should it rightly be?

3. The Topsy Turvy land is very different from our land. Let's draw a comparison by filling in sentences wherever needed.

Let’s Listen

Fun with sounds

Let’s Talk

1. The words in the sentences are jumbled here. Rearrange them to make meaningful sentences. Words that begin with a capital letter are the first word of the sentence.

(i) Renu naughty is a girl.

(ii) untidy room Her always is.

(iii) mother Her advises her clean to it.

(iv) never listens She her mother to.

(v) kind of What child a you are?

2. Can you tell of some things that go topsy-turvy at home and there is disorder?

Let's Write

1. Write five things that you do at home to make your home look neat and clean.

(i) ____________________________________________

(ii) ____________________________________________

(iii) ____________________________________________

(iv) ____________________________________________

(v) ____________________________________________

2. Let s imagine a topsy-turvy scene and describe it in the lines below.

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

3. Two stories got mixed up. Sort them out and write them in the appropriate boxes.

1. We thought the lion had eaten someone.

2. Suddenly the kite lifted him off the ground and took him over the treetops.

3. He saw a shoe in the lion's cage.

4. Finally, the kite brought him back to the park.

5. Our class had gone to the zoo.

6. Puran was flying the brand new kite in the park.

7. Some children stood and screamed, and some ran to the Director of the zoo.

8. Puran was frightened and excited.

9. The lion had not eaten anyone, because the shoe was one of the lion's toys.

The Magic Kite

________________________________

________________________________

________________________________

________________________________

Who Did the Lion Eat?

Gulliver’s Travels

When a person tells the story of his life in his own words it is called an . Gulliver a sailor was once caught in the land of Giants. This is how he describes his experience.

On the 16th of June 1730 we discovered land. Our captain sent a dozen men with vessels for water, if any could be found. When we came to land we saw no river or spring nor any inhabitants. I went on to explore. The country was barren and rocky. I turned back to join the crew, only to see them getting into the boat and rowing for life to get to the ship.

Before I could reach them I observed a huge creature walking after them in the sea as fast as he could. The water of the ocean reached only till his knees! However, the monster was unable to overtake the speeding boat. I turned back quickly and climbed up a steep hill with fields of barley on either side and the corn rising upto forty feet. There was a fence to pass from one field to the other.

It was impossible for me to climb because every step was six feet high. I was trying to find a gap in the hedge when I discovered one of the inhabitants in the next field walking towards the fence. He was of the same size as the creature chasing the boat. I was struck with utmost fear and astonishment and ran to hide myself. He called in a voice much louder than a trumpet. It sounded like thunder! Seven monsters like him came towards the field ready to reap the corn. They carried a reaping hook which was very big. When one of the reapers approached where I lay hidden I screamed as loud as I could. The creature stopped reaping, picked me up between his thumb and forefinger and brought me close to his eyes, sixty feet above the ground. He looked at me with curiosity and blew my hair aside to get a better view of my face.

He called his friends and gently placed me on the ground.

They all sat on the ground to take a good look at me. I walked

slowly backward and forward, pulled off my hat and made a low bow towards the farmers. I tried to speak to them loudly in several languages. Each time I did so the farmer who picked me up held his ear very close to me but in vain. The farmer took me to his house and placed me at some distance on the dining table which was thirty feet high from the floor.

Dinner was brought in a dish ten feet in diameter. The farmer's wife crumbled some bread and placed it before me. In the middle of the dinner I heard a noise behind me. It was the purring of a cat that was ten times larger than an ox. The farmer's wife was stroking him. Then entered the farmer's one year old son in the arms of a lady. On seeing me the child me the table and put my head into his mouth. I so loudly that the baby dropped me. I would have broken my neck if the mother had not held her apron under me. Later she put me on her own bed and covered me with a clean white handkerchief.

I slept dreaming of my home, my wife and my children.

(Adapted from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels)

Reading is Fun

1. Why did the captain send the men to the land?

2. Why did the men rush back to the ship?

3. Choose the correct answer.

(i) The giant carried a reaping hook because

(a) he was fighting with the other giants.

(b) he was going to reap the corn.

(c) he wanted to frighten Gulliver.

(ii) They put Gulliver on the ground to look at him because

(a) they had never seen a human before.

(b) they thought he was a doll.

(c) they had never seen such a tiny man.

(iii) Gulliver was

(a) a farmer.

(b) a sailor.

(c) a dwarf.

(d) a giant.

4. Name the creature to whom you would look like Gulliver.

The creature is now extinct.

The word begins with the letter D ____________________________

5. From the text, write the sentence that tells you the following.

(i) The giant reapers were fascinated by Gulliver.

____________________________________________

(ii) Gulliver was a learned man.

____________________________________________

(iii) The farmer's son thought Gulliver was a toy.

____________________________________________

(iv) The farmer's wife was a kind-hearted woman.

____________________________________________

Let’s Talk

1. Read the following sentences carefully.

The giant farmer’s voice was as loud as a bellowing trumpet.

or

The giant farmer’s voice was as loud as thunder.

When something is very cold, we say it is as cold as ice.

This is because ice is very very cold.

Now complete the following. Use the words given in the box.

as ______________________ as a feather

as ______________________ as a tortoise

as ______________________ as honey

as______________________  as snow

as______________________  as an ox

as ______________________  as night

as ______________________  as a rose

as ______________________ as a toast

as______________________ as a breeze

Use the above expressions to complete the following sentences.

(i) The old man’s hair is as white _____.

(ii) His feet were as cold _____.

(iii) The newspaper boy was as slow ____ in delivering the papers.

(iv) I felt as light _____ after exercising.

(iv) I felt as light _____ after exercising

Create your own comparisons for the following. Work in pairs.

as tall as ____________________

as fast as ___________________

as high as ___________________

as angry as __________________

as tiny as ____________________

as brave as __________________

2. There are many reasons why something happens.

For example

All the three are reasons why Gulliver was unable to climb the fence.

3. Now look at the pictures and discuss in groups why the following events happened. You may find more than one reason for each of them.

Let’s Write

Look at the following examples.

1. I was trying to climb over the fence when the giant saw me.

2. The farmer's wife was stroking the cat when her one year-old son entered.

Both the actions were in the past.

When the first one was going on in the past, the second one happened.

1. Match the following and write complete sentences in the lines below.

(i) I was writing a letter when _____

(ii) _____

(iii) *When I met Arun, he was looking for his dog.

(iv) *____

(v) _____

(vi) _____

(vii) _____

*Please note that sometimes the order of the sentences changes.

2. Now complete the following suitably.

(i) I was sitting in a taxi yesterday when _____

(ii) He was cleaning out his cupboard when_____

(iii) _____ a dog ran out onto the road.

(iv) _____ the teacher walked into the room.

3. When we compare two things/people, we add -er or more to the describing word.

When we compare three or more things/people, we add est or most to the describing word.

Look at the following examples. When first two are compared and when all three are compared.

fast

faster

fastest

1. The sailboat is fast.

2. The car is faster than the sailboat.

3. The aeroplane is the fastest of all.

difficult

more difficult

most difficult

1. Hitting target is difficult.

2. juggling caps is more difficult than hitting a target.

3. Doing complicated magic tricks is the most difficult of them all.

Now complete the following in the same way using the words easy or strong.

(i) Skipping is _____.

Jumping is _____ than skipping.

Walking is the _____ of all.

(iii) The dog is _____

The horse is _____

The elephant is _____

Now complete the following in the same way using the words juicy or exciting. The order may vary according to your choice.

4. Correct the use of the describing words in the following sentences.

(i) This is the simpler problem of them all.

(ii) Which is the lightest of the two parcels?

(iii) He is cleverer than I am.

(iv) I like this the best of the two.

(v) The flood became badder as the rain increased.

5. Punctuate the following sentences using capital letters, full stops (.) commas (,) question marks (?) apostrophe ( ' ) exclamation mark (!) wherever necessary.

dear samir,

i am sending you a photograph of my newest pet frisky is a bulldog and a very playful puppy by next summer he should be old enough to go with us on our long walks i m sure you are looking forward to seeing him I know you will like him warm regards

sanju

6. Punctuate the following sentences

(i) next wednesday my sister mita is going to join the state bank of india

(ii) the dog wags its tail when its pleased but a cat waves its tail when its angry

(iii) when I went fishing I caught an old shoe a plastic bag and a bad cold

(iv) she fed the baby washed the dishes put the lights off and went to sleep

(v) wasn't tim born on the 26th of january 1989

(vi) oh no the bus has gone

Let’s Find Out

Fill in the blanks.

(i) A giant tree :                            Red wood trees of California

(ii) A giant bird :                                       ________________

(iii) A giant land animal :                         ________________

(iv) A giant water creature :                    ________________

(v) A giant reptile                                    ________________

(vi) A giant aeroplane                             ________________

Find out some interesting facts about each of these giants and share them with the class.

Creative Writing

You woke up one morning and found yourself in the land of dwarfs!

Write a paragraph describing your experiences there and how you got back home finally. You may begin like this.

Everything around me looked different._________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

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