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Class 4 The World Around Us — How things are made

Make a sheet of paper out of an old newspaper in the right order, tell the five Rs of waste management apart, and match a kind of paper to the job its thickness suits it for.

Name: ________________________

Before you start

Three kinds of paper, seen from the side so their thickness shows.

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  1. 1. The left sheet
  2. 2. The middle sheet
  3. 3. The right sheet

Paper is not one material. Seen edge-on, these three are nothing like each other, and what each of them is good for follows from that — how thin it is, how soft it is, and whether it soaks up water or holds its shape.

  1. 1.How does the Braille system let a visually challenged person read?

    • a) By feeling patterns of tiny bumps that stand for numbers, letters and punctuation
    • b) By listening to a machine that reads the page aloud
    • c) By feeling letters cut into the paper as grooves
    • d) By reading very large printed letters

  2. 2.Put the steps of making recycled paper in order, starting with 'Collect old newspapers, fenugreek seeds and water'.

    • Blend or mash the soaked paper into a wet mixture
    • Collect old newspapers, fenugreek seeds and water
    • Tear the newspapers up and soak them overnight with the seeds
    • Spread the paste on a flat base and roll it into thin sheets
    • Leave the sheets to dry

  3. 3.A small quantity of fenugreek seeds goes into the water with the torn newspaper. What are they there for?

    • a) They make the paper white
    • b) They give the paper a pleasant smell
    • c) They keep insects away from the pulp
    • d) They act as a binding material

  4. 4.Sort each of these into the R of waste management it belongs to.

    Groups: Refuse · Reduce · Reuse · Repurpose · Recycle

    • Making toys out of old newspapers
    • Saying no to a single-use paper cup
    • Turning old newspapers into handmade paper
    • Using a gift bag again for another occasion
    • Taking your own cloth bags to the grocery store instead of using plastic ones
    • Using both sides of a sheet of paper

  5. 5.Natural dyes are made from parts of a plant. Which parts does the chapter name?

    • a) The leaf, flower, root, seed and stem
    • b) The bark and the fruit
    • c) The flower and the fruit
    • d) The root and the leaf

  6. 6.The chapter names an environment-friendly material that paper can be made from instead of trees. What is it?

    • a) Coconut shell
    • b) Rice husk
    • c) Bamboo bark
    • d) Banana fibre

  7. 7.Before paper, what did people write on?

    • a) Cloth, leaves and wooden boards — and in India, palm leaves called talapatra
    • b) Boards of pressed straw
    • c) Sheets of thin metal, beaten flat
    • d) Slabs of wet clay, dried in the sun

  8. 8.Match each of the five Rs to what the chapter says it means.

    • Refuse
    • Reduce
    • Reuse
    • Repurpose
    • Recycle
    • Using a thing again before throwing it away
    • Saying no to a thing that will become waste
    • Using a thing in a new and different way
    • Using things carefully so less waste is made
    • Turning a thing into something new through a step-by-step process

Answer key — Class 4 The World Around Us — How things are made

  1. 1. a) By feeling patterns of tiny bumps that stand for numbers, letters and punctuation
  2. 2. 1. Collect old newspapers, fenugreek seeds and water 2. Tear the newspapers up and soak them overnight with the seeds 3. Blend or mash the soaked paper into a wet mixture 4. Spread the paste on a flat base and roll it into thin sheets 5. Leave the sheets to dry
  3. 3. d) They act as a binding material
  4. 4. Saying no to a single-use paper cup → Refuse; Using both sides of a sheet of paper → Reduce; Using a gift bag again for another occasion → Reuse; Taking your own cloth bags to the grocery store instead of using plastic ones → Reuse; Making toys out of old newspapers → Repurpose; Turning old newspapers into handmade paper → Recycle
  5. 5. a) The leaf, flower, root, seed and stem
  6. 6. d) Banana fibre
  7. 7. a) Cloth, leaves and wooden boards — and in India, palm leaves called talapatra
  8. 8. Refuse → Saying no to a thing that will become waste; Reduce → Using things carefully so less waste is made; Reuse → Using a thing again before throwing it away; Repurpose → Using a thing in a new and different way; Recycle → Turning a thing into something new through a step-by-step process