GRADE: VI SUBJECT: English

Lesson: Loveliest of Trees

How Old is a Tree?

How can you find out the age of a tree? Here‟s a fascinating passage that tells you how you can

find out this fact.

If you cut the trunk of a tree neatly across, the cut will look like this:

Look at the rings in the trunk. The trunk

is made up of rings within rings. Scientists

have found out that by counting these rings,

they can tell the age of a tree. How is this

possible? Each year there is a period of

greatest growth for a tree. In cold climates,

this period is season of spring.

During this period, the cells just inside the skin of the trunk begin to divide. (As you know, when

cells grow, they divide; one cell divides into two, each of these two cells divides again, etc.). The

new cells so formed are two kinds. The inner cells- the ones towards the inside of the trunk-are

wood cells; these now form a new ring of wood inside the trunk. The outer cells are bast cells; these

will grow again in next spring.

Each year, a ring of new wood cells is added to the trunk. These are the rings you see in the picture.

The earliest wood cells (in the innermost rings) become pressed together so tightly that they die.

These form the hardest wood in a tree‟s trunk, known as the “heartwood”. (See the picture.)

You can see that each year the trunk of a tree gets a new ring of wood cells. So, by counting the

rings, you can tell the age of a tree. Scientists have counted more than 3,500 rings in Bristlecone

pines in California (in the U.S). These are among the oldest living trees known. When Columbus

landed in America in 1492, these trees were already more than three thousand years old!

Bast: a type of plant tissue

Fascinating: attractive, having interesting quality

Trunk : the tree branch

Bristlecone : speicies of pine tree

Glossary

Activity: 1

1. These are the books you see in the picture.

2. There is a period of greatest growth for a tree.

3. These trees were already more than three hundred years old!

4. The cells just outside the skin of the trunk begin to divide.

A. Write T for true and F for false of the following statements.

1. The trunk is ………. within rings.

2. These are the rings…………..picture.

3. These are among the …………..known.

4. Scientists have counted …………………………………. California (in the U.S).

B. Fill in the blanks with appropriate words from the text.

C. Read the text and answer the following questions.

1. How are scientists able to decide the age of a tree?

2. What happens when a cell grows?

3. Which is the hardest wood in a tree trunk? How is it formed?

4. Can you find out which is the oldest living tree in Nepal?

5. Would our lives be the same if all trees lived for less than a hundred years?

6. How can we help to keep the trees around us healthy and strong?

The tamarind tree is a large, and evergreen tree with speading branches…….............

Trunk: thick, short Bark: rough, black covered with long cracks

Leaves: graceful, airy- each separated into many pairs fringed stems- brilliant green at first, gradually

turning to dark green

Flowers: three –petalled, pale yellow with red veins-hang together in small bunches around the leaves

Fruit: hangs like long, thick, curved green beans- turn rust- coloured as it ripens- dark brown, squarish

seeds

Uses

Fruit: pulp of fruit pleasant, sharp taste, used in curries, chutneys- also to polish brass

Seeds: boiled and ground, used as flour by some tribal people

Wood: made into agricultural implements- used as a fuel

Leaves: made into yellow dye for silks

C. Write two paragraphs about the tamarind tree with the help of information given below.

1. Occur 2. Old 3. Sincere 4. Unfortunate

5. Embarrassed 6. Rug 7.Broad 8. Change

9. Frigle 10.Amuse

1. Lawful 2. Imaginary 3. Admit 4. Lend 5. Intentional 6. Authentic

7. Above 8. Scarce 9. Ignorance 10. Sober

Activity: 2

A. Write down the synonyms of the following words.

B. Write down the antonyms of the following words.

D. Write a couple of paragraphs on “Laughter is the Best Medicine” in your own words.

A poor village boy walking door to door for job…. Finds a wallet containing a large amount of

money….an identity card- the boy returned the wallet to the owner…. The praised his honesty-gives

him a good job….moral….suitable title

C. Construct readable story with the help of outlines given below.

GRAMMAR Subject and Predicate

Every sentence is made up of two parts. Look at this sentence:

A policeman appeared on the scene.

A policeman is the first part of the sentence.

appeared on the scene is the second part which says something about a policeman.

The first part of the sentence that names what the sentence is about is called subject.

The second part of the sentence that says something about the subject is called the predicate.

The subject often says who or what performs the action that the verb refers to.

Note:

To find the subject in a question or an exclamation, write the given sentence as a

statement.

They have bought the books. (Statement)

1. Have they bought the books?

(question) We

write as

Now, the subject is They

You are (how) nice. (Statement)

2. How nice you are! (Exclamation) We

write as

Now, the subject is You

Examples:

She gave (what) a stupid answer. (Statement)

We write

as

These sentences actually means-

You must wait outside.

Subject in imperative sentences

In imperative sentences, the subject is always “You”.

But the subject is not stated;

Examples:

1. Wait outside.

2. Take this medicine every four hours

This sentence actually means-

You should take this medicine every four hours.

Now it is clear that in both these sentences, the subject is „You‟.

1) The earth‟s land was once made up of a single, huge continent.

2) One big, deep ocean covered the rest of the planet.

3) How were so many oceans and seas formed?

4) Tell me the story of their creation.

5) The original land mass split itself up into large pieces.

6) These pieces gradually moved further apart.

7) Their movement created the oceans and the continents.

8) On a small table near my bed is lying an encyclopedia.

9) Page 163 of this book gives all the details.

10) What an interesting story you have told me.

Activity Section

A. Underline the subject in the following sentences.

Contact Person:

Name: Mr. Neeraj Chhetri

Phone No.: 9865438974

Email Address:alvinneeraj123@gmail.com

1. __________________ is the largest water animal.

2. __________________ are eating cakes, biscuits and sweets.

3. __________________ rotates around the sun.

4. __________________ fly in the air.

5. _________________play in the garden.

B. Write suitable subjects for the predicates given below.

C. Add suitable predicates to the subjects given below.

a. Our teacher __________________________________________.

b. Chairs _______________________________________________.

c. They are _____________________________________________.

d. Animals ____________________________________________

e. A girl___________________________________________