Animals, homes and water around us
Class 3 EVS · Living things and resources · 49 questions with answers
Class 3 asks not only which animal lives where, but why that home suits that animal - and the same shift applies to water, where the question moves from 'where does it come from' to 'why does it run out'.
- Matches an animal to its home and says why that home suits it
- Names sources of water and sorts them into natural and man-made
- Explains one way to save water and why it matters
Exercise 1 of 4 · 12 questions
Write where each animal lives, and why that home suits it.
Write the answer · Warm-up
Here’s one done for you
bird → nest, because it is high up and safe from animals on the ground. Class 2 asked only for 'nest'. Class 3 wants the reason as well, and the reason is where the extra mark is. Ask 'why is that a good home?' every time.
- 1)bird
- 2)bee
- 3)rabbit
- 4)fish
- 5)spider
- 6)ant
- 7)cow
- 8)horse
- 9)hen
- 10)lion
- 11)monkey
- 12)snake
Answers
- 1) Nest - it is high up and safe from animals on the ground.
- 2) Hive - many bees can live and store honey together in it.
- 3) Burrow - it is underground, so the rabbit can hide from animals that hunt it.
- 4) Water - fish take in oxygen from water through their gills and cannot live out of it.
- 5) Web - it catches insects for the spider to eat.
- 6) Anthill - many ants live and store food together in its tunnels.
- 7) Shed or cowshed - it keeps the cow dry and safe at night.
- 8) Stable - it gives the horse shelter and a place to be fed.
- 9) Coop - it keeps the hens together and safe from cats and dogs.
- 10) Den - a cave or hollow that hides the lion and its cubs.
- 11) Trees - it can climb away from danger and find fruit there.
- 12) Hole or burrow - it stays cool and hidden from birds that hunt it.
Exercise 2 of 4 · 16 questions
Sort each source of water: natural or man-made.
Write the answer · Guided
Here’s one done for you
river → natural. The test is simple: did people make it, or was it already there? A well is dug by people, so it is man-made even though the water in it is not. That distinction confuses children more than any other item on this list.
- 1)river
- 2)well
- 3)rain
- 4)tap
- 5)lake
- 6)hand pump
- 7)sea
- 8)canal
- 9)pond
- 10)dam
- 11)spring
- 12)water tank
- 13)stream
- 14)tube well
- 15)glacier
- 16)reservoir
Answers
- 1) natural
- 2) man-made
- 3) natural
- 4) man-made
- 5) natural
- 6) man-made
- 7) natural
- 8) man-made
- 9) natural
- 10) man-made
- 11) natural
- 12) man-made
- 13) natural
- 14) man-made
- 15) natural
- 16) man-made
Exercise 3 of 4 · 11 questions
Write one sentence saying how each habit saves water.
Write the answer · Practice
Here’s one done for you
Closing the tap while brushing → it stops clean water running away while it is not being used. Notice the answer says what is saved and why it would otherwise be wasted. 'To save water' just repeats the question, and Class 3 will not give the mark for that.
- 1)Closing the tap while brushing teeth
- 2)Fixing a dripping tap
- 3)Using a bucket instead of a shower
- 4)Watering plants in the evening
- 5)Reusing the water used to wash rice or vegetables
- 6)Collecting rainwater from the roof
- 7)Washing a car with a bucket instead of a hose
- 8)Running the washing machine only when it is full
- 9)Covering a water tank
- 10)Sweeping the courtyard instead of hosing it down
- 11)Repairing a leaking pipe in the street
Answers
- 1) It stops clean water running away while it is not being used.
- 2) A dripping tap wastes a little water all day and night, which adds up to a lot.
- 3) A bucket uses much less water than a shower left running.
- 4) Less water dries up in the evening than in the hot sun, so the plants get more of it.
- 5) That water is clean enough for the plants, so no fresh water is needed for them.
- 6) Rain that would have run into the drain is stored and used instead of tap water.
- 7) A hose keeps running the whole time; a bucket holds only what is actually needed.
- 8) One full load uses far less water than two half loads.
- 9) It stops water drying up in the sun and keeps dirt and insects out, so none has to be thrown away.
- 10) Sweeping uses no water at all, while a hose uses many litres.
- 11) A leak wastes water day and night for everyone, not just for one house.
Exercise 4 of 4 · 10 questions
Answer each question in one or two sentences.
Write the answer · Challenge
Here’s one done for you
Why can we not drink sea water? -> Because it has too much salt in it, and salty water makes us more thirsty rather than less. 'Because it is salty' is only half the answer. Class 3 wants what the salt does to us, which is the part children leave out.
- 1)Why can we not drink sea water?
- 2)Why must river water be cleaned before we drink it?
- 3)Why do wells and hand pumps sometimes go dry in summer?
- 4)Why do some animals migrate when a lake dries up?
- 5)Why is a bird's nest usually built on a high branch?
- 6)Why do camels survive in a desert where a cow could not?
- 7)Why do frogs need to live near water?
- 8)Why does a fish die within minutes out of water?
- 9)Why should we not throw rubbish into a river?
- 10)Why do villages often grow up beside a river?
Answers
- 1) Because it has too much salt in it, and salty water makes us more thirsty rather than less.
- 2) Because it carries mud, waste and germs that would make us ill.
- 3) Because the water under the ground drops lower when there is no rain to refill it.
- 4) Because they must move to find water and food, and cannot survive where there is none.
- 5) So that animals on the ground cannot reach the eggs and the young birds.
- 6) Because a camel can go many days without water and store fat in its hump for food.
- 7) Because they lay their eggs in water and their skin must stay moist.
- 8) Because its gills can only take oxygen out of water, not out of air.
- 9) Because it poisons the water that people, animals and plants downstream depend on.
- 10) Because people need water every day for drinking, washing, animals and crops.
While your child works
- Ask 'why is that a good home?' after every animal. That question is the whole difference between Class 2 EVS and Class 3 EVS.
- A well confuses most children in the natural/man-made exercise - the water is natural, the well is dug. Say it once before they start.
- Answers that repeat the question ('to save water') get no marks. 'And what would happen otherwise?' is the prompt that fixes it.