Chapter 8 of Class 6 English - “What a Bird Thought” is about how a baby bird begins to learn about all the new things around him and how large the world is as he continues growing. While he is growing, he is changing his way of thinking about everything around him. This inspires the reader to think and wonder about their own feelings of curiosity, learning and growing as they have new perceptions, situations and experiences each day.
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This poem teaches students how learning and understanding change as we grow and see more of the world.
Key Lessons from the Poem:
I. Look at the picture and discuss what you see in the picture with your teacher and classmates.
Think of a time when you worked hard. What did you do then?
Also, discuss in groups.
II. Where do you see birds? What do you see the birds doing?
Ans: Birds can be spotted in parks, trees, buildings and gardens, often flying and moving from one location to another. They gather food such as grains and worms to eat, they build nests, they sing.
III. Do you want to fly like a bird? Why?
Ans: I wish to fly like a bird to freely explore the world.
IV. What does a baby bird think about its world?
Answer: At first, she believed her world was the blue shell, then thought it was her nest. After leaving, she flew into the vast, expansive world.
V. Read the sentences and replace the underlined words with their correct meanings.
Answer:
1. Pale - Light
2. Moved lightly and quickly - Fluttered
3. Finally - at last
4. Hard work - labour
I. Read the poem again. Identify the main idea of each stanza. There are two extra given.
1. The bird steps out into the world.
2. The bird lived happily in a small world.
3. The bird becomes blind due to leaves.
4. The bird flies away as an adult.
5. The bird is unhappy with the straw nest.
6. The bird lived in a cosy nest with its mother.
Answer:
1. As she grows and flies to discover things for herself, the bird becomes more energetic
2. The bird lives happily and secures in her nest.
3. When the bird flies out of the nest and sits on another branch, she sees only leaves and feels blinded by the leaves around her.
4. As an adult she flies into the wide world.
5. The bird is unhappy.
6. The bird is comfortable with her mother.
II. Look at the pictures (a) - (d) and write the matching line from the poem for each.
(a)
Answer:
a. Round nest in a shell
b. Nestled by mother
c. Blind by leaves
d. Steps out into the world
III. Answer the following with a word from the poem and check the answers with your partner.
1. What was the shape of the bird's first house? _ O _ _ _
2. What was the bird's second nest made of? _ _R _ _
3. What did the bird see when it came out of its nest? L _ _ _E _
4. What did the bird do at the end? _ _ _ W
Answer:
1. ROUND
2. STRAW
3. LEAVES
4. FLEW
I. Write whether the following sentences are True or False.
1. The bird changed its house two times.
2. The neighbours tell the bird about the world
Answer:
1. True
2. False
II. Read the following lines from the poem and answer the questions given below.
1. I thought the world was made of straw,
And nestled by my mother.
(i) Who lived in the nest along with the baby bird?
Answer: The baby bird's mother.
(ii) Complete the following by choosing the correct option.
The bird thought the world was made of straw because ___________.
A. it lived in a straw hut
B. its nest was made of straw
C. its mother fed straw to it
D. there was straw all around
Answer: B. It's nest was made of straw
(iii) Which word tells us that the baby bird was warm and comfortable?
Answer: Nestled by the mother
2. I said the world is made of leaves, I have been very blind.
(i) Why did the bird think the world was made of leaves?
Answer:
When she saw leaves all around her as she moved into the nest which was on a tree branch, she thought that the world was made of leaves.
(ii) What does the set of words 'I said' mean?
A. flew
B. shouted
C. spoke
D. cried
Answer: C. spoke
(iii) Fill in the blanks to complete the sentence. The bird felt that it had been very blind because it could not … the leaves from .. n.. .. .. e the nest
Answer: See, Inside
III. Why did the baby bird think that its first world was small, round and blue?
Answer: Before moving to the nest, the shell in which the baby bird was, was small, blue and round. This is why the baby bird first thought that the world was small, round and blue.
IV. Where did the bird go when it fluttered from its straw nest?
Answer: It flew into the world to explore and learn about it on its own.
V. What quality did the bird say it had, when it flew away?
Answer: The bird was full of energy and matured as an adult when it took flight.
VI. Who do you think were the bird's neighbours? Why do you think so? Discuss.
Answer: All the surrounding creatures were the bird’s neighbors, and since the bird had to live among them, they became her permanent companions.
Let Us Learn
I. Let us write some rhyming words. One has been done for you
Answer:
Now, complete a new stanza with rhyming words at the end of each line.
I fly high and I fly low, But one thing I surely k_ _ _ ,
Whenever I wish to rest, my little nest is the _ _ _ t.
Answer: Know, Best
II. The poet uses words like 'pale', 'blue', 'round', 'straw' and 'little' to describe the bird's nest. Read a few more describing words. pointed green thin brown small wooden hanging round.
Pointed, green, Thin, Brown, Small, Wooden, Hanging, Round
Now, use the describing words given in the box to create six sentences based on the given picture.
Answer:
1. The bird’s beak is pointed and black.
2. The leaves of the tree are green.
3. The nest is hanging from a brown branch.
4. The colour of the nest is yellowish brown with a red roof.
5. The nest is small.
6. The entrance to the nest is round in shape.
Let us listen
You will listen to a short poem. As you listen, fill in the missing words. You can listen to the poem more than once. (refer to page 102 for transcript)
I’m a parrot, my name is Paro, My feathers are __ __ __ g __ __ and they glow. In the morning, I spread my wings, ___ ___ ___ around and see wonderful things. Come with me through the skies so ___ l ___ ___, To places old and places new. Among the ___ ___ e ___ ___, where the breeze is light, Many new s t __ __ __ ___ s, oh, what a sight!
Answer:
I’m a parrot, my name is Paro,
My feathers are bright and they glow.
In the morning, I spread my wings,
Fly around and see wonderful things.
Come with me through the skies so blue,
To places old and places new.
Among the trees, where the breeze is light,
Many new stories, oh, what a sight!
Answer:
I am a peacock. I am blue and green in colour.I am blue and green in colour. I am a big bird. I have long, beautiful feathers with eye-like patterns.
I live in forests and gardens. It is where I can find trees, water, and open land to dance.
During the day, I look for food like grains and insects. I also spread my feathers and dance when it rains.
I want to tell the humans to protect nature and let birds live freely in their natural homes.
I. Read how the bird perceived its world.
My world was small, round and light blue at first. After that my world was warm and comfortable. It was made of straw. In this world I could only see leaves whenever I stepped out. In the end, my world became big. It had the sky and the earth as a part of it.
II. Now, discuss with your teacher and classmates how you think the world would look to the following.
Ans:
A baby: A baby's world feels compact and close. At first, it's only the mother, father, and home. It gradually gets a little bigger with toys, people, and new places.
A fish: A fish lives in water. The fish sees plants, stones, and other fish in its world. The fish’s view consists of lakes, ponds, or oceans, with bubbles and waves all around.
III. Now, write five sentences each, for both (a) and (b), in your notebooks. You can take help from the example given in 1.
a. A baby:
b. A fish:
I. The bird's first home was made of a shell. Later its home was among leaves and made of straw.
a. Look at your home carefully and make a list of all the materials it is made of.
Answer: My home is made of Cement, Bricks and Steel.
b. Why do you think our homes are not made of straw?
Answer: Houses for humans are designed to carry a lot of weight. A family of people living, eating, sleeping and going about their lives, weighs the house down. Houses hold much more than just people. They hold furniture, they hold rooms, they hold everything! This would not hold true if houses for humans were built of straw.
c. If you had to own a home of your choice, what would it look like and what materials would you like to use?
Answer: I would use strong materials like cement, bricks, metal, steel and marble.
d. Look at the list of some workers who build houses. Find out the work they do and write, as shown in the example. You can think of other workers and add them too.
Answer:
(Session 2026 - 27)