Unit 1: Our Community
In this unit, pupils talk about people and places in their community. They read about a cottage industry (making salted fish) and a neighbourhood helping Mak Dilah rebuild her house. They practise cursive writing, learn about common nouns and singular/plural forms, and read an excerpt from Oliver Twist.
Nurul and her friends are at the market. Pupils talk about what they can see in the pictures:
What do you see?
How do the people get around?
What do the people do for a living?
Places in the community: coffee shop, night market, post office
In the old days, people did not have refrigerators or freezers. Fishermen made salted fish to preserve it. Steps to make salted fish:
First, cut open and clean the fish.
Next, sprinkle the fish with a lot of salt.
Finally, leave the fish to dry.
Making salted fish is a cottage industry.
Mak Dilah's house was burnt to the ground. The neighbourhood held a meeting and decided to help rebuild her house:
Pravin's father is an architect — he volunteered to design the new house.
Kim Sang's uncle is a contractor — he will help rebuild it.
A neighbour who owns a hardware store contributed building materials.
Nurul will collect donations from her schoolmates.
The Parent-Teacher Association organised a fund-raising fair on 31 January from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pupils practise cursive writing and complete an invitation:
Proceeds will be donated to Mak Dilah to help rebuild her house.
Nurul will sell vegetables, Kinah will sell fruits, Pravin will sell cakes and cookies.
Practise cursive writing: house, fire, hardware, village, coffee, grass, school.
Common nouns are general names we give to people, places, and things.
People: architect, contractor, fisherman, neighbour
Places: coffee shop, night market, post office, hardware store
Things: vegetables, fruits, cakes, cookies, building materials
Example: I can buy vegetables at the market.
Singular means one. Plural means more than one. Rules for forming plurals:
| add -s | apple → apples, pencil → pencils | |
| add -es (after s, ss, sh, ch, x) | bus → buses, brush → brushes, box → boxes, match → matches | |
| -y → -ies | battery → batteries, party → parties | |
| -f/-fe → -ves | half → halves, knife → knives | |
| irregular (change vowel / add -en) | tooth → teeth, woman → women, ox → oxen | |
| irregular (no change) | fish → fish, sheep → sheep | |
Many years ago, homeless people were forced to live in workhouses. Oliver grew up in a home for very young workhouse children:
Mrs. Mann was the caretaker of the home.
She was given money to buy food for the children but kept most of it for herself.
Pupils discuss: Who is the caretaker? What does she do? Do the children like her?
A cottage industry is a small-scale business run from home, like making salted fish. Common nouns name people, places, and things in general — they can be singular (one) or plural (more than one).
In a caring community, neighbours help one another. In this unit, the neighbourhood organised a fund-raising fair and donated building materials to help Mak Dilah rebuild her burnt house.
📝 Kosa Kata
Long before refrigerators, people preserved fish using salt — the salt draws water out of the fish so bacteria cannot grow. That is why salted fish can last for weeks without a fridge! In our community, even children like Nurul can help by collecting donations from schoolmates.
Uji Minda!
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