A Clean Environment | Science Lessons for Grade 4 Students

What does environment mean? Environment means the surroundings in which a person, animal, or plant lives. In the case of a human being, the environment can be his surroundings such as the classroom, school, home, office or the town in which he lives. It also means the nature around us, water and air, and the earth itself. In a dirty environment, it is very easy to catch diseases, so it is imperative that one lives in a clean environment.

How can you keep your home clean?

Of course cleanliness should begin at home. Here are some of the things we can do to keep our homes clean.

• Pack your toys neatly in a box or cupboard.
• Help your parents to vacuum the carpet.
• Keep the bathroom and toilet clean.
• The floor should be swept and any spills should be cleaned up.
• Help your parents to wash the clothes.
• Help your parents to put away the clothes after ironing.
• Make your bed after getting up in the morning, and keep your bedroom tidy.
• Wash the dishes and clean the sink after use.
• Keep your study table neat and tidy. Books should always be stacked neatly and there should be a place to put pens, pencils and other stationery.
• Help your parents to throw away rubbish. Empty the rubbish bin in your own room every night before sleep.
• If there are pets, take care of them. Clean their litter and feeding areas.

How do you keep your house compound clean?

If you are living in a bungalow, you are likely to have a compound around your house, where there may or may not be plants growing. You may also have a car park and your parents’ car parked there.

• Help your parents with washing the car.
• Rake the leaves on the ground and keep your yard clean.
• Help your parents with gardening.
• Remind your parents about the need to not have any stagnant water around your house, because stagnant water can be a breeding place for mosquitoes which can cause Malaria.

How do you keep your school clean?

A school is very important to any child because he spends a great amount of time there. Let us look at how we can keep the school and the classroom clean.

• Clean the white board/ black board after a lesson
• Collect the rubbish and put it in the rubbish bin
• Sweep the floor every day
• Clean up spills and wipe the tables
• Put books on the bookshelves if your school has any

What are the other ways to keep your school clean?

• Assist the librarian to put books in the right place and to keep the place tidy.
• Do not bring food into the library and eat there
• Do not spill food in the corridors or in the classroom. If any is spilled, clean up immediately.
• Any litter that is seen anywhere in the school should be put in the rubbish bin.
• Clean the school compound and pick up any litter to put in the rubbish bin.

What are the ways in which we can keep our surroundings clean?

Our surroundings mean the nature around us. It can include the parks and beaches we go to, the roads and walkways that we use etc. It also refers to the rivers and oceans.

Some people throw rubbish anywhere they like. This is littering. It is because of littering that our rivers are so dirty. The wind and water can also wash rubbish from the land into rivers and seas. This negatively affects the animals and plants that live there. Do you know that 9 billion tons of litter end up in the ocean every year? About 70% of this sinks straight to the bottom. Ocean-dwelling animals are incapable of distinguishing between trash and food. Therefore it is estimated that around 100,000 marine mammals die each year either by ingesting litter or getting entangled in it.

There are many ways in which students can help reduce littering. First of all, throw rubbish in the proper place, which is the rubbish bin. Do not litter in the rivers and oceans. In schools, you can have a beach cleaning campaign.

You may be surprised to know that the most common object found during litter clean-up is fast food litter. What you can do is to reduce your consumption of fast food because much of it comes in single use plastic.