Welcome to an exciting story session for children in class four. Here goes the story.
The Sharma family had come to the ancestral home in their native village. One evening, Vinay and Sneha were playing merrily in the garden. Their mother was busy preparing tea. “The gate is partly open. Latch it, Vinay “Her voice could be heard from the kitchen. It was when Vinay approached the gate that an unexpected thing happened.
Roger, their dog suddenly barged out of the gate and madly chased a strange new cat. Vinay and Sneha darted out, crying,”Roger, stop! Stop running, Roger!” By the time the cat disappeared and Roger decided to stop for breath, he had gone pretty far. He stood there – on an elevated railway bridge, where a train passes by every half an hour.
With no second thought, Vinay ran towards Roger with open arms, laughing and crying out,”Wait, wait there, Roger! I’m coming to fetch you.” Before Sneha could stop him, he was almost 30 sleepers away.
Sneha stopped running as soon as she reached the railway track. She remembered her dad’s warning. “This is not the place for kids to play.” She looked out for any nearing danger. She was right – she spotted a train as a big dot at the extreme end of the track.
“Vinay! Rush back!”, she yelled at her young brother. “There is a train approaching.” Vinay turned to check it and was terrified. Carrying Roger in his arms, he started to run towards Sneha.
Sneha could see that Vinay was not running fast enough because he was carrying Roger in his arms. And the train was nearing… An idea flashed in her mind. She quickly moved past the first 10 sleepers of the railway bridge and halted.
“Stop running, Vinay. and listen to me”, She yelled, gesturing with her hands. Vinay stopped, frightened and he watched her fearfully.
Every 10th sleeper of the railway track had a Workers’ Bay. Her father had explained about it to her and to Vinay, as well. “When the Track Inspectors and Track Maintenance Staff need to keep away from a fast approaching train, they rush to the nearest bay and wait there till the train goes past.”
Now Sneha applied her dad’s explanation.” See the number on the sleeper on which you are standing. Rush to the nearest Workers’ Bay”. Vinay could hear what she was saying. “I am on #33.”, he shouted and started to run, not towards Sneha, but away from her… heading for the bay at #40.
Sneha’s heart was pumpiing fast. “Vinay, What are you doing… You should be taking #30.” ,Vinay heard her saying. He stopped for a moment – he was on #36 – and he started back, heading towards #30 as Sneha had just yelled. “Vinay….!” Sneha screamed. “Don’t panic. Stop running here and there. Take the nearest 10, that’s the right bay for you.”
Vinay checked his sleeper, #32. He entered the bay at #30, Sneha took the bay at #10 and…. the train whizzed past them! The right case of narrow escape.
That evening the Sharma family celebrated Sneha’s presence of mind and the great escape. Of course, a strong warning was issued to the children never to take such risks again.
This story was narrated to the children of class 4. They assimilated the mathematical facts hidden within the story, involuntarily. And understood the chapter “Rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000” very clearly.
Easy job for the teacher, thrill and fun for the children.
