Animals and Our Environment
Primary 3 · English
Animals and Our Environment
Lesson 3 of 3
13 min
Let's begin
Habimana is looking out of the classroom window. Big grey clouds are sitting on top of the hills, and the first drops are hitting the iron roof — tap, tap, tap.
“Close the window!” calls the teacher. “It is raining.”
The weather changes every single day. Luckily, English gives you one neat little sentence to talk about it, and it begins with two small words: It is.
Look outside and say:
It is sunny.
It is cloudy.
It is windy.
Who is this “it”? Nobody at all! In a weather sentence, it is not a person and not an animal. It simply means the weather right now. Every day, in every place, we start the same way: It is…
When we speak quickly we squeeze the two words together: It’s sunny. That is exactly the same sentence, just faster.
After It is we need a describing word. Here are the ones you will use most:
It is Tuesday. Umutoni looks up: the sun is bright, there is not one cloud, and her arms feel warm. She wants to write a sentence about it.
Now watch out for a very common mistake:
✗ It is sun.
✓ It is sunny.
Sun is the name of the bright thing in the sky. Sunny is the word that describes the day. After It is, we always need the describing word.
Look carefully: sun → sunny, rain → rainy, cloud → cloudy, wind → windy. Many weather words are just the thing in the sky with a y added on the end. (In sunny the n doubles: sun-n-y.)
A few weather words have no y at all: hot, warm, cool, cold, wet, dry. Those ones you simply learn by heart.
When somebody asks you, How is the weather today?, you answer with our sentence: It is cloudy today. You can even add the place: It is cloudy in Kigali today.
A season is a long stretch of the year when the weather is mostly the same.
In the rainy season, rain falls on many days. The hills turn deep green. The paths become muddy and slippery, and you carry an umbrella to school. Farmers are glad, because they plant their seeds in the soft, wet ground and the rain helps the seeds grow.
In the dry season, day after day passes with no rain at all. The sun is hot, the ground goes hard, and dust rises behind every car. People spread their beans and maize on mats to dry in the sun.
The big rains usually come around March, April and May. The long dry season usually comes around June, July and August. The weather never reads a calendar, so it is not exactly the same every year — but that is the shape of the year here in Rwanda.
Tip
Two little words, then one describing word
It is + rainy. It is + hot. It is + windy.
Not sure whether a word fits? Try putting it after a very…. You can say a very windy day and a very hot day, so those words fit. You cannot say “a very sun day” — so sun does not fit. Use sunny instead.
Say your answer out loud first, then tap Show answer to check.
The wind is pulling at the clothes on the line and dust is flying up. Finish this: It is ___.
Answer: It is windy. (wind + y = windy)
Correct this sentence: It is rain today.
Answer: It is rainy today. After It is we need the describing word, not the name of the water falling from the sky. (You may also say: It is raining today.)
Keza needs a sweater in the evening and her hands feel cold. Finish this: It is ___ this evening.
Answer: cold. (Cool would also be a good word.)
In which season do farmers plant their seeds — and why?
Answer: In the rainy season. The ground is soft and wet, and the rain helps the seeds grow.
Look out of your window right now and say one true sentence about the weather.
Answer (one good way): It is cloudy and warm today. Any true sentence that starts with It is and ends with a describing word is correct.
What you learned today
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