Roads and Messages
Primary 1 · Social and Religious Studies
Roads and Messages
Lesson 1 of 4
11 min
Let's begin
Keza walks to school every morning.
First she follows a small path through the beans.
Then she joins a wide red road, still wet from the rain.
Today you will learn the four kinds of road.
A road is a way made for travelling.
People walk on it. Cars and bicycles go on it.
Not every road looks the same.
You tell them apart by looking at the ground.
A tarmac road is covered with smooth black tar.
Rain runs off it. It does not turn into mud.
The big road that buses use is usually tarmac.
A gravel road is covered with small stones.
The stones crunch under your shoes.
It looks grey and rough, never smooth.
A murram road is made of soil and small stones.
Its colour is reddish-brown, like the earth around your home.
After rain it goes dark red and sticky.
Many roads in a village are murram roads.
A footpath is a small path for people walking.
It is narrow. One or two people fit on it.
No bus can use a footpath.
Careful! A footpath is still a road. It is the road your feet use.
Some children call every road a tarmac road.
That is not true. Look down first.
Black and smooth? Tarmac. Small stones? Gravel.
Reddish-brown soil? Murram. Narrow and only for feet? A footpath.
Tip
Look down at the ground
Black and smooth is tarmac. Small stones is gravel.
Reddish-brown soil is murram. Narrow and just for feet is a footpath.
Count the four on your fingers as you walk home.
Do each one, then tap Show answer to check.
The road outside the shop is smooth and black. Which road is it?
Answer: a tarmac road. Smooth and black means tar on top.
Mugisha walks on a narrow path between two farms. What is that path called?
Answer: a footpath. It is small, and only feet use it.
What colour is a murram road?
Answer: reddish-brown. It is made of soil and small stones.
Umutoni hears small stones crunch under her shoes. Which road is she on?
Answer: a gravel road. Gravel is a cover of small stones.
Say the four kinds of road out loud, without looking.
Answer: tarmac, gravel, murram, footpath. Four kinds, four fingers.
What you learned today
Quick check
Look at the ground. Match the road.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
