Summary
Chapter 7 of the Class 4 Mathematics NCERT textbook (Maths Mela), "The Cleanest Village", follows students Daisy and Lou on a school trip to Mawlynnong — Asia's Cleanest Village in Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills — weaving real-life addition and subtraction with regrouping through shopping, giving change, puzzle games, and trip arithmetic. Download the PDF and read a summary and Q&A to help your child master 3-digit addition and subtraction with carrying and borrowing.
- Shopping and Money Arithmetic — Daisy and Lou shop at Sapan Dada's vegetable cart, calculating costs for quantities of beans, custard apple, radish, onion, potato, yam, sapota, papaya, and banana using a price list. Students practice adding two prices and finding totals, and also figure out multiple ways a purchase could total ₹163. This connects addition to everyday market transactions.
- Giving Change and Finding Missing Numbers — At Udaya Didi's grocery store, Daisy and Lou help return correct change to customers. Problems give the cost and the note paid, asking students to find the balance — and some problems give the balance and ask for the missing cost or the paid amount. Values range from small two-digit amounts up to ₹500 and ₹580, building number-sense around subtraction in context.
- Addition with Regrouping (Carrying) — The chapter teaches 3-digit addition step by step using tokens representing Ones, Tens, and Hundreds. Students compute 24 + 28 (teachers on the trip), 438 + 476 (children going to Mawlynnong, totalling 914), 38 + 16 (cost of pusaw snack), and 185 + 125 (Daisy and Lou's trip money). The key idea is 10 Ones = 1 Ten and 10 Tens = 1 Hundred, and the textbook uses the word 'regrouping' rather than 'carrying'.
- Subtraction with Regrouping (Borrowing) and Puzzles — Subtraction problems arise naturally: 83 − 46 children (pusaw vs fruit plates), 438 − 215 (children waiting for the Living Roots Bridge), and 310 − 179 (money spent by Daisy and Lou). A triangle number puzzle asks students to place numbers 1–6 so each side sums to 9 (and then 10), and a Number Pair Hunt grid activity has students find adjacent pairs with the greatest/smallest sums and differences.
Key points & formulas
- 01Chapter set in Mawlynnong, East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya — described as Asia's Cleanest Village with 77 families and 414 people from the Khasi tribe
- 02Students Daisy and Lou practice buying vegetables and fruits using a price list (e.g., beans ₹95/kg, banana ₹55/kg, radish ₹23/kg)
- 03Addition with regrouping taught using Ones-Tens-Hundreds token models; 438 + 476 = 914 children travel to the village
- 04Subtraction with regrouping (borrowing) demonstrated step by step: 1 Ten regrouped to 10 Ones, 1 Hundred regrouped to 10 Tens
- 05Change-giving activity: find missing cost, paid amount, or balance across a table of transactions up to ₹500
- 06Triangle puzzle: place numbers 1–6 so each side sums to 9, then 10 — introduces logical reasoning and number sense
- 07Number Pair Hunt grid activity: find adjacent number pairs with greatest/smallest sum or difference
- 08Real cultural context: pusaw (traditional Khasi snack from Mawranglang village) and the Jingmaham Living Root Bridge woven into word problems
Frequently asked questions
01What is Chapter 7 of Maths Mela Class 4 about?
It is about a school field trip to Mawlynnong village in Meghalaya. The story follows Daisy and Lou as they shop for vegetables, give change at a grocery store, and solve addition and subtraction problems related to their trip.
02What is Mawlynnong and why does the chapter mention it?
Mawlynnong is a village in East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya, 79 km from Shillong on NH206. It is known as Asia's Cleanest Village and is home to 77 families (414 people) from the Khasi tribe. The chapter uses it as the real-life setting for all its math activities.
03What math topics are covered in this chapter?
The chapter covers addition and subtraction of 2-digit and 3-digit numbers with regrouping (carrying and borrowing), money calculations (finding cost, change, and balance), estimation, and logical puzzles like the triangle number game and Number Pair Hunt.
04How does the chapter explain regrouping in addition?
It uses token models showing Ones, Tens, and Hundreds. When Ones exceed 9, 10 Ones are regrouped to 1 Ten; when Tens exceed 9, 10 Tens are regrouped to 1 Hundred. The textbook uses the word 'regrouping' and not 'carrying'.
05How many children go to Mawlynnong village in the chapter's story?
438 children from Daisy and Lou's school and 476 children from a neighbourhood school go together, totalling 914 children. 24 + 28 = 52 teachers accompany them.
06What is the triangle puzzle in Chapter 7?
Students place the numbers 1 through 6 in the six positions on a triangle so that the sum on each side equals 9. They then try to rearrange the same numbers to make the sum on each side equal 10, and explore what other side-sums are possible.
07What is a Number Pair Hunt as used in this chapter?
A grid of numbers is given, and a 'number pair' is any two numbers that are adjacent horizontally or vertically. Students find the pair with the greatest sum, the smallest sum, the greatest difference, and the smallest difference.
08What is pusaw and how is it used in the chapter?
Pusaw is a traditional Khasi snack made from a special red rice grown in Khasi Hills; the village of Mawranglang is famous for it. In the chapter, Daisy and Lou buy pusaw on the way — first a large piece for ₹38 and then a small piece for ₹16 — giving a real-life addition problem.
09How does the chapter teach subtraction with regrouping?
It shows borrowing step by step using token diagrams. For 83 − 46, one Ten is regrouped into 10 Ones to allow subtraction in the Ones column. For 310 − 179, both a Hundred is regrouped to Tens and a Ten to Ones. Students are guided to start from the Ones place and move left.
10What is the change-giving activity involving Udaya Didi's store?
Udaya Didi gives students a table of transactions where some values (cost, amount paid, or balance) are missing. Students must find the missing value using subtraction or addition. Examples include finding balance when ₹500 is paid for an item costing ₹435, and finding cost when the balance is ₹75 after paying ₹200.
11What is the Strange Puzzle poem problem in Chapter 7?
Four friends — Krishna, Sudama, Mala, and Neela — each buy 2 oranges at ₹21 each (total ₹42). They pay with different notes: ₹50, ₹100, ₹200, and ₹500 respectively. Students calculate the balance each friend receives.
12What estimation skills does Chapter 7 develop?
Before each calculation, students are asked to estimate the answer. This builds number sense and helps students check whether their computed answer is reasonable. Estimation prompts appear before adding teachers (24+28), children (438+476), money spent on food, and money taken for the trip.
More chapters in Maths Mela
Read Chapter 7 of Maths Mela, the Class 4 Mathematics NCERT textbook (2026-27 edition), online for free: the complete chapter as published by NCERT with every diagram, solved example and exercise, with step-by-step solutions, answers and revision notes. Open the NCERT PDF above, or browse all NCERT Class 4 textbooks.
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