Category Archives: Social Sciences

You’ll find domain-specific material designed to meet Common Core Standards in social studies, along with adapted and differentiated materials that deal with a broad array of conceptual knowledge in the social sciences. See the Taxonomies page for more about this category.

Cultural Literacy: Tokyo

Posted on May 2, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Tokyo. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences and five comprehension questions. The first sentence in the reading is a compound separated by a semicolon–in other words, ready-made to be edited for any striving readers you may serve.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , ,

Shah Wali Allah

Posted on May 2, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Shah Wali Allah: (1702/3-1762) Indian Islamic theologian. He received a traditional Islamic education, and after a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1732 he remained in the Hejaz to study theology. Living in a time of disillusionment following the death of Aurangzeb, he believed that Muslim polity could be restored only though religious reform that would harmonize Islam with Indian’s changing social and economic conditions. He was steadfastly monotheistic but otherwise much more liberal than most Islamic theologians that had preceded him. His best-known work is The Secrets of Belief. His synthesis of theology, philosophy, and mysticism so reinvigorated Islam that it became prevalent among Islamic scholars in India until the 20th century.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Leave a comment

Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

Tagged , , ,

Cultural Literacy: Teheran

Posted on May 2, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Teheran. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two compound sentences, both of which are quite long and should absolutely be edited or adapted for striving readers, and two comprehension questions.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , ,

The Weekly Text, 2 May 2025, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Week I: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Karma

Posted on May 2, 2025 | Leave a comment

May, as the cognoscenti are aware, is Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island Heritage Month, which, for the purposes of blog post headers of reasonable length, has been shortened to Asian Pacific American Heritage Month for this website.

Let’s begin this blog’s observation this year with this reading on karma with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Karma is, of course, an important concept in Indian religions.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

Tagged , , ,

Cultural Literacy: Humanist

Posted on April 25, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the humanist as, well, a human concept. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two long, compound sentences–yes, you will probably want to shorten them for striving readers–and three comprehension questions.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , ,

Acropolis

Posted on April 25, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Acropolis: (Gr, ‘high city’) The citadel of a Greek city, generally situated on a hill. The Acropolis at Athens, a rocky plateau about two hundred feet high, was the site of the ancient town. It was surrounded by walls, which were destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC, and later rebuilt by Themistocles. The Acropolis was the center of religious activity; many temples and statues of Athene were located there. The Erechtheum, the Parthenon, and the Propylaea are among the best known of its monuments. The acropolis at Thebes was the Cadmeia; that of Corinth, the Acrocorinth.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

Leave a comment

Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

Tagged ,

Term of Art: Sensory Impairment

Posted on April 17, 2025 | Leave a comment

“sensory impairment: Any impairment of the sensory system; the most prominent and predominant forms of sensory impairment are hearing and visual problems. All standard and legal definitions of learning disability rule out sensory impairment as a contributing cause because those sensory impairments are classified separately in their own handicap categories. However, it is possible for a child with sensory impairment also to also have a learning disability. It is also difficult to tell the difference between the effects of a sensory impairment on learning and those effects that may be associated with a learning disability. It is likely that children with significant sensory problems who also have learning disabilities may generally be underdiagnosed and largely overlooked.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

Leave a comment

Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

Tagged , , ,

Cultural Literacy: Individualism

Posted on April 17, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on individualism. This is half-page worksheet with a three-sentence reading (the last one is longish, which may need to be shortened) and three comprehension questions.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , ,

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky

Posted on April 17, 2025 | Leave a comment

“L(ev) S(emyonovich) Vygotsky: (1896-1934) Soviet psychologist. He studied linguistics and philosophy at the University of Moscow before becoming involved in psychological research. While working at Moscow’s Institute of Psychology 1924-34, he became a major figure in post-revolutionary Soviet psychology. He studied the role of social and cultural factors in the making of human consciousness; his theory of signs and their relationship to the development of speech influences such psychologists as A.R. Luria and Jean Piaget. His best-known work, Thought and Language (1934) was briefly suppressed as a threat to Stalinism. He died of tuberculosis at 38.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Leave a comment

Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

Tagged , , ,

The Weekly Text, 18 April 2025: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on the Second Great Awakening

Posted on April 17, 2025 | Leave a comment

The other morning, one of my favorite shows on National Public Radio, On the Media ran a repeat show on Christian Nationalism, the latest scary manifestation of religious lunacy in the United States. The guest, Matthew Taylor, explained well this latest manifestation of what is basically a form of aggressive Protestant cultural militancy with something of a long history in this country.

So, now seems like a good time to post this reading on the Second Great Awakening along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. And if you are so inspired, you might familiarize yourself with the term “Burned-over district.”

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , , ,