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.

A Lesson Plan on the Pax Romana

This lesson plan on the Pax Romana is the seventh of a ten-lesson global studies unit on ancient Rome (as above and below–a run, all told, of twenty posts, ten of them documents posts).

Here’s a context clues worksheet on the noun orator and a second on the noun truce for opening this lesson. And here is the short reading with comprehension questions that is the primary work of this lesson.

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.

4 Legions that Conquered Britain

“II Augusta * IX Hispana * XIV Gemina * XX Valeria

The II Augusta was raised by Octavian to fight in the civil wars and won battle honors in Spain and on the German frontier before joining the army that conquered Britain in 43 AD. Despite a troubled time during Boadicea’s 60 AD rebellion, it remained one of the principal garrison legions of Britannia. The IX Hispana was raised by Pompey, fought under both Caesars but was destroyed in 161 fighting the Parthians in the east. The XIV Gemina was raised by Caesar for the conquest of Gaul, fought all over Britain in the years after the conquest and won the title ‘Martia Victrix’ during Boadicea’s revolt before being moved back across the Channel to garrison the Batavian frontier. The XX Valeria was the British legion par excellence, with its garrison headquarters at Chester and the boar as its emblem. Raised by Augustus, it won its name and title ‘Valeria Victrix’ during the conquest of Yugoslavia, after which it was selected by the Emperor Claudius for his conquest of Britain.”

Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.

A Lesson Plan on Roman Law

Alright, moving right along, as above and below, here is a lesson plan on Roman Law, the sixth of ten in a global studies unit on ancient Rome in this run of posts.

I set up two context clues worksheets on two commonly used Latinisms in English for this lesson, both used as adjectives and adverbs, the first on de facto and the second on de jure. Finally, here is the worksheet with a short reading and several comprehension questions that constitutes the work of this lesson.

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.

Term of Art: Canonical

“canonical: Characteristic or most frequent, either in a particular language of across languages in general. Thus a canonical form of words or syllables is a phonological pattern to which they typically conform; a canonical clause, as defined e.g. by Huddleston and Pullum CGEL, is declarative and active, as opposed to a ‘non-canonical’ interrogative or passive.

Also in the sense of ‘simplest’ or ‘most straightforward.’ Thus a pattern e.g. of ‘one form one meaning’ might be called ‘canonical’ in that the description of other patterns is more complex.”

Excerpted from: Matthews, P.H., ed. The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.

A Lesson Plan on the Roman Empire

This lesson plan on the Roman Empire, as above and below, is the fifth part of a ten-lesson unit on ancient Rome.

This context clues worksheet on the noun patriarch opens this lesson, and here is another on the adjective supreme for this lesson’s second day, should you choose to take it beyond one day of instruction, which I basically recommend. The primary work of this guided-reading lesson (as all ten of them are, incidentally) is this worksheet with its  reading and comprehension questions.

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.

Bertrand Russell on Religion

“One is often told that it is a very wrong thing to attack religion, because religion makes men virtuous. So I am told; I have not noticed it.”

Why I Am Not a Christian” (1927)

Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

A Lesson Plan on Roman Religion

OK, let’s move along to this lesson plan on Roman religion, part four of a ten-lesson unit, as above and below, on ancient Rome and its role in shaping, and therefore shaping our understanding of, the world in which we live today.

This lesson opens with this context clues worksheet on the noun justice; here is another worksheet on the noun magistrate to complement the first, as the lesson continues into a second day. Finally, here is the worksheet with reading and comprehension questions that is at the center of this lesson.

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.

Book of Answers: Aristotle on Drama

“According to Aristotle, what elements are necessary to a play? There are six: plot, thought, character, diction, music, and spectacle.”

Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

A Lesson Plan on the Roman Republic

Continuing with the current set of posts, here is a lesson plan on the Roman Republic. As above and below, this is the third lesson of ten in a unit on Rome.

This lesson opens with this context clues worksheet on patrician as a noun and an adjective; in the event the lesson goes into a second day (I think, again as above and below, I designed all these lessons to last across two days so that I could use the time to assess students’ working and long-term memory), here’s another on the adjective plebeian. Both of these worksheets, needless to say, introduce students to a couple of words that are both germane to the study of ancient Rome, as well remaining in general usage in educated discourses.

And here is the worksheet with its readings and comprehension questions that is the primary work of this lesson.

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.

Historical Term: Balkanization

“Balkanization Fragmentation of a geopolitical region into a patchwork of antagonistic states, often the clients of outside powers as in the pre-World War I Balkans, where two successive wars in 1912 and 1913 involved shifting alliances and mutual suspicion.”

Excerpted from: Cook, Chris. Dictionary of Historical Terms. New York: Gramercy, 1998.