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.

Independent Practice: Indus Civilization

Posted on April 9, 2020 | Leave a comment

In the ongoing observation of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2020, here is an independent practice worksheet on Indus Civilization. This was key material in the global studies curriculum in New York City; it is integral, I would think, to understanding the rise of civilizations in river valleys around the world.

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.

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Italianate Style

Posted on April 9, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Italianate Style: An American residential architectural style seen ca. 1840-1865. Fancifully adapted from Italian Renaissance palaces, the American version is typically of two or three stories with a low-pitched hip roof, formal balance of design, wide and bracketed eves, and much interest in such façade details as window caps. Most examples have a cupola or belvedere. The innovation of cast-iron construction in the mid-19th century provided affordable, mass-produced Italianate facades such as those still found on the SoHo district of New York City.”

 Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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Lucky Luciano

Posted on April 9, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a relatively high-interest reading on Lucky Luciano along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. As I say tirelessly–and probably tiresomely as well–this material is in Microsoft Word so there is plenty of room to expand, contract, or otherwise manipulate it for your needs.

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.

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A Lesson Plan on the Latin Word Root Cred

Posted on April 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

Before I move on to other things today, here is a lesson plan on the Latin word root cred, which means believe. Other than to observe that this is an extremely productive root in English, and forms the basis of words–credit, credibility, incredible–we use pretty much constantly, I won’t belabor the point, even though, in fact, I just did.

Anyway, I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the noun tenet. Finally, here is the word root worksheet that is the centerpiece 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.

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

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Term of Art: Taboo

Posted on April 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Taboo: The term taboo derives from the Tongan ‘tabu,’ meaning ‘sacred” or ‘inviolable.’ However, its contemporary use is broader, most generally meaning a social and often sacred prohibition put upon certain things, people, or acts, which render them untouchable or unmentionable. The most famous taboo is the near-universal incest taboo, prohibiting sexual or marriage relations between particular categories of kin. According  to both Sigmund Freud (Totem and Taboo, 1938) and Claude Levi-Strauss (The Elementary Structures of Kinship, 1969), society itself originated with the incest taboo. Other authors have stressed the function performed by taboos in society. Raymond Firth (in Symbols Public and Private, 1973) interpreted taboo as a mechanism of social control. In Purity and Danger (1966), Mary Douglas drew attention to the way in which taboo serves as a social marker, creating and maintaining social classifications.”

Excerpted from: Marshall, Gordon, ed. Oxford Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

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Posted in Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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Independent Practice: Hammurabi

Posted on April 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

Moving right along, and continuing with the observation of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2020 at Mark’s Text Terminal, here is an independent practice worksheet on Hammurabi, history’s first lawgiver.

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.

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Mark Twain

Posted on April 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a reading on Mark Twain and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. It’s a nice little biography and could serve as a concise but informative introduction to this great American writers for young readers.

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.

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

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Independent Practice: Hinduism

Posted on April 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is an independent practice worksheet on Hinduism. I don’t know about your school district, but in the years I taught in New York City, understanding the South Asian civilization (s) was a key part of the global studies curriculum.

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.

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The Algonquin Wits: Dorothy Parker Reviews a Book on Science

Posted on April 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Reviewing a book on science, Mrs. Parker wrote, ‘It was written without fear and without research.’”

Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.

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Posted in English Language Arts, New York City, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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Credential (n)

Posted on April 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

At this moment, in this nation, we currently bear witness people without any brief or expertise in a given subject nonetheless speaking with grotesquely misplaced confidence in their own genius. There is a word for this: bloviating. There is also a term of art to describe it: epistemic trespassing.

In any case, now seems like just about the perfect moment to publish this context clues worksheet on the noun credential. Please do keep in mind that the Latin word root cred means believe. When someone possesses a credential from a reputable (credible, if you like) educational institution, that means they are someone we can believe, rather than a political hack with a big mouth and few brains. If you are interested in going a bit further with this with your students, here is a worksheet on the Latin word root cred itself.

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.

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

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