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.

The Weekly Text, 11 October 2024, Hispanic Heritage Month Week IV: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on the World’s Columbian Exhibition of 1893

For the final Friday of Hispanic Heritage Month 2024, here is the post for this month that bears the scantest relation to Hispanic History: a a reading on the World’s Columbian Exhibition of 1893 along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. As this event’s name indicates (and if you’ve read Erik Larsen’s fascinating book The Devil in the White City, you know most if not all there is to know about the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition), it is related to Christopher Columbus, to wit the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the “New World.”

Certainly Spain’s arrival in the New World basically begins what we might consider Hispanic History, that’s how we come by the word Hispanic, after all. So there is marginal relevance here. I don’t know, this event seems like the conquistador’s round of self-congratulation for a job of genocide well done.

But as I said at the outset of this month, I am woefully under-inventoried where materials related to Hispanic History is concerned.

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.

Spanish-American War

“Spanish-American War: (1898) Conflict between the U.S. and Spain that ended Spanish colonial rule in the New World. The war originated in Cuba’s struggle for independence. The newspapers of William Randolph Hearst fanned U.S. sympathy for the rebels, which increased after the unexplained destruction of the Maine. Congress passed resolutions declaring Cuba’s right to independence and demanding that Spain withdraw its armed forces. Spain declared war on the U.S. in 1898. Commodore George Dewey led the naval squadron that defeated the Spanish fleet in the Philippines, and General William Shafter led regular troops and volunteers (including Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders) in the destruction of Spain’s Caribbean fleet near Santiago, Cuba (July 17, 1898). In the Treaty of Paris (December 10, 1898), Spain renounced all claims to Cuba and ceded Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the U.S., marking the U.S.’s emergence as a world power.”

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

Cultural Literacy: Remember the Maine

If you know anything about the Spanish-American War, (if not, see the post above this one) you know that it began with the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine, which was anchored in Havana Harbor. The yellow press in United States, looking to push the nation into war with Spain, contrived the expression “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!” I suppose it probably sounded as idiotic as today’s crowds chanting “U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!,” only slightly more literate. At least it rhymes and contains verbs, eh?

So, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the slogan “Remember the Maine.” This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences and four comprehension questions. What the reading fails to mention is that the Maine probably exploded internally–that it wasn’t sabotaged by Spanish operatives.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Valencia

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Valencia. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of one extremely short (i.e. eight words) sentence and one comprehension question. I would use this with struggling or emergent readers, then help them find Valencia on a map: in other words, find a correspondence between word and image.

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.

Somoza Family

“Somoza family: Family that maintained political control of Nicaragua for more then 40 years. The dynasty’s founder, Anastasio Somosa Garcia (1896-1956), became head of Nicaragua’s army in 1933 and, after deposing the elected president in 1936, ruled the country with a firm and grasping hand until he was assassinated. He was succeeded by his elder son, Luis Somoza Debayle (1922-1967), and later by his younger son, Anastasio Somoza Debayle (1925-1980), whose corrupt and brutal rule (1963-79) led to his overthrow by the Sandinistas. Somoza looted the country before leaving for Miami; he was assassinated in Paraguay.”

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

The Weekly Text, 4 October 2024, Hispanic Heritage Month Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on President James Monroe

You probably know, particularly if you teach United States History, that the Monroe Doctrine (1823) bears the name of President James Monroe. The Monroe Doctrine held that any foreign powers that intervene in political affairs in the Americas commits a potentially hostile act against the United States. Conceived, as most historians apparently agree, as an act of solidarity with the emergent republics across the Americas–what we also call Latin America.

During the Cold War, alas, the doctrine was perverted in such a way that it became a justification for United States Imperialism in Latin America (I’ve written about this here). All of this ratiocination is to introduce, and articulate the relevance of this reading on President James Monroe along with its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet to Hispanic Heritage Month 2024.

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.

Luis Carlos Prestes

“Luis Carlos Prestes: (1898-1990) Brazilian revolutionary. In 1924 he led a rebel force on a three-year trek through Brazil’s interior in an effort to spark a rebellion in the countryside. Though the effort failed, he became a romantic hero. He went on to lead the Brazilian Communist Party, which advocated ending payments on the national debt, nationalization of foreign-owned companies, and land reform. Imprisoned after a violent uprising in 1935, he was released after World War II and later served briefly as a senator.”

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

Antofagasta

“Antofagasta: Seaport (population 2017 388,545), capital of Antofagasta region, northern Chile. Located on Moreno Bay, it was a Bolivian city until it was ceded to Chile in 1879. Its early growth resulted from a nitrate boom that began in 1866 and from the Caracoles silver discovery in 1870. The largest city in northern Chile, it remains a supply source for the mines and is a communications center on the Pan –American Highway.”

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

Cultural Literacy: The Santa Fe Trail

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Santa Fe Trail. William Becknell pioneered this road in 1821 as a commercial route between St. Louis, Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico (which wasn’t, of course, a state at that time–it became a state in 1912). Along with the freight that moved along this road, inevitably, settlers began to follow. This was the beginning of the United States’ endeavor to help itself to territory that was at the time part of Mexico–which of course culminated in the Mexican-American War.

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.

Alcides Arguedas

“Alcides Arguedas: (1879-1946) Bolivian novelist, historian, and diplomat. Although Arguedas spent many years in Europe, especially in France, where he was Bolivian consul, his best-known writings reflect his abiding concern with the problems of his homeland. He is remembered primarily for three works, each in a different field. Pueblo enfermo (1909) is a pessimistic and controversial analysis of Bolivian society. One of the most famous of the Indianist novels, Raza de bronce (1919) describes the exploitation of Bolivian Indians by inhuman landlords. Arguedas’s most enduring work may be his five-volume Historia de Bolivia (1920-29), which covers that country’s history from 1809 to 1872).”

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