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, September 15, 2017, Hispanic Heritage Month 2017 Week I: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Soccer Legend Pele

Posted on September 15, 2017 | Leave a comment

Hispanic Heritage Month begins today, so for the next five Fridays, I’ll post readings and comprehension worksheets in its honor. To kick off the month, here are an Intellectual Devotional reading on Pele, the legendary Brazilian soccer star, and a comprehension worksheet to complement it. This should be relatively high interest material, particularly for kids from Latin America who follow soccer–as so many of the students I serve do.

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, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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A Short Exercise on the Greek Word Root Lip/o

Posted on September 14, 2017 | Leave a comment

The other day I used this this short word root exercise on the Greek root lip/o in one of my first classes for the year. It means, as its definitions show, fat, which explains how liposuction got its name. It occurred to me that it might be a useful do-now worksheet for science teachers, so here it is.

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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H.L. Mencken on Historians and Historiography

Posted on September 13, 2017 | Leave a comment

“Historian: an unsuccessful novelist.”

H.L. Mencken

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Portable Curmudgeon. New York: Plume, 1992.

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The Weekly Text, September 8, 2017: Two Context Clues Worksheets on Wholesale and Retail as Adjectives

Posted on September 8, 2017 | Leave a comment

School started this week, and I’d hoped to get something big and splashy up for this Friday. Indeed, I’m working on a revision this Weekly Text, from August 28, 2015, on Daniel Willingham’s First Demonstration of Memory, but I’m not quite done with it. However, circumstances intruded, so I have very little to offer this week. Next Friday begins National Hispanic Heritage Month for 2017, so I’ll be posting, as last year, four readings and comprehension worksheets in observance of its four week span.

Because I work in a business-themed high school in the Financial District in New York City, I found it necessary to develop these two context clues worksheets on the words wholesale and retail relatively early on in my tenure here. They’re used as adjectives and adverbs in these exercises. Should you choose to engineer these worksheets further, these words can be used as verbs and nouns as well.

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, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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Cultural Literacy: Police State

Posted on September 4, 2017 | Leave a comment

Now seems like an apt time to post this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a police state. Republics are in constant danger of lapsing into police states–something to keep in mind.

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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Constitution (n)

Posted on September 1, 2017 | Leave a comment

For a variety of reasons, now seems like as good a time as any to post a context clues worksheet on the noun constitution. This worksheet places the word in contexts meant to show its meaning as “the basic principles and laws of a nation, state, or social group that determine the powers and duties of the government and guarantee certain rights to the people in it”  and “a written instrument embodying the rules of a political or social organization.”

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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John Adams on Freedom and Education

Posted on August 4, 2017 | Leave a comment

“Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.”

John Adams (1736-1826)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

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The Weekly Text, August 3, 2017: Two Context Clues Worksheets on Descend (vi/vt) and Descendant (n)

Posted on August 3, 2017 | Leave a comment

Here are two context clues worksheets on the verb descend and the noun descendant. As you will infer from the choice of the noun, these are the definitions of these words that relate to origins rather than moving in a downward direction. I like to use these early in the year in global studies classes.

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, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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Conspire (vt/vi)

Posted on August 1, 2017 | Leave a comment

On my penultimate morning in Vermont, here is  a context clues worksheet on the verb conspire. The dictionary indicates it is used transitively and intransitively, though it looks like it is almost always used intransitively.

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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Cultural Literacy: Schism

Posted on July 31, 2017 | Leave a comment

On a bright, cool morning in Springfield, Vermont, I offer you this Cultural Literacy worksheet on schism. The definition and this worksheet limits the noun to its meaning as a breach within a religion. Merriam-Webster defines it more broadly, so there is some room here for the kind of rich discussion on usage that educational research suggests benefits students.

In any case, by their senior year at the very least, this is a word and concept high school students really ought to know.

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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