Category Archives: Worksheets

Classroom documents for student use. Most are structured and scaffolded, and most are pitched at a fundamental level in terms of the questions they ask and the work and understandings they require of students.

Cultural Literacy: Battle of Britain

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Battle of Britain. This is a half-page document with a reading of three relatively involved compound sentences and three comprehension questions. It explains the Battle well, and so is a good general introduction to this epochal event in World War II.

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.

Immure (vt)

It must have been the Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster at some point, because that is the only explanation for the existence of this context clues worksheet on the verb immure. It means “to enclose within or as if within walls,”  “imprison,” and  “to build into a wall; especially to entomb in a wall.” It is only used transitively, so don’t forget your direct object–you must immure someone or something.

As you have probably inferred from reading this blog, I like to write. Moreover, I try to write using solid nouns and lively verbs–and immure would most likely be the kind of lively verb I would favor if I need it. That I have never in recent memory used (or seen it used in prose–I read a lot) this word tells me that it mostly archaic; however, because Merriam-Webster does not designate is so, the modifier mostly must stand. Nonetheless, here it is. If nothing else, this document might be useful as an intellectual exercise–but I hope that of all these context clues worksheets do that.

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.

The Weekly Text, 12 August 2022: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “The Gentle Breezes”

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “The Gentle Breezes.” I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on motif; it’s a half-pager with a three-sentence reading and three comprehension questions in what looks to me like a nice symmetry. To investigate the wrongdoing in this case, you will need this PDF of the illustration and questions that serve as evidence of the crime. Finally, to apprehend and charge a suspect, you and your students will need this typescript of the answer key.

And that’s it for another week. I hope yours was pleasant and fulfilling.

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.

Common English Verbs Followed by Gerunds: Prohibit

Here is a worksheet on the verb prohibit as it is used with a gerund. The teacher prohibited making any more curricular materials of debatable value.

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.

Isaac Newton

Here is a reading on Isaac Newton with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. This is a solid introduction to Newton; I have used it as a prelude to framing the Enlightenment in global studies classes in New York City. Otherwise, editorially, I assume I need not belabor the importance of Isaac Newton in the history of the world, let alone the intellectual history of Western Europe.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Bastille

It may be too brief, but if you can use it, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Bastille. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences, one a longish compound separated by a semicolon, and three comprehension questions. Despite (or may because of) its brevity, it is a good general introduction to this hated edifice. It might therefore be a useful tool in introducing the French Revolution.

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.

Havoc (n)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun havoc, which means “wide and general destruction” “devastation,” and “great confusion and disorder.” The context clues in this worksheet point to both definitions, so students will very likely figure this out quickly.

Interestingly, while researching this post, I learned that havoc also has use as a transitive verb meaning “to lay waste” and “destroy.” Havoc is often used with active verbs like cause and of course the always dependable wreak–although please beware that contentious debate has broken over the past tense (wrought or wreaked?) of this verb.

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.

The Weekly Text, 5 August 2022: A Lesson Plan for the Final Assessment of the Conjunctions Unit

Ok, here is the final lesson plan of the conjunctions unit, which is a sentence-writing review as a unit-concluding assessment. I open this lesson with this worksheet on the homophones peak and peek; if the unit goes into a second day (it very likely will, and perhaps even a third), here is an Everyday Edit the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, which Melba Patillo Beals experienced first hand as one of the Little Rock Nine, and about which she has written eloquently.

This sentence-writing practice assessment worksheet is the final assessment for this unit.

And with this post, the entire cycle of units I wrote to teach the parts of speech is now available on Mark’s Text Terminal. I don’t know how many lessons in total it is, but if it is not 100, it’s close. I hope you find some or all of this material useful. After seven years of piecemeal posting of these materials, they’re all here.

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.

Common English Verbs Followed by Gerunds: Prevent

Here is a worksheet on the verb prevent as it is used with a gerund. To prevent writing dubious instructional material, the teacher decided he needed to think more clearly about instructional goals.

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.

Guy Fawkes

OK, here is a reading on Guy Fawkes along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Chances are good, especially in the high school population, that students have heard of Fawkes through the graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, the book’s filmed version, or the ubiquitous Guy Fawkes masks that show up at various protest rallies.

In any case, Guy Fawkes remains of sufficient importance–if only as a bogeyman–in British history that the Brits observe Guy Fawkes Night to commemorate the Gunpowder Plot in which Fawkes was intimately involved.

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.