Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Cultural Literacy: Fifth Amendment

Posted on October 1, 2020 | Leave a comment

Last but not least on this distinctly autumnal day, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment most famously protects defendants against self-incrimination–i.e. they can “take the Fifth” when asked a question whose answer may incriminate them in a crime. The Fifth Amendment also prohibits double jeopardy and mandates due process of law.

This knowledge will help prepare students to what I expect will be heavy use in the coming months of this shield against self-incrimination.

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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Word Root Exercise: Avi-

Posted on October 1, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word root avi, which means bird. So now you know why the place where the birds live at the zoo is called an aviary.

What do birds spend a lot of their time doing? Flying. That’s why this root also appears in a flight-related noun like aviator. This is a very productive root in English for certain kinds of technical terms in flight, like avionics and aviation.

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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Inordinate (adj)

Posted on October 1, 2020 | Leave a comment

Like many Words of the Day from Merriam-Webster lately, I almost let this one go past; but here, owing to the fact that it is a commonly used word, here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective inordinate. It’s used in the most common sense it turns up in conversation, i.e. “exceeding reasonable limits” and “immoderate.”

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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Circadian Rhythms

Posted on September 30, 2020 | Leave a comment

For just over ten years, I served in a school without windows in any of the classrooms. In fact, that school has been in the news recently for deficiencies in its reopening plan.

Students, as they will (and I thank them for it), often questioned and commented about the building–it really was dismal–and wanted to discuss it at times. I used this reading on circadian rhythms and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet as a way of capitalizing on students’ desire to know why their school possessed the architectural charm of a maximum security prison.

In any case, the reading doesn’t necessarily answer any questions. It does present opportunities to ask critical questions about allocation of public resources, investment in communities, and whether or not one needs to see daylight to operate on a circadian cycle.

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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Cultural Literacy: Bread and Circuses

Posted on September 30, 2020 | Leave a comment

After last night, I can’t think of a better time to post this Cultural Literacy the concept of bread and circuses. The term comes from ancient Rome, as I suspect most people know; it was meant, originally, as a plaint against the declining heroism of the Roman people, who were willing to exchange the Roman Republic for the Roman Empire–to forego the work of maintaining a republic for the spectacle, noise, and distraction of the empire’s conquests and programs–free bread among them–designed to control the populace.

In the context of current American politics, I suppose a teacher could contextualize this to describe how Americans were willing to sacrifice intellect and reason for emotion and nonsense.

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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A Lesson Plan on the Chronology of Space Flights from The Order of Things

Posted on September 30, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here’s a lesson on the chronological order of international space flights and the list as reading and comprehension questions that constitute the lesson’s work. This lesson derives, as does every lesson on this blog under the header The Order of Things, from Barbara Ann Kipfer’s book of the same name.

Incidentally, I’ve just finished writing all the lessons and worksheets for the unit they comprise. There are 50 lessons in all, and I’ll soon post supporting documents for the unit, including a user’s manual for the worksheets and the unit plan itself.

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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Abstain (vi)

Posted on September 28, 2020 | Leave a comment

OK, last but not least this morning, here is a context clues worksheet on the verb abstain, which is in fact Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day today. It is only used intransitively, and it is a word students probably ought to know and be able to use.

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: Populism

Posted on September 28, 2020 | Leave a comment

If there was ever a time where students ought to be receiving rigorous instruction in civic and politics, it’s now. And I don’t mean to say that this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the political philosophy of populism is the solution to any deficit in civics instruction, but it’s a start, especially for struggling learners and emergent readers.

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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Rambunctious (adj)

Posted on September 28, 2020 | Leave a comment

It was Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day yesterday; I found to my surprise that I don’t already have a context clues worksheet on the adjective rambunctious. I don’t think I need to defend this as a word kids ought to know over time. Whether or not it requires a context clues worksheet–this seems like a word that the circumstances of most schools and classrooms offer many opportunities to drop into that most natural of contexts, casual conversation. A teacher could mention, simply in passing, that students’ exuberant behavior is rambunctious. That’s enough with this word, I would think.

All of that said, it might be worth noting, either in passing or to your students, the onomatopoeic quality of this adjective.

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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James Madison

Posted on September 28, 2020 | Leave a comment

A few years back, I read several news accounts like this one from CNN that indicated that Americans, particularly those who fancy themselves experts on the subject, know vanishingly little about the United States Constitution. 

This reading on James Madison and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet will go only a short distance to ameliorate ignorance of the U.S. Constitution, but it will serve as a reasonable introduction to deeper inquiry into this quintessential document from the American Enlightenment. 

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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