Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Rue (vi/vt)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb rue, which is used both intransitively and transitively. This today’s Word of the Day from Merriam-Webster; I couldn’t let it go by for the simple reason that it is a word in common use in English. I think henceforth that will be the criteria for qualifying for treatment in a context clues worksheet: if I’ve read the word, used it myself, or heard another person use it within recent memory, then it is probably a word students should 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.

Cultural Literacy: Reprisals

A few weeks ago I rummaged through my Cultural Literacy folder and pulled up a bunch of worksheets that I thought might be useful for some basic civics education in the run-up the the United States presidential election next week. This Cultural Literacy worksheet on reprisals is the last of them. I think this is an important word, particularly as a  concept in political science and sociology, is important for students to understand.

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.

Common Errors in English Usage: Seasonable (adj), Seasonal (adj), Unseasonable (adj), Unseasonal (adj)

I just returned from a CVS store, where the “seasonal” aisle, already freighted with Christmas merchandise, kind got me down. I assure you that my post of this English usage worksheet on the adjectives seasonable, seasonal, unseasonable, and unseasonal is purely coincidental.

That said, these are solid, commonly used words that students probably ought to be able to use. If nothing else, though, this document meets the Common Core standard on teaching English usage.

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.

Dexterous (adj)

It’s Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day, but I almost let it pass. However, I decided, in the final analysis, to work up this context clues worksheet on the adjective dexterous. This word has three meanings, but I wrote context for the meaning “skillful and competent with the hands.”

However, because this is a Microsoft Word document (as are virtually every document on this website), you may edit it for your use and the needs of your students.

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.

Central Park in New York City

OK, for my erstwhile and possibly future colleagues in New York City, or anyone with students interested in plants, gardening, landscape architecture, the history of leisure time, the concept of public goods or the philosophy of the commons–or any of the numerous areas of inquiry it might stimulate, here is a reading on Central Park and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

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: Profit Motive

Although I’ve posted it elsewhere on this blog–along with context clues worksheet on the nouns motive and motivation–here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the profit motive. About five weeks ago I sorted through my library of Cultural Literacy worksheets and selected a group I thought it appropriate to post before the election. This is the penultimate document; I’ll post the final worksheet in the next couple of days.

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.

Emissary (n)

It has been some time since Merriam-Webster has posted of the Word of the Day that I though high school students must know. For example, today’s word is repine, an intransitive verb meaning “to feel or express dejection or discontent.” My guess, unless you plan to have your students reading or writing on Victorian literature, or unless you seek to have them assume literary pretentiousness in common discourse, they won’t need to know this verb.

Yesterday produced, after several dry days, this context clues worksheet on the noun emissary. This is, I think, a word in common enough use that students will need to know it in high school, particularly in social studies courses.

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, October 23, 2020: A Lesson Plan on the Latin Word Roots Matr, Matri, and Mater

Last but not least this morning, this week’s Text is a lesson plan on the Latin word roots matr, matri, and mater. They mean, simply, (as you’ve surely inferred) mother. They are very productive in English.

I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the adjective matrifocal, which supplies a hint about the meaning of the roots under study; it is also a good sociological, anthropological, and historical term of art for students to know. Finally, here is the word root worksheet on matr, matri, and mater that is the work 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.

Sun Spots and Solar Flares

Just now, I was asked in a Zoom meeting job interview if I could teach science. Like everything else I do in the classroom, I would and have used the subject to build literacy in general and literacy in the content area in particular. One example of that, if you can use it, is this reading on sunspots and solar flares and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

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 Errors in English Usage: Sarcastic (adj), Ironic (adj)

Moving right along on this sunny, autumnal morning, here is an English usage worksheet on the adjectives sarcastic and ironic and differentiating their use. I hear these words misused frequently; they strike me as a pair of adjectives that represent abstractions (the nouns, and you know, are sarcasm and irony) that students should understand deeply and use correctly.

If nothing else, understanding these two words and concepts might help students produce solid literary exegesis.

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.