Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Contraption (n)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun contraption. Kids who have been read to as children very likely have heard and therefore understand this word; kids who haven’t enjoyed the benefits of nightly story time, and English language learners, probably have not. In any case, it is a word in common enough use in English that kids ought to know it.

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: Multiculturalism

For reasons I never understood (and still don’t, frankly), it was anathema to academic conservatives about the time I began to think about going to college in the late 1980s, but I think this Cultural Literacy worksheet on multiculturalism is something to which students ought to be exposed.

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.

Super Bowl III

Finally, today, here is a high-interest reading on Super Bowl III along with its 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.

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Incident at the Ferry”

Here is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Incident at the Ferry.”

I use this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the American idiom “Every dog has his day” to open this lesson. You’ll need this PDF of the illustration and questions surrounding the case so that your students may conduct their investigation. Finally, here is the typescript of the answer key to solve this heinous crime.

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.

Word Root Exercise: Thermo

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word root thermo. It means heat and temperature. Science teachers, you won’t be surprised to hear that this worksheet contains some important vocabulary words used in your domain.

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: Dogma

Moving right along, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of dogma. I can’t imagine a more important concept for students to understand clearly at this moment in history.

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.

Corporation (n)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun corporation. It is more important than ever that students understand this word and the deep concepts it represents, particularly in business. The essential question about this word is simple: are corporations people? The historical background of that question, I would argue, could drive a semester’s worth of deep conceptual social studies work.

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.

Lesbianism

Here is a reading on lesbianism and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. This has tended to be a high-interest item in my classroom, so I’ve tagged it as such; it is also material written to address personal identity, so I’ve tagged it as social-emotional learning 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.

A Lesson Plan on Using the Predicate Adjective

Here is a lesson plan on using the predicate adjective in short, declarative sentences. The syntax of these kinds of short sentences, which is subject-linking verb-adjective, is one of the most common constructions in English speech and prose. For that reason, I have included a lesson on the predicate adjective on each of the first three units on parts of speech, to wit nouns, verbs, and adjectives, that I wrote about ten years ago and have revised ever since.

That’s a long way around explaining that you will see lessons on using the predicate adjective in grammatically complete declarative sentences at least a couple of more times.

In any case, I open this lesson with this worksheet on the homophones compliment and complement. Because the noun complement is often used as a synonym for predicate in grammar manuals, and I think it’s important that students know how to use grammar manuals, I want them to know this word. This scaffolded worksheet is the mainstay of this lesson; here is the teachers’ copy of it. Finally, here is an adjectives word bank. Please notice  that this document has four copies of the same word list–it’s meant to be cut in four pieces in a paper-saving measure.

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: Dyslexia

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on dyslexia. I can think of several uses for this, including basic instruction in literacy. Your call.

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.