Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

A Lesson Plan on Agriculture as a Cause of History

Over the four years this blog has existed, one of the most heavily retrieved items posted here has been these context clues worksheets for the words agriculture and agrarian. Agriculture is a big concept with a lot of porous surfaces that make it easy to transfer across domains of knowledge. In any case, to understand how our species arrived at its present level of development, understanding agriculture remains essential.

So, here is a lesson plan on agriculture as a cause of history. Because students have already, in previous lessons, encountered the noun agriculture (see the context clues worksheets above), I start this lesson right after a class change with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on hunting and gathering societies. It happens that this document is really the mainstay of this lesson, because this worksheet on agriculture as a cause of history is really more in the way of what administrators and teachers now call an “exit ticket.”

If that is insufficient for you needs, here is a body of text on agriculture and the agricultural revolution to use to create a longer worksheet, an independent practice worksheet, or whatever is best for your students’ needs in developing their own understanding of agriculture and its role in history.

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.

Treatise (n)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun treatise. It’s not a word anybody uses much these days, but it turned up enough times in the global studies courses I co-taught in New York City that I wrote this worksheet to help students develop their own understanding of its meaning.

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, April 19, 2019: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on John Steinbeck

OK, as we reach the end of spring break (boo hoo!) here is a short reading on John Steinbeck and the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that accompanies it.

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.

Tomfoolery (n)

If memory serves, I wrote this context clues worksheet on the noun tomfoolery just to see if I could. Like the Cultural Literacy worksheet two posts below, I rather doubt you’ll have much call for this one.

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: Braille

You probably won’t have a lot of demand for this Cultural Literacy worksheet on braille, but it’s probably worth having around if you do.

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, April 12, 2019: Three Context Clues Worksheets on Venerate (vt), Venerable (adj), and Veneration (n)

In this school district, spring break begins today. Not a moment too soon for me, I confess. Here are three context clues worksheets on the verb venerate (it’s transitive), the adjective venerable, and the noun veneration. These three in combination assist students, in my experience, see the way that the parts of speech work in English morphology and vice versa.

If you are on break this week, I bid you a restful vacation.

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.

Technique (n)

Because it’s a common enough word in English, this context clues worksheet on the noun technique is easily justified for classroom use (that and the fact that it should only take a few minutes to complete).

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.

Magic Realism

Here are a reading on magic realism and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet if they are of any interest to your students or you.

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: Cosmo

Finally, on this very productive Wednesday morning, here is a worksheet on the Greek word root cosmo. It means, as you probably assumed, both universe and world. It’s at the root of many English words, especially those related to astrophysics and astronomy; but you also find it under such words in the social sciences like cosmopolitan.

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.

Tangent (n) and Tangential (adj)

If you can use them, here are two context clues worksheets on the noun tangent and its corresponding adjective, tangential. Both of these are words educated people use regularly, which is why our students should learn them.

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.