Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Surreptitious (adj)

OK, if you can use it, here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective surreptitious. It means, of course, “done, made, or acquired by stealth” and “acting or doing somethings clandestinely.”

I’m off this morning to take the Massachusetts Test of Educator Licensure (MTEL) in English. Wish me luck on this four-hour test.

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.

Word Root Exercise: Dyn, Dyna, Dynam/o

Here, on a rainy Thursday morning, is a worksheet on the Greek word roots dyn, dyna, and dynam/o. They mean power, energy, and strength. These are, as the worksheet shows, some very productive roots in English. A number of STEM-related words start with this root, among others.

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.

Anxiety

This morning seems as good a time as any to post this reading on anxiety and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. If you work with anxious kids, and if the statistics on anxiety in kids are true, I suspect you’ll find a use for this in your classroom.

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.

Superstition (n)

Finally, on this Tuesday morning, here is a context clues worksheet on the noun superstition, which seems like a word students ought to understand clearly–particularly, I think, in these times, as an antonym to reason or science. There is a lot of Counter-Enlightenment sentiment, basically superstition, floating around at the moment. It’s up to educators to keep alive the values of reasoned inquiry.

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.

Word Root Exercise: Rupt

If there is a better time, for obvious reasons, to post this worksheet on the Latin word root rupt, I can’t imagine it. It means “to break, burst,” and is at the basis of the English adjective, very much in the news of late, corrupt.

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.

Alcohol

Moving right along: here are a reading on alcohol and its attendant vocabulary building and comprehension worksheet if your practice and students would benefit from them.

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.

Sullen (adj)

As sullenness can be a chronic condition among adolescents, perhaps this context clues worksheet on the adjective sullen might be of some use to you.

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: Extrapolation

Finally, on this Friday morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on extrapolation. I am hard pressed to imagine why high schoolers shouldn’t know this noun, and, indeed, its attendant verb, extrapolate.

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.

Sordid (adj)

The day after the President of the United States admits he would gladly accept the interference of foreign agents in the elections in the United States seems as good a time as any to post this context clues worksheet on the adjective sordid.

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.

Word Root Exercise: Matr, Matri, Mater

Ok, it’s a long story, but a prompt from the AFT’s Share My Lesson Plan website made me aware that I had not, despite my best intentions, ever published this worksheet on the Latin word roots matr, matri, and mater. They mean, you have probably already inferred, mother.

This is an extremely productive root in English, showing up in words like maternal, alma mater, and the like.

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.