Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Prototype (n) and Protypical (adj)

Here are two context clues worksheets on the noun prototype and the adjective prototypical. I’ll assume I needn’t belabor the importance of understanding these very commonly used words.

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.

The Weekly Text, July 20, 2018: Four Context Clues Worksheet on Constituent (n), Constitute (vt), and Constitution (n)

This week’s Text is four context clues worksheets to teach a family of words related to the noun constitution. I use the indefinite article to modify family because all of these words–I’ve included four here, constituent, two uses of constitute as a verb, and constitution–are polysemous and their use can become relatively complicated. Daniel Willingham, in the latest of his books I’ve read (to wit, The Reading Mind), has observed that really to build vocabulary, it is almost certainly best to teach a word across the range of its morphology and usage. These four worksheets are a start in that direction, but they could easily be elaborated on and, arguably improved.

In any case, the four words presented in these worksheets, in order, are as follows (definitions come from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition: constituent defined in the sense of “one who authorizes another to act as agent;’ constitute in the first sense (i.e. in Worksheet 1) used as a verb as in “set up, establish: as a: enact b: found c (1): to give due or lawful form to (2): to legally process;” constitute in the second sense (i.e. in Worksheet 2) use as a verb as in “make up, form, compose;” and, finally, constitution used as a noun as in “a: the basic principles and laws of a nation, state, or social group that determine the powers and duties of the government and guarantee certain rights to the people in it; b: a written instrument embodying the rules of a political or social organization.”

And that is it for this week. I hope you are enjoying the summer.

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: Riot Act

If you want students to learn idioms, this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Riot Act, or more specifically being read the riot act, might help.

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.

Ball (n) and Bawl (vi/vt)

Here are five worksheets on the homophones ball and bawl. Respectively, they are a noun and a verb with both intransitive and transitive uses.

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.

Debunk (vt)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb debunk. It’s used transitively only. I’m hard-pressed to imagine a word more important at the moment for any responsible and engaged citizen of a republic to know. As teachers, we ought to preoccupied by making sure students understand this verb both in word and deed.

.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.

Sham (n/adj)

Here are two context clues worksheets on the word sham, used as both a noun and an adjective.

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.

Exuberant (adj)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective exuberant that’s hot off the press. I just wrote 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.

Word Root Exercise: Neo-

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word root neo-, which means new and recent. In fact, this is a root that is often simply attached to existing nouns, as in the au courant locution “neoliberal.”

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.

Pope (n) and Papal (adj)

Here, hot off the press, are two context clues worksheets on the noun Pope and the adjective papal.

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.

The Internet

Here is a reading on the birth and growth of the Internet with a comprehension worksheet to accompany it. For the right student, I suspect, this will be some relatively high interest material. In fact, it might work well with this material on the ARPAnet, which was the precursor to Internet we all use today.

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.