Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

Cultural Literacy: Jim Thorpe

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

As there is a movie about him in the works (and if you look under that link, you will learn, happily I hope, that the production team is made up of Native American people), now seems like a good time to post this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Jim Thorpe. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-question reading and two comprehension questions. In other words, a spare introduction to this famous athlete. Still, it’s a good place to start–especially if our students end up seeing this movie when it arrives.

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.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice

Tagged , , , , ,

The Weekly Text, 17 November 2023, National Native American Heritage Month Week II: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Imperialism

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

In the second week of observation of Native American Heritage Month 2023, here is a reading on imperialism along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Imperialism may seem indirectly related to Native Americans, except that imperialist projects around the world have been–and in many real ways continue to be–deleterious to indigenous communities.

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.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

Tagged , , , ,

Cultural Literacy: Incas

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

Last but not least this morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Incas. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences and three comprehension questions. A clear, cogent, and symmetrical introduction to a great civilization.

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.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , , ,

Cultural Literacy: French and Indian Wars

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the French and Indian War in the British Colonies in North America. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of five sentences and five comprehension questions. The reading explicitly connect sthe French and Indian War to the Seven Years War, which I’ve rarely seen done in social studies classrooms where I have been a co-teacher. In general, historians regard the French and Indian War as the North American theater of the Seven Years War.

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.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , , , ,

The Weekly Text, 10 November 2023, National Native American Heritage Month Week I: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Native Americans

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States, though given what has imperialism has wrought on indigenous peoples around the world, it ought to be a global observance in by opinion. I am a week behind with posts for this month because I wanted to post the sixteen-lesson Styling Sentences unit seriatim, which caused it to run into the first Friday in November.

So, as there are four Fridays in September, the four posts for this month will run into Friday, 1 December. Problem solved.

Without further ado, then, here is a reading on Native Americans from the Intellectual Devotional series of books, along with 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.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

Tagged , , , , ,

Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive: Need

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the verb need as it is used with an infinitive. I need to move these worksheets out of my data warehouse.

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.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Worksheets

Tagged ,

Cultural Literacy: Stanza

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

OK, moving right along this morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a stanza in poetry and poetics. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences and two comprehension questions. A clear, simple, and symmetrical introduction to this important concept in studying poetry.

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.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Worksheets

Tagged , , ,

Coherence

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

“Coherence (noun): Order and sense in expression, or ease and interrelationship in arrangement of thoughts or parts of a sentence; logical consistency or clarity of syntax. Adjective: coherent; Adverb: coherently; Verb: cohere.

“Every man in the chapel hoped that when his hour came he, too, would be eulogized, which is to say forgiven, and that all of his lapses, greeds, errors, and strayings from the truth would be invested with coherence and looked upon with charity.’ James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son.”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference

Tagged , , , ,

The Weekly Text, 3 November 2023: Styling Sentences Lesson 15, Sentences with a Series of Lively Pairs

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

Today is the first Friday of Native American Heritage Month 2023 in the United States (Canada observes this month in June as National Indigenous History Month). I have materials to post, including a couple of Cultural Literacy worksheets today.

However, in order to keep them in a relatively tight series, this morning I post the fifteenth and final lesson plan of the Styling Sentences Unit, this one on sentences with a series of lively pairs. Nouns are one of the workhorses of the English language (along with verbs), and this lesson illustrates for students how solid, concrete nouns that appeal to the senses make prose come alive.

This lesson opens with this on parsing sentences to find conjunctions. This scaffolded and supported worksheet is the primary work of the lesson. Finally, here is a learning support in the form of a word bank to help students master this sentence form using pairs of lively nouns or noun phrases.

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.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Lesson Plans, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

Tagged , , ,

Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive: Mean

Posted on October 6, 2023 | Leave a comment

Finally this morning, here is a worksheet on the verb mean as it is used with an infinitive. I mean to visit Coney Island this weekend.

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.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Worksheets

Tagged ,