Word Selection Activity
Check for Understanding
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Select one of the passages below.
Read through the selection and highlight challenging vocabulary words.
Find three Tier 2 Words and three Tier 3 Words.
Write student-friendly definitions for Tier 2 words.
Remember:
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Tier one words are basic words that don’t require much instructional attention.
Tier two words are high frequency words that students do not know but need to
acquire in order to have a rich vocabulary. They are academic vocabulary words
that are not subject specific.
Tier three words are words students need to know in order to understand a
passage, but will probably not need in other contexts. They are specific to the
subject.
Selection #1 - ELA
A Tale of Two Cities Book the First -- Recalled to Life
Chapter I
The Period
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was
the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it
was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it
was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short,
the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities
insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of
comparison only.
There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of
England; there were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face, on the
throne of France. In both countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of the
State preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general were settled for ever.
It was the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five. Spiritual
revelations were conceded to England at that favoured period, as at this. Mrs.
Southcott had recently attained her five-and-twentieth blessed birthday, of whom a
prophetic private in the Life Guards had heralded the sublime appearance by
announcing that arrangements were made for the swallowing up of London and
Westminster.
Selection #2 - Science
Strong and Weak Acids
Although hydrochloric acid and acetic acid are both acids according to the Arrhenius
definition, the solutions created by dissolving the same numbers of HCl and
HC2H3O2 molecules in water have very different acid properties. You wouldn’t
hesitate to put a solution of the weak acid HC2H3O2 (vinegar) on your salad, but
putting a solution of the strong acid HCl on your salad would have a very different
effect on the lettuce. With hydrochloric acid, you are more likely to get a brown,
fuming mess rather than a crisp, green salad. Strong acids form nearly one H3O+
ion in solution for each acid molecule dissolved in water, whereas weak acids yield
significantly less than one H3O+ ion in solution for each acid molecule dissolved in
water.
When an acetic acid molecule, HC2H3O2, collides with an H2O molecule, an H+ can
be transferred to the water to form a hydronium ion, H3O+, and an acetate ion,
C2H3O2-. The acetate ion, however, is less stable in solution than the chloride ion
formed when the strong acid HCl dissolves in water. Because of this instability, the
C2H3O2- reacts with the hydronium ion, pulling the H+ ion back to reform HC2H3O2
and H2O. A reaction in which the reactants are constantly forming products and, at
the same time, the products are re‑forming the reactants is called a reversible
reaction. The chemical equations for reactions that are significantly reversible are
written with double arrows as illustrated in Figure 5.5.
If you were small enough to be riding on one of the carbon atoms in HC2H3O2 or
C2H3O2-, you would find that your atom was usually in the HC2H3O2 form but often
in the C2H3O2- form and continually changing back and forth. The forward and
reverse reactions would be taking place simultaneously all around you. When acetic
acid is added to water, the relative amounts of the different products and reactants
soon reach levels at which the opposing reactions proceed at equal rates. (We will
see why in Chapter 16.) This means that the forward reaction is producing C2H3O2as quickly as the reverse reaction is producing HC2H3O2(aq). At this point, there is
no more net change in the amounts of HC2H3O2, H2O, C2H3O2-, or H3O+ in the
solution. For example, for each 1000 molecules of acetic acid added to water, the
solution will eventually contain about 996 acetic acid molecules (HC2H3O2), four
hydronium ions (H3O+), and four acetate ions (C2H3O2-). Acetic acid is therefore a
weak acid, a substance that is incompletely ionized in water because of the
reversibility of its reaction with water that forms hydronium ion, H3O+. Figure 5.6
shows a simple model that will help you to picture this solution.
The products formed from the reaction of a strong acid and water do not recombine
at a significant rate to re‑form the uncharged acid molecules and water. For
example, when HCl molecules react with water, the H3O+ and Cl- ions that form do
not react to a significant degree to reform HCl and H2O. (Look again at Figure 5.2 to
see the behavior of a strong acid in solution.) Reactions like this that are not
significantly reversible are often called completion reactions. The chemical equations
for completion reactions are written with single arrows to indicate that the reaction
proceeds to form almost 100% products.
Therefore, a strong acid is a substance that undergoes a completion reaction with
water such that each acid particle reacts to form a hydronium ion, H3O+. The strong
monoprotic acids that you will be expected to recognize are nitric acid, HNO3, and
hydrochloric acid, HCl(aq). (There are others that you might be expected to
recognize later in your chemical education.) If we were to examine equal volumes of
two aqueous solutions, one made with a certain number of molecules of a strong acid
and one made with the same number of molecules of a weak acid, we would find
fewer hydronium ions in the solution of weak acid than in the solution of strong acid
(Figure 5.7).
Selection #3 – Social Studies
Columbus led his three ships - the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria - out of the
Spanish port of Palos on August 3, 1492. His objective was to sail west until he reached
Asia (the Indies) where the riches of gold, pearls and spice awaited. His first stop was the
Canary Islands where the lack of wind left his expedition becalmed until September 6.
Once underway, Columbus benefited from calm seas and steady winds that pushed him
steadily westward (Columbus had discovered the southern "Trades" that in the future
would fuel the sailing ships carrying goods to the New World). However, the trip was
long, longer than anticipated by either Columbus or his crew. In order to mollify his
crew's apprehensions, Columbus kept two sets of logs: one showing the true distance
traveled each day and one showing a lesser distance. The first log was kept secret. The
latter log quieted the crew's anxiety by under-reporting the true distance they had traveled
from their homeland.
This deception had only a temporary effect; by October 10 the crew's apprehension had
increased to the point of near mutiny. Columbus headed off disaster by promising his
crew that if land was not sighted in two days, they would return home. The next day land
was discovered.
A New World is Revealed
Columbus's journal of his first voyage to America has been lost. However, we do have an
accurate abstract of the journal written by Bartolome de las Casas in the 1530s. Las Casas
was an historian and Columbus's biographer who had access to the original journal of the
voyage. We join Columbus's account as his expedition approaches the islands of the
Bahamas. Throughout the account, Columbus refers to himself in the third person as the
"Admiral":
"Thursday October 11
The course was W.S.W., and there was more sea than there had been during the whole of
the voyage. They saw sand-pipers, and a green reed near the ship. Those of the caravel
Pinta saw a cane and a pole, and they took up another small pole which appeared to have
been worked with iron; also another bit of cane, a land-plant, and a small board. The crew
of the caravel Niña also saw signs of land, and a small branch covered with berries.
Everyone breathed afresh and rejoiced at these signs. The run until sunset was 27 leagues.