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Common Core State Standard
LS.CCS.4/5/6 Grades 3-12: Students are asked to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words through multiple choice vocabulary quizzes. Quizzes are designed to help students demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in words, acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words, and gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. Students are then asked to find the words within the newspaper and copy the sentence for context to its overall meaning or function in a sentence.
This Week's Word In The News 

BACKLOT

DEFINITION:
An area behind or adjoining a movie studio containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who serves the 4th District, makes her way across an empty, unnamed backlot, presenting her case to be the city’s next mayor.
The Los Angeles Times, 05/18/2026

Words in the News Quiz
5 Middle School Words

Click on the correct answer in the quiz below.
Then see if you can find the word in your newspaper -- the print edition, the website or the digital edition and copy the sentence for context. NOTE: High School words are much harder to find!


1. Renaissance

A state of uncertainty or perplexity.

A cult or religious movement, a group sharing particular (often unorthodox) political and/or religious beliefs.

A rebirth or revival.

To pound, crush, or grind to a powder or dust.


2. Aspire

An intricate structure of interconnecting passages through which it is difficult to find one’s way; a maze.

To have a great ambition or ultimate goal

To condescend to give or grant

An alteration or change, as in nature, form, or quality.


3. Lichen

Any of several rod-shaped bacteria, of the genus Salmonella, that cause food poisoning and other diseases.

A fungus, usually of the class Ascomycetes, that grows symbiotically with algae,

A treeless area between the icecap and the tree line of Arctic regions, having a permanently frozen subsoil and supporting low-growing vegetation

Having or demonstrating enthusiasm


4. Dialogue

Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline

Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative

A schedule of prices or fees.

Either of two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator.


5. Unanimous

Sharing the same opinions or views; being in complete harmony or accord.

To honor the memory of with a ceremony

The systematic procedure by which a complex or scientific task is accomplished.

The pattern produced on a photosensitive medium that has been exposed by holography and then photographically developed.


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