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.
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. Gargoyle
► A poisonous substance, especially a protein, that is produced by living cells or organisms.
► To move back or away from a limit, point, or mark
► A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.
2. Xylem
► Having a buoyant or self-confident air; brisk.
► To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.
3. Rainforest
► An embankment built to prevent flooding
► A movement or procedure involving skill and dexterity.
► To honor the memory of with a ceremony
4. Plateau
► An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land; a tableland.
► One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.
► Strikingly unconventional and far-fetched in style or appearance; odd
5. Light-Year
► The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year.
► Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.
► Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative