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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 

SHRAPNEL

DEFINITION:
Pieces of a bomb, shell, or bullet that has exploded.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
The U.S. military exercise that shot live-fire artillery rounds over Interstate 5 on Saturday dropped metal shrapnel onto a California Highway Patrol protective services detail for Vice President JD Vance, agency officials said Sunday.
►The Los Angeles Times, 10/20/2025

Words in the News Quiz
5 Elementary 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. jostle

► Natural ability to acquire knowledge or skill.

► To bump into or brush against while in motion.

► Make an idea, impression, or feeling known or understandable to someone.

► Anticipating something with anxiety or fear.

2. clarify

► To make clear; to free from obscurities; to brighten or illuminate.

► One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.

► To exclude; to specify as being an exception.

► Self-confidence; poise; composure.

3. various

► Different from one another; of different kinds or sorts

► To cause to take physical form, or to cause an object to appear.

► The ability to foresee or prepare wisely for the future.

► A gift or payment to a common fund or collection.

4. analyze

► Quick and neat in action; skillful.

► Examine methodically and in detail the constitution or structure of something, esp. information.

► Something that impedes, stands in the way of, or holds up progress

► A measurement one can compare to.

5. observe

► A measurement one can compare to.

► To recover, especially from an illness; to get better from an illness.

► The power to affect, control or manipulate something or someone; the ability to change the development of fluctuating things such as conduct, thoughts or decisions.

► To notice or view, especially carefully or with attention to detail.

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