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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 

INFLUENCER

DEFINITION:
Someone who uses their online reputation to prompt people to buy things.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
“We have a lot of influencers who’ve come in and a lot of community members who have seen us through social media and come in and sell,” said Jessica Lucero, owner of In The Middle.
The Albuquerque Journal, 08/17/2026

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. Vertebrate

Having a backbone or spinal column.

Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative

Exceeding the limits of propriety or good manners; improperly forward or bold

A very large and destructive wave, generally caused by a tremendous disturbance in the ocean, such as an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption.


2. Omnivore

A very large and destructive wave, generally caused by a tremendous disturbance in the ocean, such as an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption.

An embankment built to prevent flooding

One that takes in everything available, as with the mind.

The food-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting of sieve tubes, fibers, parenchyma, and sclereids.


3. Sect

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

A schedule of prices or fees.

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

A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can function independently as an adjective.


4. Laconic

A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can function independently as an adjective.

Any of various nonplacental mammals, including kangaroos, opossums, bandicoots, and wombats, found principally in Australia and the Americas.

Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.

To honor the memory of with a ceremony


5. Virtuoso

A proportional part or share.

The method or result of concealing personnel or equipment from an enemy by making them appear to be part of the natural surroundings

A person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.

One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.


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