Nonfiction Reading with Academic Vocabulary in Context: The Black Death (HS)

This highly engaging 3 1/2 page nonfiction reading comprehension passage has thirteen academic vocabulary words embedded in its context. These are accompanied by definitions, a review, a quiz, and a crossword. 

• Examples: articulate; meticulously; eradicate; epidemiology

More vocabulary words, along with a context clues worksheet, provide students practice for inferring word meaning.

• Examples: infiltrate; carnage; adversaries; eradicate

Ten comprehension questions, a mini-writing assignment, and two PowerPoint Presentations, The Black Death and Using Primary Sources, complete this product. 

Its content is presented in an age-appropriate literary nonfiction format, using well-researched information, carefully selected primary source quotations, and unique subtopics to provide additional interest. After completing this unit, even the most reluctant readers will want to understand more about this intriguing topic.

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Rationale for Use and Expectations

As a social studies assignment, this co-curricular text assists students in understanding the historical period in which this tragedy occurred. As an ELAR resource, it provides high-interest reading for measuring comprehension and increasing students' academic vocabulary. Its scientific terms provide a deeper understanding of this pandemic.

Examples: septicemic plague, bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, zoonotic
disease.

This user-friendly, print-and-go passage is appropriate for homeschooling, homework, classroom assignments, and reading centers. It is aligned with Common Core and will appeal to grades 9-12.

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Student Resource

• Thirteen embedded academic vocabulary words with definitions
• Reading passage (3 1/2 pages)

Subtopics

1. Arrival on European Soil

2. The Victims

3. An Ancient Enemy

4. The Hosts

5. Forms of the Plague

6. Current Scientific Theory

7. The Dancing Plague

8. The Flagellants

9. An Ongoing Search for Answers

• Comprehension quiz

Worksheets

• Context Clues Worksheet
• Vocabulary Review
• Mini-Writing Assignment
• Vocabulary Crossword Puzzle
• Vocabulary Quiz

Teacher Resources

• Suggested Four-Day Schedule
• Vocabulary Retention Games and Strategies
• Answer Keys

PowerPoint Presentation Part I The Black Death (12 slides)

• European Vulnerability to Disease
• Living Conditions
• Lack of Sanitation
• The Great Famine
• The Hundred Years’ War
• The Results of the Black Death

PowerPoint Presentation Part 2 (Using Primary Sources (25 slides)

• Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources
• Positive Characteristics of Primary Sources
• Negative Characteristics of Primary Sources
• When to Use Primary Sources
• Three Ways to Use Primary Sources
• Short Practice Assignment

Please Note: PPP Part 2 is a revised edition of the original PowerPoint provided as a free resource by Our World, On Story at a Time.

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Excerpt 1

After leaving the Asian port, the ship crossed the Black Sea, its sails fluttering in the breeze. Its towering mast proclaimed the craft’s dominance over the seagulls searching for food and the dolphins surfing the waves. Within its belly, it carried one of the most vicious adversaries known to humans. Already, people had heard the terrifying rumors circulating in the villages along the trade routes. An illness was ravaging Asia. Its brutality was measured by the number of deaths it left in its wake. In China, India, Persia, and Egypt, survivors called it the Great Pestilence.

Excerpt 2

Since plague is a zoonotic disease, most often, it targets animals. Existing in three strains, it seldom attacks humans. The first strain, bubonic, occurs when a rodent, one carrying the Yersinia pestis bacterium, bites a human. Fleas that have ingested disease-ridden blood can also spread the infection. As the bubonic form requires a bite from either a rodent or a flea, it moves through societies slowly.

Excerpt 3

Scientists concur that the disease-producing organism, Yersinia pestis, caused those deaths. This community of lethal microbes had thrived for millennia within the rodent populations, the rats and marmots of Asia. Now, it had awakened with savagery unimaginable to its future victims. Like other global outbreaks of disease, the Black Death began as an epidemic. However, it refused to remain confined to one area or community. Instead, it spread across Europe and Asia, evolving into a pandemic, one that caused the deaths of nearly 1.5 million people in Europe alone.

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Composing Descriptive Vignettes (Bundle of Four)

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