Grade 3

Core Knowledge Language Arts® • Skills Strand

Unit 9 Skills Workbook

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About This Workbook

This Skills Workbook contains worksheets that go along with the lessons in the Unit 9 Teacher Guide. Each worksheet is labeled with the number of the lesson it belongs to. For example, if a lesson has two worksheets, they would be labeled 8.1 and 8.2. Every student should have their own copy of this workbook.

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Name: ______________________

1.1 The Lure of Spices

1. What were European explorers searching for?

1. Choose your favorite spice from the reading. Give three reasons why it's your favorite.
2. A.
3. B.
4. C.

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Name: ______________________

1.2 Take-Home Worksheet: A Letter to Families

Dear Family Member,

Please help your child practice spelling by spending a few minutes each evening reviewing these words together. You can ask your child to say the words out loud, write sentences using them, or simply copy them down.

Spelling Words

This week's words all follow spelling patterns for the "long u" sound, written as u, u_e, or ue. Your child will be tested on these words on Friday.

Two of the words—impossible and journal—are "Challenge Words." These are words that show up often in reading and writing, but they don't follow this week's spelling pattern, so they must simply be memorized.

This week's "Content Word" is explorer. This word connects directly to what students are reading in The Age of Exploration. It's an optional word—if your child tries to spell it but gets it wrong, it won't count against them. We encourage students to challenge themselves by giving it a try anyway.

All the spelling words, including the Challenge Words and the Content Word, are listed below:

1. hue
2. perfume
3. unify
4. continue
5. argue
6. amusement
7. accuse
8. rescue
9. issue
10. cubical
11. useful
12. utensils
13. bugle
14. occupy
15. uniform
16. confuse
17. fuming
18. mute
19. Challenge Word: impossible
20. Challenge Word: journal

Content Word: explorer

About the Student Reader

The chapters your child will read in The Age of Exploration tell the true stories of explorers from Europe. These readings describe the hardships explorers faced, what they were searching for, where they traveled, and what they discovered. This week, students will learn about the search for spices and gold, the tools sailors used to navigate, and a settlement the Spanish built. Ask your child each night what they've learned!

Throughout this unit, your child will bring home printed copies of the Reader's chapters, along with a glossary of important terms. Reading these texts together at home will help reinforce both the content and the vocabulary. Any word that appears in bold in the text copies can be found in the glossary.

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Name: ______________________

1.3 Take-Home Worksheet: Introduction to The Age of Exploration

In 1491, most people in Europe had no idea that North and South America even existed. Likewise, the people already living in the Americas didn't know Europe existed. Even though other explorers may have visited the Americas earlier, Europeans at the time had no knowledge of this.

Everything changed in 1492. That year, Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and landed—by accident—on islands near the coast of the Americas. His voyage marked the beginning of what historians now call the Age of Exploration, a period when European explorers traveled to and mapped many parts of the world for the first time.

Once word spread about what Columbus had found, men from all over Spain rushed to search for treasure. Spanish conquistadors (a Spanish word meaning "conquerors") such as Francisco Vásquez de Coronado set out looking for silver and gold. They cut their way through swamps and marched across deserts, exploring—and conquering—land after land.

A few years later, other European countries joined the race. John Cabot explored on behalf of England. Henry Hudson explored for both England and the Netherlands. Samuel de Champlain explored for France.

These explorers changed the world forever. Their journeys connected Europe to the Americas for the first time. In this unit, you'll read about some of their adventures.

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Name: ______________________

1.4 Take-Home Worksheet: The Lure of Spices

Many European explorers hoped to find gold and other precious metals during their journeys. It's easy to understand why—gold is valuable even today. But you might be surprised to learn that explorers were just as excited about finding spices. You might wonder, "Spices? Why would anyone risk their life for spices?"

Here's the answer: things that are scarce, or hard to find, are usually expensive. That's true of gold today, and it was true of spices five hundred years ago. Back then, spices were extremely rare in Europe, so they were costly to buy. Some spices were worth nearly as much as gold, ounce for ounce.

Take peppercorns, for example. A cook can toss whole peppercorns into a pot of soup, or grind them into tiny bits using a spice grinder. Either way, the pepper adds a spicy kick to the dish.

There are also white peppercorns, which come from the very same plant as red peppercorns. The difference is in how they're prepared: the outer shell, or hull, is removed from a red peppercorn to reveal the white kernel underneath. White peppercorns can be used just like red ones.

Another popular spice is cloves, which are actually dried flower buds. Cloves are used to flavor meats, stews, certain teas, and even pumpkin pie. Because cloves have such a strong, powerful flavor, cooks have to use them carefully—too many can overpower the other flavors in a dish.

Peppercorns can only grow in warm, wet climates, like the one found in India. They cannot be grown in Europe at all.

Today, getting peppercorns from India is easy. Ships and airplanes can carry huge amounts of spices