Domain-Specific Vocabulary is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on working out a technical word from the text, aligned to Common Core standard RI.5.4. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 24 of them with different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.
Set 1 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.
24 of these 25 sets ask different questions — this skill does not have 25 questions to give. The rest reorder them, so no two pupils have the same paper in front of them.
Domain-Specific Vocabulary
RI.5.4
NameDate
Read the text, then answer the questions.
1.Read the text, then answer the questions.
Why the Thames Froze
Between 1309 and 1814 the Thames froze hard enough to walk on at least twenty-four times. Since 1814 it has not once.
The usual explanation is that the climate has warmed. That is part of it, and not most of it.
Old London Bridge had nineteen arches on wide stone piers. The piers took up so much of the channel that the bridge acted as a weir, slowing the water upstream almost to a standstill. Still water freezes; moving water does not.
The river was also shallower and wider then, spreading over land that has since been embanked. Shallow water loses heat faster.
Old London Bridge was demolished in 1831. The embankments were built between 1862 and 1874. The river that flows through London now is narrower, deeper and faster than the one that froze — and it would not freeze in a colder winter than any of those.
1. What is a "weir"?
2. What does "embanked" mean?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.
Why the Rails Are That Far Apart
Standard gauge is 4 feet 8½ inches. It is a strange number, and the reason is historical rather than engineering.
Early railways were built by people who had built tramways for collieries, and those had used the wheel spacing of the carts already in use. Nobody chose it; it was inherited.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel did choose. He built the Great Western at 7 feet ¼ inch, and by most measures it was better: faster, steadier, and able to carry more.
He lost anyway. By the 1840s, more of the network was already standard gauge, and a train cannot run on a track it does not fit. Parliament settled it in 1846.
Between 1846 and 1892 the Great Western converted its entire route. The final conversion took a single weekend and about four thousand men.
The best design does not always win. The one that connects to everything else does.
1. What does "gauge" mean here?
2. What is a "colliery"?
LessonPrint · RI.5.4 · Set 1 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Domain-Specific Vocabulary
Set 1. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. A barrier across a river that holds the water back and slows it. 2. Walled in, so the river is confined to a narrower channel.
2.1. The distance between the two rails. 2. A colliery is a coal mine — the carts used there set the early rail spacing.
Questions about Domain-Specific Vocabulary
What does the Domain-Specific Vocabulary worksheet cover?
It practises working out a technical word from the text — 2 questions for Grade 5, all on Common Core RI.5.4: Work out academic and subject vocabulary from this text. The instruction to pupils is “Read the text, then answer the questions”, and the answer key follows on the next sheet.
Which Common Core standard does Domain-Specific Vocabulary practise?
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.4 — RI.5.4, in the Reading: Informational Text domain for Grade 5. The published standard reads: “Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area.” The worksheet assesses that standard rather than a paraphrase of it.
What age or grade is this worksheet for?
Domain-Specific Vocabulary is written for Grade 5, typically ages 10-11. It is one of the sheets on RI.5.4, so it suits any pupil working at that standard — including older pupils revisiting it and younger ones working ahead.
Does Domain-Specific Vocabulary come with an answer key?
Yes. All 2 answers are generated from the same problems as the questions, so the key cannot drift out of step with the sheet. It starts on a fresh sheet of paper, after the questions, so it is not handed out with the class by accident.
How many different versions of Domain-Specific Vocabulary can I print?
25 versions, of which 24 ask genuinely different questions — this skill does not have 25 distinct questions to give, so the rest reorder them and no two pupils still share a paper. Set 1 downloads all 25 as one PDF.
Is Domain-Specific Vocabulary free to print and photocopy?
Yes. Domain-Specific Vocabulary, its answer key and its 25 versions are free to print and photocopy for your own class, with no account, no email capture and no subscription at the download step. Please do not resell them or republish them as your own.
Is there a lesson plan to teach RI.5.4?
Yes — “Academic Vocabulary in a Grade 5 Topic” is a 40-minute Grade 5 plan for RI.5.4, timed section by section, with the misconceptions to expect and an exit ticket. Domain-Specific Vocabulary is the practice that follows it.
More practice for RI.5.4
Work out academic and subject vocabulary from this text.