Vocabulary & Allusions Activity for Walk Two Moons

Starting a unit or lesson with the key vocabulary aids in overall comprehension and retention. In this activity, students will create a storyboard that defines and illustrates key vocabulary found in the book Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. Students will create a spider map of 3-5 terms at the teachers discretion. Each cell will contain a term or allusion, its definition or description, and an appropriate illustration.

Examples of Vocabulary from Walk Two Moons

Accumulated: (verb) gather together or acquire an increasing number or quantity of.Collected or gathered together

Anonymous: (adjective) (of a person) not identified by name; of unknown name.

The Badlands: Badlands National Park is in South Dakota. It has colorful layered rock formations, steep canyons and towering spires. Animals include bison, bighorn sheep and prairie dogs.

badgered: (verb) repeatedly ask (someone) to do something; pester.

berserk: (adjective) out of control with anger or excitement; wild or frenzied.

bountiful: (adjective) large in quantity; abundant.

caboodle: (noun, informal) the lot, pack, or crowd

cadaver: (noun) a dead body, corpse

cantankerous: (adjective) disagreeable to deal with; contentious

cholesterol: (noun) Cholesterol is a type of fat found in your blood. The liver makes cholesterol for your body but one can also get cholesterol from food such as meat, fish, eggs, butter, cheese, and milk. While cholesterol is needed to help your brain, skin, and other organs, eating too much fat and cholesterol may cause health problems.

colossal: (adjective) extraordinarily great in size, extent, or degree; gigantic; huge.

defensive: (adjective) very anxious to challenge or avoid criticism.

defiance: (noun) open resistance; bold disobedience.

despairing: (adjective) showing the loss of all hope.

diabolic: (adjective) having the qualities of a devil; devilish; fiendish; outrageously wicked: a diabolic plot.

ghastly: (adjective) 1. causing great horror or fear; frightful or macabre. 2. Extremely unwell.

gnarled: (adjective) causing great horror or fear; frightful or macabre.

gorge: (noun) a narrow valley between hills or mountains, typically with steep rocky walls and a stream running through it.

hairpin: (noun) a sharp U-shaped curve in a road.

holster: (noun) a holder for carrying a handgun or other firearm, typically made of leather and worn on a belt or under the arm.

lunatic: an antiquated and offensive term referring to a person who is seen as mentally ill, dangerous, foolish, or crazy

malevolent: (adjective) having, showing, or arising from intense often vicious ill will, spite, or hatred.

malinger: (verb) to pretend or exaggerate incapacity or illness (as to avoid duty or work)

moccasins: (noun) a soft, leather, heelless shoe or boot with the sole brought up the sides of the foot and over the toes where it is joined with a puckered seam to a U-shaped piece lying on top of the foot

Mount Rushmore: Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a massive sculpture carved into Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills region of South Dakota in 1941 featuring 60-ft.-high granite faces of U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. It is known as Six Grandfathers by the Sioux, and it was (and still is) a sacred mountain before it was defaced.

mournful: (adjective) expressing sorrow

muesli: (noun) a breakfast cereal of Swiss origin consisting of rolled oats, nuts, and fruit

Old Faithful: Old Faithful is a cone geyser in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, United States and is known for being highly predictable erupting every 44 minutes to two hours.

omnipotent: (noun) one who has unlimited power or authority

optimistic: (adjective) feeling or showing hope for the future

ornery: (adjective) having an irritable disposition

pandemonium: (noun) a wild uproar (as because of anger or excitement in a crowd of people)

pandora: In Greek mythology, the first mortal woman created by Hephaestus for Zeus. She was given unique gifts from the other Olympian gods. One day, in fulfillment of her destiny, she was overcome with curiosity and opened the lid of a forbidden box. She unleashed all the evils out into the world upon humankind. She replaced the lid in time to save one thing - hope.

prometheus: In Greek mythology, a Titan who is chained and tortured by Zeus for stealing fire from heaven and giving it to humankind.

rhododendron: (noun) a shrub or small tree with large clusters of flowers and large evergreen leaves

ruination: (noun) the action or fact of ruining someone or something or of being ruined.

Seneca Nation: From the Seneca Nation website (https://sni.org/) The Seneca Nation Of Indians is one of the original Five Nations of The Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy, The Seneca are proud people with a rich history. Our lands are comprised of beautiful territories throughout the Western New York region.

spire: (noun) the upper tapering part of something such as a tree, mountain, or church steeple; pinnacle

treacherous: (adjective) providing insecure footing or support; marked by hidden dangers, hazards, or perils

unadulterated: (adjective) complete, pure, unspoiled

weaning: (verb) to accustom a child or young animal to detach from a source of dependence on the mother.