®
THE LANGUAGE ARTS MAGAZINE
Name: ___________________________________________________ Date: ______________
Play: The Curse of King Tut • Skill: Vocabulary Acquisition, page 1 of 2
Vocabulary:
1. debris (duh-BREE) noun; the remains of anything broken or destroyed; rubble
example: The earthquake cracked the giant statue, causing debris to rain down onto the city square.
2. desecrate (DES-ih-kreyt) verb; to damage or treat a holy place or object with disrespect
example: The Hopi chief was buried on sacred ground. His tribespeople did not want the area
desecrated by developers who wanted to build a road there.
3. euphoric (yoo-FOR-ik) adjective; intensely happy or excited
example: The children were euphoric when they saw the puppy in their dad’s arms on Christmas
morning.
4. excavate (EKS-kuh-veyt) verb; to uncover something by digging away and removing the earth,
or other material, that covers it.
example: The archaeologists excavated fossils of a mysterious prehistoric animal.
5. gilded (GIL-did) adjective; covered with a thin layer of gold
example: We found a beautiful gilded chest on the abandoned ship; it was full of treasure.
6. hieroglyphics (hahy-eruh-GLIF-iks) noun; a system of writing with pictures or symbols that
represent words, objects, concepts, or sounds
example: My brother likes ancient languages; that’s why he’s learning Egyptian hieroglyphics.
7. incur (in-KUR) verb; to cause yourself to have or experience something unpleasant or unwanted
example: If I don’t practice piano for an hour each day, I incur the disapproval of my teacher.
8. laborious (luh-BOR-ee-uhs) adjective; requiring a lot of time and effort
example: Cleaning out my grandma’s jam-packed garage is going to be a laborious task.
9. robust (roh-BUHST) adjective; strong and healthy
example: Exercising every day and eating well will give you a robust body and mind.
10. sarcophagus (sahr-KAWF-uh-guhs) noun; an ancient stone coffin, usually bearing inscriptions
e xample: I brought a shoebox into school today because we are each making a model of an Egyptian
sarcophagus—complete with hieroglyphics.
Scholastic sCOPE ACTIVITY • october 10, 2011
Uses: Copy machine, opaque projector, or transparency master for overhead projector. Scholastic Inc. grants subscribers of Scholastic Scope permission to reproduce this page for use in their classrooms. Copyright ©2011 by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved.
The Curse of King Tut
Name: ______________________________________________________________________ Date: ____________________
Play: The Curse of King Tut• Skill: Vocabulary Acquisition, page 2 of 2
Vocabulary Practice:
The Curse of King Tut
1. grieving
euphoric
sorrowful
miserable
2. simple
laborious
effortless
easy
3. weak
athletic
robust
powerful
4. abuse
violate
desecrate
honor
5. uncover
fill
excavate
dig
6. avoid
incur
escape
shun
7. gilded
ornate
plain
golden
8. pictures
writing
statue
hieroglyphics
9. rubble
debris
orderliness
pieces
coffin
casket
10. mummysarcophagus
Directions: Complete each unfinished sentence in a way that makes clear the meaning of the boldfaced word.
11. A
udrey was euphoric when she saw the cast list for The Wizard of Oz. The look on her face was
one of __________________________________________________________________________________._
12. I was surprised at how robust some of the dogs were at the animal shelter. I thought they’d all be
________________________________________________________________________________________.
13. “If you want to borrow my hockey stick,” Evan said, “I’m going to have to excavate it from my
closet. I think it’s ________________________________________________________________________.
Scholastic sCOPE activity • october 10, 2011
Uses: Copy machine, opaque projector, or transparency master for overhead projector. Scholastic Inc. grants subscribers of Scholastic Scope permission to reproduce this page for use in their classrooms. Copyright ©2011 by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved.
Directions: For each row of words, circle the word that does not belong.