"The Sisters Grimm" Word List & Student Activity for Middle School
Sabrina and Daphne Grimm’s parents have disappeared and for over a year and a half they have been moved from one foster home to
another. Now they are being taken to their grandmother’s home. But how could that be? Their grandmother is dead. At least that’s what they thought. After meeting this bizarre woman who claims to be their grandmother, she is kidnapped by a giant. That’s when the girls become detectives and begin the search for her. In this article your students will study important vocabulary words from the first book in the exciting series by Michael Buckley.
Vocabulary
Listed below is The Sisters Grimm Fairy Tale Detectives word list. Included with the words are the page numbers where the words can be found.
1.melancholy: page 1
2.curtly: page 3
3.quirk; page 4
4.radiator: page 4
5.crone: page 7
6.gaunt: page 10
7.hemmed and hawed ( hem and haw): page 11
8.musty: page 14
9.precariously: page 15
10.dumbfounded: page 29
11.seethed: page 34
12.sabotage page 34
13.mutated: page 35
14.persecuted: page 66
15.posterity: page 66
16.ambassador: page 67
17.infestation: page 67
18.lunatic: page 71
19.gelatinous: page 116
20.psychotic: page 125
21.sordid: page 134
22.bulbous: page 148
23.rotund: page 157
24.kamikaze: page 167
25.cur: Page 174
26.traipse: page 197
27.tenacious: page 183
28. insolent: page 189
29. espionage: page 236
30. careening: page 272
You may choose to divide you class into groups to do the following:
1.Assign words to each group
2 Students should look up the word in the book and copy the sentence in which the word occurs.
3.Then look the word up in the dictionary and write the meaning that best fits the way the word is used in the book. Collect the papers to use for the game on another day.
4.Students should also list the part of speech for each word.
5.Students should then come up with a way to teach the words to the rest of the class.
6. Teacher should move from group to group and offer help with pronunciation of new vocabulary and ways to teach the word to the rest of the class in the form of skits, charades,etc.
7. Allow enough class time to teach the words to the class.
On a separate day, divide the class into two teams making sure to mix up the original vocabulary groups. Write the thirty vocabulary words on the board and read one of the written definitions for a member of a team. If the player guesses the right word the team gets a point. Go back and forth until every player gets a turn.
As an assessment on the third day, write the words in categories according to the parts of speech on the board. Each student should write a designated number of sentences using words from two categories in each sentence correctly. For example: The psychotic man went careening down the dangerous mountain in a snowstorm.
Additional Activities
Art
There are several words that can be illustrated on the list. Divide a 12" x 18" paper into six section and choose six words to illustrate. For example: draw a face with a bulbous nose.
Charades
Divde the class into two teams and play charades. Use the vocabulary words and the book characters.
With the variety of ways you’ll be practicing The Sisters Grimm Fairy Tale Detectives word list, you will address every learning style that your students have. You will will learn some new words, read a unique book and have some fun, too
This post is part of the series: The Sisters Grimm
This series has articles to introduce the first book of the amazing series by Michael Buckley about Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, decedents of the Brothers Grimm . The Fairy Tale Detectives introduces the girls to their grandmother and the history of their family. Students will learn vocabulary & more!