Vocabulary
Maine
Santo
Domingo
Characters
And Setting
Miscellaneous
100
What word means “to hold the weight of?”
support
100
Think about the seashell the girl has on the mantel. What must Uncle Jacob have traded to get it? P. 236
The balsam bag
100
What is a conch?
A sea creature that lives in a shell
100
What are the names of the 2 places the story is set?
Santo Domingo and Maine
100
Which vocabulary word means “a heavy knife used as a tool for cutting plants?”
machete
200
Which word means “to talk about a trade in order to get a better deal?”
bargain
200
What modern-day cooling appliance was not yet invented at the time the story takes place?
refrigerator
200
What are some of the things the island people trade? P. 235
Coconuts, bananas, cacao beans
200
Which character loves to drink cocoa ice? P. 239
The little girl in Santo Domingo
200
When Uncle Jacob’s ship finally leaves, why does the Maine girl give him the balsam bag she made? P. 251
She wants him to give it to the little girl in Santo Domingo.
300
What word means “to gather a crop?”
harvest
300
What do sailors cover the ice on schooners with? P. 250
hay, sawdust
300
Why do you need to dry the cacao beans in the sun? p. 231 or 234
It takes out the bitterness, and they become dark brown.
300
What are 3 great things about Maine, according to the little girl in Santo Domingo? P. 240
The smell from the balsam pillow, water so hard you can walk on it, trees without leaves, cooking fires inside the house
300
Which vocabulary word means “used for the purpose of exchanging one thing for another?”
trading
400
Which word means “a ship that has two or more masts with sails in the front and back?”
schooner
400
Why do Papa and Uncle Jacob worry when it snows on the river? P. 244
That snow will keep the river from freezing
400
What happens to the cacao beans before they dry in the sun? p. 231
They are put between banana leaves with their pulp.
400
What are 3 great things about Santo Domingo, according to the little girl from Maine? P. 226
Birds with pink feathers, leaves longer than she is tall, it’s always summer, people don’t wear boots, chocolate grows on trees, giant pink seashells on the beach
400
Why is the ice schooner the most important ship? P. 250
It will trade ice for cocoa beans to make chocolate, a treat that many people want. People in Santo Domingo can’t make ice.
500
Which word means “the soft part of certain fruits or vegetables?”
pulp
500
What is the 1st step in harvesting the ice? P. 247
Making grooves in the ice
500
Why do you think it’s important to be the first one to spy a schooner coming into the bay? P. 236
The first people have the best chance to trade for what they want.
500
What is one thing both girls love to eat?
chocolate
500
Why do you think Papa trades cocoa beans for a bolt of cloth?
His family has a lot of cacao trees and cocoa beans, but they can’t easily make cloth.
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