Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bill

Week 1:Bill’s Childhood

Character Lexicon
  • adventurous: willing to take risks or to try out new methods, ideas or experiences
  • determined: having made a firm decision and being resolved not change it
  • enterprising: having or showing initiative and resourcefulness
  • courageous: not deterred by danger or pain; brave
  • decisive: settling an issue; producing a definite result
Comprehension Questions
  1. Bill’s father teaches him that until law and order come he must be able to look after himself, and that means knowing how to aim and shoot a gun. (Pg 4)
  2. Bill traded his brand new buckskin suit for a pony. (Pg 8)
  3. The loud snores of the cattlemen and howling coyotes broke the stillness on the prairie. (Pg 11)
  4. When Bill gets caught in a stampede of buffalo he hangs on to his horse and lets it run with the buffaloes until he could safely wind his way out. (Pg 12)
  5. The fastest man on the trigger in the whole wild west is Wild Bill Hickok. (Pg 15)
  6. Kit Carson taught Bill to read the language of the plains. (Pg 18)
  7. Bill is ashamed he cannot write his name at Register Cliffs, so he goes to school to learn his ABC’s. (Pg 20)

Week 2:From Pony Express to Becoming an Army Scout

Character Lexicon
  • prepared: ready to do or deal with something; made ready for use
  • committed: feeling dedication and loyalty to a cause, activity or job
  • hard-working: tending to work with energy and commitment
  • persistent: continuing firmly or obstinately in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition
  • brave: ready to face and endure danger, or pain; showing courage
Comprehension Questions
  1. It takes the Pony Express nine days to carry mail from Missouri to the Pacific Ocean. (Pg 21)
  2. Bill once rode a three hundred mile stretch when the Pony Express station he was supposed to deliver to had been burned down by Indians and he had to go on to the next one. (Pg 22)
  3. The Pony Express ends with the invention of the telegraph. (Pg 24)
  4. When Bill begins to drive a stagecoach he changes his appearance by growing a long moustache, a short goatee and letting his hair fall over his shoulders. (Pg 25)
  5. The railroaders sabotage Bill’s plan to build a town by building a station at his site, and building a town at their station. (Pg 28)
  6. Bill is named Buffalo Bill by the railroaders because he was the best hunter and supplier of meat. (Pg 30)
  7. The U.S. soldiers are sent out to protect the white men and drive the Indians off their ancient hunting ground. (Pg 32)

Week 3:From Army Scout Through His Burial

Character Lexicon
  • confident: self-assured of one’s abilities; showing certainty about something
  • clever: quick to understand, learn and devise or apply ideas
  • daring: adventurous or audaciously bold
  • entertaining: providing amusement or enjoyment
  • heroic: to be very brave
Comprehension Questions
  1. While riding an ornery government mule one day, Bill drops the reigns to get a drink and the mule runs off. Each time Bill walked closer toward it, the mule moved so Bill couldn’t catch him. This went on for thirty miles! (Pg 33)
  2. When the arrow went through Bill’s hat it only scratched his scalp. (Pg 34)
  3. Settlers move onto the land where the buffalo once roamed. (Pg 36)
  4. People pay a lot of money to see Bill shoot his gun and do Wild West stunts. (Pg 38)
  5. The Indians in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show chase the stagecoaches on their horses so that Bill can rescue the people from the Indians. (Pg 38)
  6. The name of the town Bill helps found in Wyoming is, Cody. (Pg 40)