Adams County’s Gold

Target Words

academy, ancient, board, century, clue, concert, county, dictionary, exist, flat, gentleman, hidden, maybe, officer, original, pound, process, publish, theater, wealth.

academy [əˈkadəmi] n.

An academy is a special type of school.

→ There are many courses taught at the academy that I go to.

ancient [ˈeɪnʃ(ə)nt] adj.

If something is ancient, it is very old.

→ I want to see the ancient buildings in Rome.

board [bɔːd] n.

A board is a flat piece of wood.

→ The sign was made of a few wooden boards.

century [ˈsɛntʃʊri] n.

A century is one hundred years.

→ Our company is celebrating a century of business in London.

clue [kluː] n.

A clue is a fact or object that helps solve a mystery or crime.

→ The detective found some clues on the sidewalk.

concert [kənˈsəːt] n.

A concert is an event where you listen to people play music.

→ I enjoyed the concert last night. The band was very good.

county [ˈkaʊnti] n.

A county is the largest political division of a state in the US.

→ He wanted to represent the citizens of his county.

dictionary [ˈdɪkʃ(ə)n(ə)ri] n.

A dictionary is a book that tells you what words mean.

→ I use the dictionary to learn new words.

exist [ɪɡˈzɪst] v.

To exist is to be real.

→ Do you really think that unicorns ever existed?

flat [flat] adj.

Flat describes something that is level and smooth with no curved parts.

→ My parents bought a new flat screen TV over the weekend.

gentleman [ˈdʒɛnt(ə)lmən] n.

A gentleman is a nice man.

→ My grandfather is a kind and helpful gentleman.

hidden [ˈhɪdn] adj.

Hidden means to be not easily noticed or too hard to find.

→ The hidden camera recorded everything in the parking lot.

maybe [ˈmeɪbi] adv.

Maybe is used to show that something is possible or may be true.

→ If I focus hard enough, maybe I can come up with the right answer.

officer [ˈɒfɪsə] n.

An officer is a leader in the army.

→ The soldiers followed the orders of the officer.

original [əˈrɪdʒɪn(ə)l] adj.

If something is original, it is the first one of that thing.

→ This is the original painting of the Mona Lisa.

pound [paʊnd] v.

To pound something is to hit it many times with a lot of force.

→ He pounded the nail with the hammer.

process [prəˈsɛs] n.

A process is the steps to take to do something.

→ Making a cake is a long process.

publish [ˈpʌblɪʃ] v.

To publish a book is to get it printed and ready to sell.

→ That company publishes daily newspapers.

theater [ˈθɪətə] n.

A theater is a building where you watch plays, shows, and movies.

→ We went to the theater to see a play.

wealth [wɛlθ] n.

Wealth is a large amount of money.

→ One of the most important things to some people is wealth.

Adams Academy was a good school. Boys lived there and took classes. Tom worked hard all week. On a spring Saturday, he wanted to do something fun!

He asked his friend Jeff to go to the movie theater. “Sorry,” Jeff answered. “I’m going to a concert.”

So Tom asked Joe to go to the movies. But Joe’s soccer team had a game.

Next, Tom went down the hall to Brad’s room. Brad was reading a very large old book. “Hi, Brad,” Tom said. “Are you reading a dictionary? It looks ancient.”

“No. This is called The Wealth of Adams County. It’s about hidden gold in Adams County. It’s more than a century old. It was published in 1870! Look, it even has the original cover on it.”

Tom asked, “Where did you get it?”

“It’s from my dad’s friend. He is a nice gentleman, an officer in the army,” answered Brad.

“The gold doesn’t really exist, does it?” Tom asked.

“I don’t know, but maybe! There are clues to it in this book. Let’s find it!” Looking for gold sounded like fun.

The first clue was to find a flat tree underground. “It must be in the forest,” Tom said.

Brad said, “The flat tree could be a board under the dirt. It could cover the gold.”

Tom and Brad dug in the dirt all morning. The process of looking for gold made them hungry. They were ready to stop for lunch. But then Brad hit something hard. It was a board!

Brad pounded on the board until it broke. There was a small hole under it. “Look!” He held up a gold coin.

Tom saw a piece of paper in the hole. “Brad, there’s more. It’s a map to the rest of the gold!”

Brad smiled. “Let’s go!” And they hurried to find the wealth of Adams County.