Guinness World Records Attempt: Largest Vocabulary Lesson Enhancing Vocabulary through Story Time On October 30, 2014, more than 4,000 pre kindergarten students participated in a Guinness World Records attempt for the Largest Vocabulary Lesson. The event was hosted by PNC Grow Up Great, an initiative founded by The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., to help prepare children from birth to age 5 for success in school and life. As part of the record attempt, the children learned new vocabulary words by listening to and talking about the book, Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, by Peter Brown (Copyright 2013 by Peter Brown. Little, Brown and Company, New York, NY. All rights reserved.). The lesson can be used in your own classroom to introduce new words to even more children. WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO DO IN ADVANCE: Familiarize yourself with the book Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown. Prepare ahead of time by adding tabs on the pages with the vocabulary words. Pages are not numbered; tabs will be an aid for the teacher to quickly find the pages with the vocabulary words when checking for children s understanding. KEY VOCABULARY WORDS: stripes patience magnificent wilderness LESSON: WHAT TO DO & GUIDED STUDENT INQUIRY Explain to the children that they will learn a new song, learn some new words, share a story called Mr. Tiger Goes Wild and have fun! 1
SONG Teach children the song The Tiger in the Wild (to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus ). Words are provided at the end of the lesson plan. Review the animals and the motions that are identified in the song and encourage children to act out motions. The teacher will sing the first verse of the song. Then, the teacher will invite the children to sing by asking the children to repeat the first verse with him/her. Then, the teacher can begin to add the verses, singing the first new line, then inviting the children to sing the rest of the new verse with him/her. INTRODUCTION TO WORDS Introduce children to the four new words: stripes, patience, magnificent, wilderness. Show the first word on a vocabulary word card that you have made, or alternately, just talk about the word. Follow with each subsequent word until all four words have been addressed with the children. With each word, ask if any of the children can tell you what the word means. Stripes: lines all in the same direction. Is anybody wearing stripes? Do you know any animals that have stripes? Patience: being able to wait a long time without being upset. Do you sometimes have to have patience? If so, when? Magnificent: something that s really wonderful or beautiful. Can you think of anything that might be magnificent? Anyone want to share? Wilderness: a place that s all natural with trees and animals. It s like a forest or a jungle. No people live there. Has anyone ever heard about wilderness before? Has anyone been there? Seen it? Tell the children to listen for these words in the book that you are about to read to them. 2
INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK The teacher will introduce the book (with appropriate book handling skills) by first showing children the cover and naming the author and illustrator, Peter Brown. The teacher might say, This book is called Mr. Tiger Goes Wild. What do you see on the cover? Do you see Mr. Tiger on the cover? Where do you think he is? What do you think will happen in the book? Open to the end pages at the front of the book. Teacher might say, Wow! What does that look like? Bricks. Where do you find bricks? On buildings? On houses? In the city? So, do you think this story starts in the city where there are buildings, apartments and houses? READ THE BOOK with enthusiasm! ASK QUESTIONS while reading the book: Stripes On the page with the tiger (just before the page with magnificent idea ), talk about stripes. Ask what the black marks on the tiger are called? Ask children to look around the room and see if anyone is wearing stripes. Patience On the page facing magnificent idea, it says they had lost their patience. Teacher might say, What do you think that means? Can t wait. Do they look happy? Do you ever lose your patience? Magnificent Teacher might say, Do you remember what the word magnificent means? Mr. Tiger thought his friend s idea was a really, really good idea a magnificent idea. Wilderness Teacher might say, How does the wilderness look different from where Mr. Tiger used to live? What s different about it? (No buildings, no people ) Let s see what he does in the wilderness. 3
CHECK FOR CHILDREN S UNDERSTANDING Teacher could do this by asking the children what helped Mr. Tiger feel so happy at the end of the story. (He was able to be himself.) Teacher reviews the story and vocabulary word understanding: 1. Show children the beginning pages artwork. Teacher might say, This picture can remind us of where Mr. Tiger was when the story started. Where was that? 2. Flip to the end pages of the book, do you remember where he went when you look at this picture? (wilderness) What do you see here that reminds you of the wilderness? How is the wilderness different from the city? (way out in nature only trees, fish, birds, waterfalls far from the city ) Do you see any people? 3. Open the book to the 2 page spread on which the words patience, wilderness and magnificent idea appear. The teacher might say, Remember his friends were losing their patience with Mr. Tiger. What did that mean? After they lost their patience they had a magnificent idea.what was that idea? What did Mr. Tiger think about their idea? Have you ever had a magnificent idea? 4. The teacher will remove the paper cover from the book and show the tiger stripes on the 2 page hard cover spread. The teacher could show it quickly with the cover open vertically, horizontally and upside down. What are these? (Stripes.) Do the stripes make you think of different things when you see them going in different directions? Tigers are one kind of animal that has stripes. Do they know any other animals with stripes? (zebras, cats) ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY Make a Paper Bag Vest into a Magnificent Paper Bag Vest Goal: Help your children transform an ordinary paper bag vest that you ve cut out into a magnificent one. The materials listed below could be used to make stripes and create images of the wilderness the sparkle and shine of all that is magnificent! Doing this activity provides an opportunity to use the new vocabulary words your students learned during the lesson. 4
Materials: Large paper grocery bag Crayons, markers Safety scissors Glue Scraps of colored paper and foil Glitter or other colorful material Decorative Duct Tape Directions: Open up a large, paper grocery bag and place it on the table with the opening down. Using scissors, cut the front panel and base of the bag up the middle. Cut an oval out of the base so that the vest will sit comfortably on each child s shoulders and neck. Cut circles for armholes out of each side of the bag. Ask each child to try on the vest and make adjustments where necessary after removing the vest from the child. Explain to your students that you will now help them decorate the vest so that it is transformed from ordinary to magnificent: something that s very wonderful and different than anyone else s. o You could suggest that the vest have stripes, like the ones Mr. Tiger has in the book, Mr. Tiger Goes Wild. o The vest might even have trees, waterfalls, and other things that are in the wilderness Mr. Tiger visited in the book. Once the decorating is complete, have each child try on the magnificent vest and take a photo that could be shared with family members or other classmates at school. During the process of this activity, you might also mention that it takes patience to spend the time needed to make this magnificent vest. 5
HELPFUL HINT In the story, Mr. Tiger goes wild. That means he goes into the wilderness and runs freely. He realizes that he can be himself in the wilderness and in the city. SONG THE TIGER IN THE WILD* (to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus ) The tiger in the wild goes roar, roar, roar all through the wild. The bird in the wild goes caw, caw, caw all through the wild. The fish in the wild goes glub, glub, glub all through the wild. The parrot in the wild goes squawk, squawk, squawk all through the wild. The monkey in the wild goes ooh, ooh, ooh... all through the wild. The elephant in the wild goes stomp, stomp, stomp... all through the wild. *Song inspired by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh website. Lesson plan developed in collaboration with: The Fred Rogers Company Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children (PAEYC) University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 6